...for being able to get a 45 foot motorcoach out of the Sioux Falls Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel parking lot without breaking something.
This is why they pay me 'The Big Bucks'
- Thread starter John Backlund
- Start date
I had a 28ft Diesel motor home that got dinged trying to get IN a hotel parking lot! I tore a hole on the side while trying to negotiate the learning curve. Nicely done.
Mongo Park
Tele-Afflicted
Unfortunately you make it look so easy
RodeoTex
Doctor of Teleocity
So you gave in to the camera, or is that your own?
Yikes! And with that rig I would think that even with the mirrors, you kind of hold your breath at times.
The slight hesitation near the end is where I have to take the right side rear tires over a short curb section, which I truly hate to do, but as is often the case with this hotel, it has to be done, just as carefully as possible.
And keep it in mind that this video was taken around noon today, when most of the hotel's guests have left so there's fewer vehicles in the lot to deal with than there is at night when the lot is nearly full, making positioning swings with the bus much more restrictive.
I have another video uploading that I just took as I re-entered that hotel parking lot. I'll post it here as soon as it's ready in YouTube. It's trickier getting in from the street than getting it out from a pre-positioned parking spot as it was in the first video.
And keep it in mind that this video was taken around noon today, when most of the hotel's guests have left so there's fewer vehicles in the lot to deal with than there is at night when the lot is nearly full, making positioning swings with the bus much more restrictive.
I have another video uploading that I just took as I re-entered that hotel parking lot. I'll post it here as soon as it's ready in YouTube. It's trickier getting in from the street than getting it out from a pre-positioned parking spot as it was in the first video.
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I put my phone on a suction cup window mount above and to my left, turned it sideways and pushed the red video button on the screen.
Backing is where you can get into some trouble, these busses don't have any backup cameras, which they should have, but the company apparently doesn't 'view' them as a priority, which I don't understand.
Most of the damage done to a bus this size is done from about the mid section reward, on either side of course. Cutting in too sharp while turning before clearing obstacles to the sides of the bus is a classic scenario.
The bus pivots on the rear drive axle drive wheels, and once that is understood, and you maneuver the bus accordingly, you're, as they say, 'gold'.
You drive the rear of the bus every bit as much as the front.
The front steer wheels are located under and behind the driver's seat, so you can push the nose of the bus forward and over the curb a few feet while slowly, and sharply, turning and still have the tires not hit the curb. It takes a while to learn the capabilities and limitations of these things, but after a while you get a feel for it.....hopefully.
Here's the video of getting back into that hotel lot, taken about an hour ago.
This is when it's relatively 'easy' to maneuver into it, there's little snow piled up on the corners, and a lot of the obstructing cars are gone in the mid day period.
In these situations, you always strategically position the parked bus so that you can get back out again regardless of how others may park their vehicles in the lot, which is a constantly shifting situation.
I parked my bus on the right side of the center lot this time, but would have much preferred to have it taking up a parallel location to my left because going forward from the left has my rear wheels better positioned for the screwy exit turns just ahead, and from the left of this lot, I can get out without running over that curb as I had to in the first video of me leaving the lot.
It's like a chess game.
This is when it's relatively 'easy' to maneuver into it, there's little snow piled up on the corners, and a lot of the obstructing cars are gone in the mid day period.
In these situations, you always strategically position the parked bus so that you can get back out again regardless of how others may park their vehicles in the lot, which is a constantly shifting situation.
I parked my bus on the right side of the center lot this time, but would have much preferred to have it taking up a parallel location to my left because going forward from the left has my rear wheels better positioned for the screwy exit turns just ahead, and from the left of this lot, I can get out without running over that curb as I had to in the first video of me leaving the lot.
It's like a chess game.
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This is the bus I'm driving in the videos, good 'ol #2006, a 2006 MCI J4500. I've been driving this bus on and off since I started in November 2014, and have been driving it regularly for the past several years. It was in better shape when this photo was taken, it's not nearly as nice looking now, as it has a lot of 'body issues', probably a gazillion mile on it, and other than what has to be done to keep it legally on the road, nothing gets updated or repaired on it. When things break or stop working, they stay that way.
But...even so, she's just a big ol 'Schweeeety Pie'....
But...even so, she's just a big ol 'Schweeeety Pie'....
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I think it's piles of asbestos flakes, you know, the same stuff they used in the original Wizard of Oz movie to simulate falling snow in the poppy field scene.
Goes for Econolines and Ryder trucks, as well.
In the early 70's, I had a '61 (I think it was a '61) Ford Econoline long van, three speed on-the-column. I'd love to have a short van version of one of those things. Just a big tin can on wheels, but a great one.
My dad had a Corvair pickup when I was a teenager, he let me use it for dates every now and then.
Cam
Friend of Leo's
Watching that I think ya' need bigger bucks.
You need to flame it. Too much empty white space. Flames or a mural.
How about a mural of a flaming bus going off a mountain road?
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