camping, Evangola, Evangola State Park, School Bus, school bus RV, Skoolie

A Return to Evangola State Park

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So, the beginning of October saw us getting a few days of time out camping at Evangola State Park.  We had some heavy rains on Wednesday and Thursday, and there was standing water at a number of the places in the campgrounds when I arrived on Thursday. Huzzah for wellies! (Especially with the standing water all along where I could position the door.)

The bus at Evangola site 18
Site 18 at Evangola State Park.

We got site 18 which was farther away from the cliffs than I would have wanted, but it was one of the few sites left for the weekend, which really surprised me.  The loop that our site was on only had 3 other RV/campers parked when I arrived, and being that the main area of the loop is a big grassy field, they were easy to see.

A clean bus!
A nice clean bus!

One upside of having participated in the Buffalo’s Mini-Maker Faire was that the bus was really nice, clean, and organized!  The site was pretty nicely leveled, and had some nice woods right behind.

The view of the Master Bedroom.
The view of/from the Master Bedroom.

After arriving, the rain tapered off enough that I could get a fire going, once I elevated things enough that they were above the water level. letting me cook dinner.

Open Fire Dinner
Cooking dinner over the fire!
I mag di cookie
I mog di = I like you! (in Bavarian)

While I was doing that, I was visited by a woman with a bit of an accent who asked a bit about the bus.  It turned out that she was from Bavaria, and travelling with her parents.  After a bit of back and forth, they ended up coming over for a nice evening with some wine and conversation.   As they left the next morning, they gave me a lovely Bavarian Oktoberfest cookie (decorated gingerbread!).

The windstorm over that night made the beach into a more interesting place.  The beach at Evangola has a base of a shelf of shale, and the huge waves had pushed/pulled the sand away and exposed the stone below.  Again, good waterproof boots made for an enjoyable walk, and as the sun came out, the sighting of some fossil wood in the shale!

Evangola Beach post-storm
Evangola Beach without so much beach …
Fossilized wood in shale
Just offshore at the beach, a fossilized branch or small tree trunk?)

The rest of the day was full of relaxing, cooking, and hiking along the cliff trail and beach.  Meanwhile, back at the campgrounds, the sites quickly filled, to the point that it looked like a summer weekend, not a cool one in the fall!

Evangola Beach from the cliff
The calm after the storm – looking at the beach from the cliff trail.

Clear waterThe clear water over the clean shale-layered shelf.

There was also time enough for a game of Affliction: Salem 1692, a game that we picked up at UBCon a couple of years ago.

Affliction: Salem 1692
A nice game of Affliction: Salem 1692

Later we had some fire- and candlelight for the bus.

The bus by firelight
The bus by firelight.

The next day we stayed to take a class on making tetrahedral kites, and made one out of recycled/used materials before going home.

Once again, this was an enjoyable trip.  But, next time we come, I want to make sure that we get a cliff-side site for that spectacular view, and the sound of the surf.

Buffalo Mini Maker Faire, learning, Maker Faire, School Bus, school bus RV, Skoolie

Buffalo’s Mini-Maker Faire

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So, on September 28th, we got to present at the Buffalo Mini-Maker Faire at the Park School. The idea behind Maker Faires is to showcase things that people are doing with their skills, ways they are reusing things that have worn out their intended lifespan, encouraging people to think creatively, and to empower, engage, and encourage people to do things like this themselves. Craftspeople, inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs were all in attendance, manning booths, giving hands-on demonstrations, and answering all manner of questions.

While my wife was doing a community embroidery display, my son was teaching kids how to solder, and our friend was off making art, I got to show off the bus. We were in a sort of ‘vehicle area’, and the bus was right across the road from a very cool vintage VW Campervan and a boat that was built by local students.

I brought out a solar panel for display, even with the cloudy, rain-threatening afternoon. (Though I really wish that I’d had the time and materials to give it a new coat of paint – what’s there is still the Rustoleum that I put on in 2008!)

I set up a couple of laptops to do slideshows of pictures of the bus in progress, and show some of the dashcam videos, and a few of the books that I have. And of course, people could come right up on the bus and look around.

I got a lot of kids who were amazed by a school bus that wasn’t a school bus and several adults who wanted to do something like building out a skoolie, but felt too intimidated by the prospect.  At some level, even though our bus isn’t done, the in-process aspect seemed to make people realize that it’s a big project and it doesn’t all have to be ‘finished’ to be fun.

And that’s a great take-away from an event like this.  Hopefully, we’ll get to do it again next year.

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An Update …

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So, you may have noticed less activity than usual in my blog, and that’s because a whole bunch of things have conspired to have the bus just sit since our fun camping trip in April.

ButI finally got some time (and cooler weather for Buffalo), and got everything cleaned up and organized, and the bus is now refueled.  Hopefully this fall will be a bit more exciting, even if I don’t end up getting a lot of work done with overhead storage, the LP system, or the water system this year.

We all have to recognize what we can and can’t do, given the opportunities and limitations that life affords us.  I’m going to try and do my best, and I hope all of you do the same!

Good luck!

Rebuilding a school bus into a rolling house.