First Post
Hello fellow POG members.
My wife and I have been lurkers for a few years and just joined recently. We are on our 3rd bus over the last 20+ years. Our first bus was a 1964 MCI 5, 35 footer, with a 8V71 Detroit non turbo 318 HP engine and a 4 speed non synchro manual transmission, which had a solenoid switch that had to be engaged for reverse. It had run from San Diego to San Fransisco for Greyhound, and was converted sometime in 80's into a motorhome. We purchased it to use as a race car hauler (30' trailer), and proceeded to re-convert it and bring it up to "modern" specs. I installed an inverter system with 6 4D batteries, tore out the shag carpet and put down wood floor in the cabin, tile in the kitchen and bathroom, and new carpet in the bedroom, new toilet, 2 roof airs, and a fantastic vent in the bathroom. I installed a propane system with proper controls to feed a new stove in the kitchen and a grill for outside. My wife called it the ugly bus as she was not impressed when I first drove home with it. We kept it for about 5 years and drove it all over the east coast and Canada. We raced from Mont Tremblant in Quebec, to as far as Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, and had a great time with it. It had about 1,675,000 miles on it when we sold it to a neighbor who used it to winter in Florida and summer in NH.
Our second bus was a 1990 Marathon Prevost conversion which we found in Arizona. We fell in love with it and drove it home while we still had the MCI. We were a 2 bus family for a while until my wife thought that we really should only be a one bus family. We pulled the same 30' race trailer around the east, although faster due to the 8V92, as well as using it for non race related vacations for about 15 years. Our longest trip was from NH to Fairbanks Alaska and back. We went up through Dawson City, Yukon Territory, across the Yukon River on a ferry, and back into Alaska on the Taylor Highway (150 miles) via the "Top of The World" highway (90 miles), a 1.5 lane dirt road. It ended up being an 11,800 mile trip, and was worth every bit of the $12,000.00 in fuel cost. We felt we would never sell our "Earl", and started to full time in it after my wife retired on February 1, 2019.
While in Florida in December 2019 I saw a Marathon XLII advertised in Arizona, and placed a refundable deposit on it to hold it for 30 days. It was beautiful and checked all the boxes that needed to be checked for us to give up "EARL". We left a 3 week reservation at a campground in Florida after 3 days and headed for Phoenix. On the way we stopped to "just look" at a one owner, low mileage 2000 XL Country Coach. It was love at first glance, and in 3 days the new bus was ours and our 1990 Marathon was sold to another individual who was looking for a second older bus (already had a X3).
We are still "making it ours", and learning the systems of a new to us bus, as different as our Prevost was to our MCI. I learned and understood the systems on our 1990, and was comfortable doing most of the maintenance myself. The 2000 is much more computerized, and I am from the paper generation, but I am learning. We have upgraded the headlights, side marker lights and taillights to LED, and are planning on installing wood floors in the main cabin, along with a remodeled work station for business paperwork. We still love full timing and are spending time in Florida now and may go west next month. Our only time line is to be in NH for June 1st, our granddaughters birthday.
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