chris1953

The Summer of 2019 was spent back in British Columbia where the Mack now had a rear deck and awning. We were full-time living in the truck at this time and headed back to Arizona and Mexico when the weather changed. Heading as far South as Santispac before we became aware of Covid 19 and the forth-coming pandemic. We arrived back in Winnipeg at the end of March and have ben here ever since. We are waiting for a vaccination and given up on going anywhere soon. But it has given me time to post all this and i hope you enjoy the story so far. Stay safe, stay well, Happy Christmas and a better New

From Texas, we headed West through New Mexico, into Arizona and down into Baja California. The roads were not that good in Mexico and diesel was expensive but beer and groceries were cheap. We spent about a month south of the border before going to Quartzsite, Az, for the big RV show where we met several other Class 8 Motor Home Conversions.

November 2018 and it was time to go South in order to avoid the cold Canadian winter. Straight South from Winnipeg to the Gulf Coast of Texas and Magnolia Beach before a trip to the Alamo.

To help with noise suppression in the cab, I fitted some Dynamat and carpets. Then it was off to British Columbia for the Summer and the first big trip.

I retired from long haul truck driving in April 2018 and things started getting done a whole lot quicker. A roof rack with 300 watts of solar power. Four big deep cell house batteries and a 2000 watt inverter were added along with new seats and steering wheel.

Finally in September 2017, it was finished enough for the first camping trip.

Slowly it began to come together. Not fast enough for the neighbours who thought the truck would never move again from beside the house.

Finally some warmer weather and I can get on with the outside storage boxes. Fresh water and waste water tanks installed plus a place for my tools.

One year on. Another Winter. Slow progress continues but I get a fridge fitted and the interior starts coming together.

Finally started construction, using as much of the stripped-out materials as possible. Including the Worlds largest knife and fork draw.

I was still driving long-haul, so progress was slow. Stripping out the interior and cutting the stainless steel framing to give more space was first. With hindsight, I should have bought a plasma cutter as angle grinders didn't last very long cutting the stainless.

The journey from Missouri to Winnipeg was an expensive adventure to say the least. The front nearside tire lost it's tread just north of Des Moines in a snowstorm on Interstate 35. Nobody would come out and fix it so the police made me get it it towed. Luckily, the tow company also did tires but wouldn't touch the split rims. In the end, I bought two new 22.5 tubeless tires and the rims to go with them. The tires were 15 years old. Eventually got home two days later and parked the truck down beside the house.

It was Christmas 2015 when I bought 1989 R688 FC from the fire department at Princeton, Missouri. They had bought it from Lakeside Fire Department, near Syracuse, NY, in 2004. It had done 22,000 miles and had 460 hours registered on the generator.

I've been thinking of the R-series Macks that i have seen on my travels. I used to live just down the road from this French haulier; he always had an assortment of American trucks. So i checked Google street images and he still has his Mack.