We wrapped up Vail Colorado with Matts childhood friend Gavin, you saw him in our honeymoon post from 2017. Now he’s officially “Uncle” Gavin!
It’s such beautiful country up there! We were sad to leave but excited to get back, with only an overnight stay in Oklahoma we kept on driving. Shanti is such a great traveler! She was either talking to me or snoozin away.
3000 miles in 10 days leads us back to Arkansas where our bus was eagerly waiting for us to return home.
This weeks goals for the bus is to install the floors and start the exterior paint. The flooring is being provided by my families business out of Hot Springs Arkansas. O’Bryan Family Floors is a well known local company that offers quality product with a personal touch. We are so proud to support the family that’s actually let us live on their property in the mean time. 
You can see our current location by reading The wheels on the bus go to Arkansas!
Painting sounds like a quick task, or at least it did to me, but turns out there are a few steps that make it a 10 day process! I’ll make an entire post about those shenanigans once we’ve completed the challenge.
Before painting, it’s necessary to prepare the surface. We power washed it in order to get rid of any dirt, rust and buildup that would be in the way of sanding it down. Proud to say I got the privilege to attack this task! There’s something extremely gratifying about aiming and firing with force at a beast of a vehicle. This left me with muddy feet, sore shoulders and a natural high… and no pictures of it. Boo.
Meanwhile, Matt was scrubbing down the top to get it ready for the first coat. We’ve picked out the color scheme for the entire bus (to be announced later) but for the top it’s a white silicone based product. We chose this not only for the clean look, but it also seals the roof and helps reflect the sun giving us a cooler interior temperature. 
After the prepping we had all of the boys in on the for a Sunday Funday paint day!
Unfortunately the photographer of the day, Lacie Lane, didn’t get in any of the pictures! Next time we’ll get proof she’s there.
The boys finished up at sundown which meant it was time for games, guitar and family… what a perfect way to end the Sunday Funday! We didn’t get too many photos, but here’s a few someone snuck. Clearly a bundle of smiles all night! 
A HUGE thank you to Bryan, Reggie, Dane, Jessie, Lana and Lacie for the extra hands and amazing energy!! Lub Lub Lub
Next step: Scraping, sanding and another solid wash. Sneak peek!
…and year after year…
Ben and Rachel, I wish you all of the happiness and growth a marriage can bring. We love you so much!
Here’s a typical 6am roadside diaper change in front of a gas station that didn’t have a changing table. Nailed it!
Check out the sign they put on our beauty queen. (It says “this is not trash”). Priceless.
So Matt decided to contact Steve (the magical mechanic from back home) to see if there was an alternative. Steve said that it wasn’t hard to fix as long as you had the right tools and instructions. With that said, Matt was willing to park our beast road-side and do it himself! During a phone conversation, we got the most unexpected news, Steve was going to drive all the way to help Matt fix it! Sure it was only a few hours round trip, but would you want to drive that after working all day!? Here we have yet another helping hand willing to contribute to our journey. We’re so grateful! Fast forward through the evening, Matt and Steve got the bus dialed in and it’s ready to roll. 
8pm seems like an ideal time to check in for a good nights rest however it’s also the perfect time for Shanti to sleep through the drive, so we decided to skip the bed and keep on trekking.
Her Happy Trails 