An update on where Mz Dazy is
A year ago this week, we were driving from a great week in South Carolina with our Aunt Liz and Uncle Boyd on the beach to Martha’s nephews wedding in De Land Florida when Mz Dazy suffered a heart attack just north of Jacksonville.
She bled out most all her oil by time we got stopped on the side of the interstate. We added what oil we had with us and limped to the next exit.
Luckily the next exit had a truck stop with a mechanic shop. The bad news was they wanted nothing to do with a bus. We called every mobile mechanic within 100 miles in every direction, and none of them were willing to come see if they could help. We contacted our nephew in Idaho who is a diesel mechanic and we talked through the symptoms and decided that we would buy a bunch of oil and press on to De Land where we could park at Marthas nephews house while we got things sorted out. We stopped every 25 miles and topped off the oil. By time we got to De Land we had added 8 GALLONS of oil.
We found a shop that said they would work on Mz Dazy and took her in. After a little diagnostics it was decided that the cost of repairing this engine just was not worth it. We decided to order up a rebuilt engine from Jasper Engines. A new engine will provide many years of happy adventuring.
Luckily for us, Marthas nephew and his new bride had a guest cottage attached to their house that would be vacant in a couple of weeks. We rented a car and headed back up to Georgia to stay with Liz and Boyd until the cottage was available. We went around and did a little sight seeing like this Civil War battlefield.
Once back in Florida we spent our time sight seeing while the mechanic spent his time working on anything but Mz Dazy. 3 visits a week were not moving him along. The new engine was just sitting in his shop. After a month had passed without any progress Martha and I were discussing what would come next. We decided that we would spend what was left of the summer visiting some friends and family and then get off the road for now.
After much discussion about where we had been and what we had liked over the past year, we decided on Western Montana and I set out to find a good job.
With a good job secured starting the first of September in Twin Bridges, MT I was back at the mechanic shop pleading for them to finish up the job so we could get on the road. Finally the last week of July the engine was in the bus and ready to start. When it got started it was quickly determined that the sound of a little man with a hammer inside the engine was not good and this engine would have to be sent back. Jasper Engines started building a new engine and said it would be there in 3 weeks. When I got back to the house that day I was greeted with the news, that in anticipation of our hopeful departure, our cottage had been rented to someone else and we had 36 hours to vacate!
We made the decision to leave Mz Dazy waiting for her new engine and head to Montana and start work early. The plan was to head back to Florida in the beginning of September and get Mz Dazy and spend a couple of weeks driving her back to Montana.
The company I went to work for had this yurt that we could rent cheap to live in while we find housing. This has turned out to be a lifesaver as real estate here is very tough and it will take a while to find something we want.
True to form, with the second new engine delivered, the shop just left it sit there. No amount of pleading was getting me anywhere.
Fall was turning to winter and still no progress. Since icy roads are not an old busses friend, we were realizing we would not have Mz Dazy with us until spring.
Martha did a great job of making the yurt just as festive as can be! We drove over to Emmitt Idaho to spend Christmas with my mom, sister and her family. A festive time was had!
Right after Christmas our son Mike and Grandson Indy came to visit. It was great to spend some time with them. Ruckus was not sure about Indy taking his place in Marthas lap.
One of my jobs at work besides fixing airplanes is to plow the snow off the runway and the rest of the airport. That has kept me up to speed on driving a large truck so Mz Dazy won’t be too strange when I get back to her.
It has been a very long winter this year. Ruckus loves being back in the snow. Beaches were great, but I think he prefers snow to sand!
Well spring has finally arrived and almost exactly a year to the day that we dropped of Mz Dazy to get looked at I finally got a call from the mechanic with the sound of Mz Dazy running in the background. She sounds great and plans are being made to go get her and bring her back to Montana.
Stay tuned as there will be more Adventures with Mz Dazy!