Walking Upright in the New Bus . . .

      The sky clouded over, and the temperature dropped a tad bid.  I went aboard the Big Blue Bus, opened the windows and roof hatches and continued working at floor level.  Today I focused on the bubble gum scattered throughout the bus and on cleaning all the bolts and nuts and screws out of the floor seat-attachment tracks.  
What it looked like when I started.
      For this fun activity I donned my knee pads and earplugs.  The knee pads because I am on my hands and knees attacking the bubble gum with a sharpened spatula (broadknife), and the ear plugs because the shriek of the shop vac threatens to rip the top of my skull off, gripping it by my ears and even my eyes . . . not pleasant.
First a/c unit on the floor!
     All this time I am walking around the bus in a semi-crouch, being careful not to scalp myself on the zip-sawn ends of the aluminum track supporting the interior air conditioning units.  I had gotten everything else except the  driver's side rearmost end cap off the ceiling and those a/c units.  I had thought I might be able to salvage them for resale, but, you know what?  That is way too much work for so little a return.  
A/C unit #2 still in place.
      I removed the bolts I could with the impact wrench; I removed the screws I could with the right-angle screw gun, ground off the rivet heads with the grinder, pried the dis-riveted connections apart with the crowbar, and sawed partway the remaining structural members with the reciprocating saw.  It sagged; then I whanged it a good one with the crowbar.  Straight to the floor with actually terrifying suddenness.  I had taken the precaution of wearing safety goggles and gloves along with the earplugs. I also stood as from from the blessed thing as I could.  This is when the narrowness of the bus gets pounded home.  OK; that's one.
The bus is emptied, and I can walk around upright without
fearing head injury.  I pretty much leave the windows open
to let the wee beastie air out.

       I repeated the process with the passenger-side unit.  Beginning with severing the copper lines that once carried freon and condensate through the system.  The second one came down easier, face-planting itself on the gray linoleum floor.  Hot Damn!

       I took the precaution of setting up a 2x4 trackway out the window to slide the a/c units into/onto the scrap heap outside the bus.  It mostly worked for its entire ten-foot length, but what it did best was keep the steel and aluminum juggernauts away from the bus's painted sides.  (The color of the bus just screams, "They can take our lives, but they can't take our freedom!")

      Then I just swept up and called it a day.

      Life is way, way good, y'all.




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