Welcome to the Fam Atlas

Long time no see! Holy smokes, riding the wedding wave pretty much took it out of us. Jeremy’s twin brother got married and that was the better part of a week to get that all ready, and then we attended another wedding a few hours away two days later. When that was all over we got right back at it with the bus, and here we are both run down and feeling sick. Just trying to get as much done as we can while we have tools like the welder etc. In a few days we head back to where we call home for now, Driggs, Idaho. But our hard work is paying off because it’s looking epic! And for such an epic bus we needed an epic name, and it finally just came to me: Atlas! The name comes from the Titan god of endurance and astronomy, who revolted against the Olympians. His punishment from Zeus was to stand at the edge of the earth and hold the heavens on his back for eternity. Harsh much? Who’s to say. Anyways, the name fits the bus’ personality perfectly. Bad. Ass.

So we have a lot to catch you up on. We left off with a rusty floor and a baby blue paint job. Jeremy ripped up the plywood from the floors and realized it was COMPLETELY rusted over. All of it was toast, even a couple small spots where it was rusted all the way through. EEK! So that added another step for us, but a necessary one if we want to extend the structural life of the bus. So if you’ve never heard of rust converter, and you need to get rid of rust, check dat out. It worked like a gosh darn charm. First all the rust needed to be grinded off as much as possible. Then you paint on the magic potion (rust converter), which turns the rust black and stops it from rusting any further. On top of that he painted a coat of glossy black enamel. What a mess though, Jeremy was coughing up rust, blowing completely rusty boogers (he was wearing a mask, but it didn’t do much). There was just sooo much rust. His hair looked red and his skin looked sunburned by the end of it. I was slightly worried for his health. But them Holmstead genes are bulletproof, if anything he’ll probably just get sweet spiderman-like super powers. We’ll see, I’ll keep ya posted. So the floor be lookin good now, and on top of that went the insulation boards covered by particle board.

Rust storm, cough cough

On goes the rust converter

Mismatched socks, but honeybadger don't care

The finished black enamel coat

Caulking any holes from screws in the floor, make that floor hella water proof

Gary and Jeremy starting to frame the walls

I’ve taken on all the painting duties, with some help from the gang with taping (thanks team Holmstead!) It’s hilarious because the metal and wood work is the really laborious stuff, but that doesn’t bother Jeremy at all, it’s the painting he REALLY does not like. Which is funny because it’s the total opposite for me. Anyways, it makes for a good team. So he ended up inside the bus, and I’m outside.
Firstly, guys, sooo many bugs died in the painting of this vehicle! No, I don’t feel good about it, but seriously I’d be painting and they would fly DIRECTLY into it. There was nothing I could do! Sigh. Moving on, because that’s all that we can do… To prep the bus for painting I first had to rough up the previous yellow surface by lightly sanding it. I laugh to myself often while working on this bus. When you say it in your head it sounds so simple, “I’m just gunna sand down the bus now.” And there I am in the most awkward positions, or on the top of the bus slightly scaring myself making sure I get everywhere. We really missed a great photo op when I was painting underneath the front windshield. There is this awkward little lip you need a small brush to get at, and at some points can’t reach from the ladder. So picture this, I’m laying down on the hood of the bus on my stomach, head towards the windshield, feet dangling. The bus hood is slanted down, so to keep from sliding off I have to hold on with one hand to a seam on the hood, and the other hand I’m painting. Hilarious. Anyways, the paint job is just about completed now. The first coat we put on was really light and from far way looked powder blue…not that we’re going for any “certain” look… but we’re definitely not going for the powder blue look. So the second coat we got it right. I joked that you never really know how big a full size school bus is until you have to paint it. By hand. Several coats. It's BIG.

Oh hayyy

Thrilled

Jeremy's short lived help with painting. Das ok, he's crushing it inside the bus

Pretty cute though hey

Ayyy!

Good lookin dude

Inside the bus Jeremy and his pops Gary were working on framing, insulating, and figuring out the electricity/plumbing. They got the framing for the bathroom done, and now some of the really fun stuff is starting to happen. We have wood up on the ceiling that still needs a glossy clear finish at some point. Also, some of the trim work is coming together. This is where I love to see Jeremy’s creativity come out. He’s been using wood with raw edges to get an organic look. We also have some old barn wood that, when sanded down, be lookin pretty sharp! And, no it wasn’t necessary, but we got the bull horns up! Epicccc! I thought they’d look sweet on the outside of the bus, but the boys worried they wouldn’t weather well. The final resting place is still pretty sick though! (see photos below)
Before we head out Jeremy is trying to finish up these metal baggage boxes that will be welded under the bus. The underside of the bus is pretty spacious, so to use that room to our advantage he is making these big ol’ storage boxes. It’ll be great for stuff like skis and snowboards. It’ll also be a great space for firewood storage since we’ll have a wood burning stove. This weekend I’m going to start working on the composting toilet, which we’ve read really great things about. So this is where we find ourselves. Until next time!