nwgs motorhome addiction and therapy thread

[Daniii]

And I gotta believe fuel economy would really suck.

But at Nascar events, you could park in the infield and watch the entire race in air conditioned comfort (while pissing all those around off as you block their view). Probably couldn't get through the infield tunnel at Daytona.

[Icewalker]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Gypsies! My kinda folks!

My wifes maternal grandmother was Romany ... pretty stupid that we never really got her to open up a bit more with stories from the road. As I remember she lived in a slightly larger version of the barrel topped wagons as a little girl.

[NomadRip]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Gypsies! My kinda folks!

You guys should check out this guy that Spirit and Ara (BeenerChef) ran into in Montana. For 26 years he's been doing this, and Ara explained it all on his blog post here.

Ron Dakotah is his name, and his webpage is just a MySpace page, but is interesting.



(Ara's picture)

[Icewalker]

Originally Posted by NomadRip

You guys should check out this guy that Spirit and Ara (BeenerChef) ran into in Montana. For 26 years he's been doing this, and Ara explained it all on his blog post here.

Ron Dakotah is his name, and his webpage is just a MySpace page, but is interesting.



(Ara's picture)

Damn what an inspiring lifestyle

[RiverRat]

Cool bus PJ! Even the generator looks like a beast.

[Daniii]

I saw a reference for a quiet generator. What a grand idea, as the biggest problem with RV's , where there isn't power provided, is the nonstop noise from generators. Any data here on truly quiet generators?

[bmwhacker]

German made I believe........this one is custom built....driver sits down low....behind the driver is a "garage" with fold down ramps...these folks carried a couple of road bikes in there.......living quarters up a little stairway from the passenger side doorway......




Living quarters.....nice view out the upper windshield....even comes with pussy......
This one has a hatch in the ceiling....with a little access ladder they access the roof and have a fold up rail type deck up there......pretty nice set up...ground & roof clearance sucks though.......now if the Neoplan doesn't turn your crank...try the "Boater Home"......

[RiverRat]

A EU2000 honda puts most built ins gennys to shame on noise level. I know there are improved units if you are looking to repower your RV.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Icewalker

That's very nice .... what sort of money?

Very big. Without looking it up I want to say $100-$200K

It was built for a company in Florida that had some grandiose scheme along the lines of linking Mailbox, Etc. as combination package terminals and passenger terminals. I guess when that folded so did the concept, and you wound up with an odd one-off bus.

FWIW Neoplan did build a similar bus or two in Germany to shuffle parts and passengers between their plants, but that was years ago and they have since been bought by MAN who are "consolidating" their bus production.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Icewalker

My wifes maternal grandmother was Romany ... pretty stupid that we never really got her to open up a bit more with stories from the road. As I remember she lived in a slightly larger version of the barrel topped wagons as a little girl.

That would be so neat, but I'll bet that she hated it as a kid.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Daniii

Probably couldn't get through the infield tunnel at
Daytona.

Actually, Daytona has two tunnels and one is large enough for a bus. They built that second tunnel a few years ago. You do have to cross the road course to get to the infield, however.

Here's the new tunnel. It's steep at the end and it's pretty weird hearing the Detroit Diesel roar in a tunnel:




Here we are, waiting to cross the road course:





Here the ladies are getting set up for a cook out. We did a charity hotdog thing for several years at the vintage motorcycle races during Bike Week:

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by bmwhacker

German made I believe........this one is custom built....driver sits down low....behind the driver is a "garage" with fold down ramps...these folks carried a couple of road bikes in there.......living quarters up a little stairway from the passenger side doorway......

That belongs to some cyber friends of ours named Sean and Louise. Their blog is over here:

http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/

They are full timers who also do disaster relief work. Interesting folks and they drop by my blog or Facebook page every so often.

I think that I actually posted photos of their Neoplan Spaceliner a bit earlier in this thread.

We considered buying another Spaceliner (there are only, maybe 6 in the USA) but I have to say that I think one would have been unmanageable for us, as beautiful as they are.

[bmwhacker]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

That belongs to some cyber friends of ours named Sean and Louise. Their blog is over here:

http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/

They are full timers who also do disaster relief work. Interesting folks and they drop by my blog or Facebook page every so often.

I think that I actually posted photos of their Neoplan Spaceliner a bit earlier in this thread.

We considered buying another Spaceliner (there are only, maybe 6 in the USA) but I have to say that I think one would have been unmanageable for us, as beautiful as they are.

We've been full timers for 15 years as my job requires travel year round..I'm a hit man and need to keep on the move.....I've crossed paths with Sean & Louise a couple of times but we have yet to meet.........I started following their blog while they were building Osyssey....The Neoplans are hell to get parts for...I would not care to go through those issues.....

[Daniii]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Actually, Daytona has two tunnels and one is large enough for a bus. They built that second tunnel a few years ago. You do have to cross the road course to get to the infield, however.

Here's the new tunnel. It's steep at the end and it's pretty weird hearing the Detroit Diesel roar in a tunnel:




Here we are, waiting to cross the road course:





Here the ladies are getting set up for a cook out. We did a charity hotdog thing for several years at the vintage motorcycle races during Bike Week:

Likely not a double decker, though.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Daniii

Likely not a double decker, though.

Maximum "legal" height for a truck or bus in the USA on Federal highways is 13'6". That's pretty much the standard that everything is built to.

With our antennas and overhead air conditioning we are about 12'6" or so.

The Spaceliners like Sean's bus that was pictured are about that tall without anything on top.

A Neoplan Skyliner double decker as sold in the USA was 13'4" tall as I recall. Yes, they are REALLY tall and skinny. I saw one of them rolling quite a bit in a parking lot once and was wondering at what point it would roll over.

Moral of the story: With Daytona's new tunnel I don't think that overall height is an issue, but I did wonder about scraping the bottom on some of the really low buses (ours actually sits pretty high when it's on the road).

However, you don't want to try this with the old Daytona tunnels, which will barely fit an SUV:



Bits of trivia for you to amaze and amuze your friends:

Before The Speedway built the Big Tunnel, transporters and motorhomes had to cross the main track. For the big races that meant that you were stuck there until well after the races were over with and everyone else had left.

Ditto with arriving. You had to get there early before they opened the track up.

As for as bus heights go, many Euro coaches are taller than American ones. I saw a photo somewhere of a British bus that was at least 14'6" tall - the underfloor storage compartments were so tall that a man could walk inside upright.