Bus Parking Site

[Jon Wehrenberg]

It's still a long way from when a bus will ever park on it, but I now have the site roughed in and I will give it some time to continue settling and compacting.

The pictures don't begin to convey how steep the approach is to the flat spot, or the very limited room to jockey a coach around a telephone pole on one side and mature Crepe Myrtle trees on the other side.

[jello_jeep]

Jon, if that is the view from your place, I am jealous indeed. That is spectacular!

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I have seen that spot and it is a beautiful thing.

I mean what I say in, I wonder who will be the first to go over!

That could be a test area for the roll strength of the Prevost, or will you have valet parking.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The view is from my home office, upstairs.

The river is the French Broad River and it originates up in the Smokies. It winds past the Biltmore Estate near Ashville NC, ultimately past our house and joins with the Holston River a few miles downstream to form the Tennessee River. Not visible is the Smokey Mountains in the background.

The killer view and total privacy is why we bought the site. It is just a little steep, hence the need to create a flat spot for bus parking.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

That little "Gravel Buggy" grossed out at 34,000 pounds yesterday and I rolled it back and forth before I dumped and spread the gravel. Most of that weight was on the rear single axle so I had as much ground pressure on that axle as any bus is likely to have. It still has not rolled down the side of the hill.

But I am not going to get any buses on that spot until I am sure the dirt and stone has settled and it will support a bus.

I have yet to lay the paving stones for the sloped approach to the flat area. That will eliminate the gravel in that area and the potential to spin the tires on gravel. I am also contemplating setting some RR ties crosswise where the bus wheels will sit to distribute the weight. At some point I will pave it with concrete, but not until I am sure it is fully compacted and settled.

[Kenneth Brewer]

I know Jon is aware of this, but others may not think of it until they run into problems; be sure the transition from slope to level is gradual enough that the undercarriage midway between drive and steer wheels does not come close to hitting, and that in fact it leaves enough room not to pull off the OTR divider flap/partition under the coach either. This may mean a significant distance to go from slope to flat. We have been in campgrounds that have this problem, incidentally. And there is the exit road in Davis Mtn. State Park, in Texas, where a right turn is made from a slope (up) to the exit road where the bottom right will drag if the driver (me, again) is too stupid to raise the suspension before negotiating something like this.

[Tully]

Jon

I have a 2nd home in Carthage/Gordonsville Tennessee. Land looks very familiar. Hope to be out of Illinois within 5 years and living in Tennesee.

Nice property.
Tully

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ken's observation is correct, and our Liberty coaches are the poster children for high centering.

My bus will be the test mule when I deem the spot ready for a bus. I have a generator baffle which hangs down between the axles and if the transition from the uphill to the flat is not gradual enough that baffle is going to be crushed. I have to deal with that situation now at the top of my driveway and it requires me to raise the front of the coach at the transition.

Eatern TN is pretty, but it seems there are no pretty flat spots.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I pictured that pad next to the garage but you put it half way up the drive.

Nice truck, you'll never sell it.

I raked the leaves out of the yard and cut the grass today. 1st time that ever happened in February in Chicago for us.

Mid 60's sunny, beautiful day. Over a foot of snow melted in a day and a half and it is ALL GONE

[truk4u]

I respectfully request the first opportunity to test the new pad and subsequent visit further up the hill to the pit!

To the TN crowd - Eric, Jamie and King - You snooze you lose.