We all do things. YES, everybody! If your wondering what weve been doing lately, here is a little run down.

We have been looking for jobs.

Yesterday both Avira and myself applied at Jamba Juice as managers. We’ll see where it goes. I had a pretty good interview, Avira on the other hand, felt it was the silliest interview she ever had. They asked her such valid questions as “if you could be a superhero, what superhero would you be?” and “if you could be any body of water, what body of water would you be?” Mine was very professional and it went well. Yes, I already have a job paying pitiful wages combined with minimal hours, so this would be a vast improvement. Wish us luck as we try to secure some money for the bus.

We have been going to the park.

They have this great park with water that shoots out of the ground. Kids love it and my kids have enjoyed it thoroughly.

We have been juicing.

Avira somehow scored a 25lb bag of carrots for only $5. I am like, NO WAY! That is soooo cheap. It makes me happy to be juicing again!

We have been eating organic produce.

We couldn’t find any stores that had organic food other than the health food store which is more like a health food corner mart. So we went on a google mission to find organic options and we found “Abundant Harvest Organics”. Wooohoo! Great organic produce and is cheap. Yay! Not sure but it appears to be part of a church group who obviously know whats up with the way God intended things to be. They take orders on Monday and deliver to a drop point on Friday. Actually, we are going to pick up our basket in a few hours. The produce is awesome stuff! So we are very happy to have found this wonderful resource. www.abundantharvestorganics.com

We have been working on the bus.

Not as much lately because it is hot and we are running out of things we can do without money. But I posted some somewhat recent pictures of the progress we made tearing out all the old stuff that was in it.

We have been stressing

.

It’s true. Our days have much less joy because we are discouraged about the fact that only I have a job and it is very disapointing pay and hours. We know it is temporary, but it is prolonging the amount of time it will take to get the bus done. In addition to that, we have mounting bills which is never a good thing. I know it will get better, but has been a very rough transition.

We have been planning out our bus.

We are going all green. I have located environmentally friendly products for nearly everything we need with exception to electrical wiring, plumbing and wood for cabinets. I am sure by the time we are done, it will be nearly all “green” and it makes us happy to know that. Plus, our bus is going to be an amazing home!

Finally, our adventure into Sequia National Forest

On mothers day we decided to go up to the mountains and upon reaching the entrance, we discovered that the entrance fee for one day is 20 Dollars! WHAT!?! That is an absurd amount to charge somebody who just wants to spend the day. I thought about it and if you take all the people who go there ever year which is probably in the hundreds of thousands at least and more likely in the millions, the profit they are making is insane! There is not way they need that money to keep up the forest even with over paid national park workers. They are literally pimping the forest!! Not right! Anyways, it is for this reason that I find the following actions totally acceptable.

So we went looking for a back way in and found one but the gate was closed. As fate would have it, a really cool hippy guy was coming through as we were preparing to leave. I didn’t have the guts to ask the guy to let us in, so leave it to my wife to do it. haha. Anyways, he was straight forward with us and said that he also felt it was unfair and that he too has a hard time with things like that. He then warned us of the fee we would be charged if we got caught and he told us he wouldn’t let us through but he would tell us the combination lock code. So in we went and we had a lovely day in a very remote section of the national forest where we only saw like 8 people total the whole day. Redwoods, Waterfalls, Rivers, Snow and Wildlife; AWESOME! So we now have exclusive access to the park, hehe, and we stuck it to the man so to speak. YEAH! There are a few pictures below.

So we got the bus as you know and have worked on it to just short of everything we can do without money. The money we came here with plus some small bits of money we got along the way is nearly gone just on living expenses. So we have no money to spend on the bus at this time. We have been seeking out jobs pretty agressively but there is just not a lot of jobs available. I did get hired at Home Depot at a truly pitiful wage and it is obvious they took no regard to my past experience. I mean, I started at Home Depot in 2001 at a higher wage then I am getting paid now. That is what I mean by pitiful. Anyways, at least I have a job for now and look forward to finding something better soon. Avira has had no luck at all but she remains motivated and optimistic. If she can get a descent paying job, we might be able to hit the road before winter sets in. We shall see.

We found out that my dad has a brain tumor and is going in for surgury next week. That amist serious economic issues with him being out of work is making things hard and requires my mom and dad to move in with my brother who just bought a new house. That means we can’t stay with them anymore and may need to either move in with my cousin or rent our own place. We are unsure what to do at this point and are walking forward till we can figure things out. We are considering relocating, again, if need be. The key to our success right now is money and right now Tulare doesn’t seem like the area to get it.

On a more positive note. My cousin gave me an estimate for the bus and it looks like all the body work can be done quickly and for under $500. However, the time consuming and expensive part is not the body work, it is the paint. The bus wont fit in his shop so he needs to rent a deisel paint booth somewhere to do it. It will take him 2 months to paint the bus and about $2,000 +. More good news is that the bus is very likely to be running and we shall find out within the next few weeks rather or not it does. If it does, it will save us some money and allow us to hit the road sooner than later. So, I estimate that the total cost of the bus will be roughly $10,000.

If me and my wife were able to secure jobs at the wage we usually get paid, we would have all the money in less than 3 months. So please pray for my dad most of all and squeeze in that a descent job will come through for us both becuase we can’t wait to get our bus on the road!

I made this little video showing the bus being towed. No, it is not 10 minutes of the bus being towed. Just check it out and you will see.

Avira wanted me to add pictures so here they are. The pictures of the inside of the bus are from half way through yesterday and doesn’t reflect the progress we made yesterday. Imagine all the cabinets gone. Here is the bus being towed and the inside of the bus

Since I’m having such a hard time sleeping, I thought I’d update on the last couple days. We towed the bus on Wednesday and it all went smoothly, amazingly! Having the bus here just brought life to our plan in a very real way.I’m  now totally consumed with it and very motivated to do as much work on it as possible every day. We spent over 8 hours at it yesterday, and actually accomplished a  lot.

Karl worked on the downstairs. He tore out all the carpet, ceiling, and padding, and removed almost all the cabinetry and framing. As each piece goes it starts to feel bigger and bigger in there! Now I totally see the room for the couch and the wood burning stove, and see the room for the kitchen counters and the breakfast nook and such. It has really come to life these past 24 hours! I spent the whole day removing the spray paint (grafitti) off the outside windows, and removing the tint off the inside windows. I have one perfect window so far, no paint on the outside, and no tint on the inside. It looks beautiful. (I can totally picture it with curtains.) It’s painstakingly slow, but slowly and surely it’ll come I guess. It has been such a learning curve, who knew a razor blade so many uses?

Kinda sad news is that Kaiya had a really high fever tonight, and both her and Karl have a bad cough, you know the kind that it’s painful to listen to, and it sounds as if there’s a ton of garbage in their lungs. Health really has been an issue since we moved out here, we keep saying it’s the change of environment, but maybe there is something more…

Well it has definately beeen a change for all of us, but we are hanging in pretty good, and totally exhillerated that the bus is here! It is taking shape quickly, so we will be sure to update often, and post photos ASAP.

Will definately post more soon.

Goodnight, I will go back to my day dreaming about scaping off tint.

Oh, we also really need jobs, just to mention. Good nite, or good morning, whatever.