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  Bret Blakeslee
Bret Blakeslee
  Bret Blakeslee

The Bus Is Gone

Damn, Damn, Damn!!! I was driving down the street in Tempe and smoke started spewing out of the dash. I look back at the vents on the back side of the bus and fire is pouring out of them. No wonder the damn thing's running rough.

I stop, get out, pull a few things out and wait since there's nothing I can do not having a fire extinguisher with me yet. A couple of guys with an extinguisher stop and we empty it into the vent since the engine compartment is locked and I'm not going to get close enough to unlock it until the fire goes down a little.

It doesn't. It increases. The upshot is it burned to the ground. It melted parts of the body and chassis. I got a small box of tools out of it unharmed. That's all. My Persian concert rug, the air conditioning, seat heaters all around, disk brakes, 200 hp engine, all the future parts to install, everything I've done so far, it's completely gone.

I've been kinda down for a while. I got a good settlement from the insurance company but it doesn't help too much. I'm still kinda down. I worked on that bus for 4 years. Put a lot of heart and spirit into it. Made it a pleasure to ride in. It burned to the ground along side the road. All I could do was watch, tears streaming down my face. And I can't build it again. It would hurt too much, and I don't have the money.

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