UPDATES

 
Claude checking out the bus

During a visit with cousins in California, I decided to look at some used coaches at ABC Coach in Garden Grove and took along my cousin Claude (pictured above) for the ride.  While there, I was convinced to test drive an MCI 102A3, (on the freeway no less) but being a bus nut it wasn't hard to convince me.  Purchasing another bus was not my intention at that very moment so we headed home to Vernon.  Once I returned home I started checking on line at the various 102As available on the market and found that the bus I had test drove was a great deal considering it had a recently rebuilt engine and transmission.  So instead of leaving the purchase on the back burner, I decided to bite the bullet and buy it. 

My friend Hank, who is also interested in buying a bus at some time in the near future, decided to come along to keep me company.  To save money on some of the California taxes, I decided to have the bus "exported" to Nevada.  Hank and I flew to LA airport on March 27th and cousin Claude picked us up and drove us over to ABC Coach. 

The coach was all ready to go and a driver (Glen) had been hired by ABC to take us to Las Vegas, which was a great deal because he pointed out some of the features of the coach along the way as well as kept me informed of how the coach was performing.  We stopped for lunch in the Barstow Station, a frequent tour bus stop. 

 Arriving in Las Vegas at 7:00 pm, we met with Glen's boss and the coach was signed over to me.  After a night sleeping in the coach at a Flying J, we hit the road at 4:00 am.  Hank and I traded off driving the coach and now he is even more excited about getting one of his own. 

We stopped for lunch in Salt Lake City, paying a little visit to the friendly neighbourhood Camping World.  We stayed the night in Oregon at another truck stop.  We arrived at the border at noon, spending about half an hour at the US Customs (it would have been much longer if I had not had the paperwork faxed to the US Customs 72 hours previously).  We spent an additional hour at Canada Customs completing the paperwork.  We arrived home late Monday afternoon, a little tired but exhilarated at the coach's performance...1400 trouble free miles.  Now the adventure really begins...

My new bus parked in my home in BC.