In this family vlog episode, Victor Justin Rhodes leads a hands‑on repair of their converted school bus after a belt failure that left them stranded on Highway 37. He walks through diagnosing the problem, removing a shredded belt, locating missing belts, using wrenches and a car jack to pivot components, and re‑tensioning the new belts, all while his partner Rebecca and their children watch, help, and comment. After confirming the engine runs smoothly, the family packs up and drives to a campground near Yosemite, where they set up a flag, play games, and prepare a dinner of Prairie Homestead rump roast, fried green tomatoes, carrots, and kale. The segment blends instructional DIY mechanics, family teamwork, light‑hearted play, and travel logistics, showcasing the challenges and joys of a DIY bus‑conversion lifestyle.
Chapters
I'm nervous. I don't know what's gonna happen.
Well, remember the bus problems we had coming here? Highway 37, half an hour, 45 minutes from our destination in San Francisco, sort of in the middle of nowhere. But what's wrong? This is what's wrong. We came back here and we had a shredded belt. Well, we put on that one new belt, one old belt, Well, we were able to get a whole slew of new stuff. You can call us Boy Scouts now. We are prepared. You guys playing in the backyard here? Yeah, with the new birthday trucks. Hey, how's it feel to be 3 now, big boy?
Good.
Remember how we wondered if that old belt would hold the whole time that you put on a new belt. It held just fine. The old belt's on here crooked, but it's still on here. But look, look how worn out it is. Wow, I'm surprised it's even here. I've got to change out this one belt. I know how to do that, that's easy. We loosen that up, it comes down, we pry it back once we get it on there. Okay, good. This one, this belt seems fine. But it's missing a belt. There's only one here. There should be two. We have belts for that, but how do you get it on there? Well, we loosen that and pivot this and get it on there, but how are you going to get it around? You'll have to do that, that belt first, have these off, and then you have to have these off too. But where do you do that? I think you do that one right here. I think it pivots there, and I think you loosen those. So let's see, let's see if we can get these belts off first. Okay, that one's done. This one's a little harder to get at. I got some better wrenches. There we go, a real wrench. Oh yeah, I got it. Okay, loosening up the pivot point, what I think is the pivot point. Yeah. This should drop. Yeah, it dropped! It dropped!
It dropped!
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. All right, give me my, uh, give me my big car jack there. Let's find a good place to leverage this. Let me just try to put a lot of weight on it. There it goes. That's working. That's as low as I can go. And that's easy. Look, can you see that? Yeah, I got the, uh, the belt off. See, this belt looks fine, but we'll replace it and use this as a spare. All right, Jonah, next. There we go.
That's what that— this was a bad one.
No, it's easy. This one doesn't even need to be a spare, it's so old and bad. Let me show you this. Wow, see, with these off, all we've got left is this one more, and I think it's an easy one. I think it's just right here. Hey, hey, you and the inspector?
Yeah, it's coming.
Make sure it's actually coming really good.
You're doing a good job, Papa.
Thanks. At least it's old, not very electrical. Yeah. Okay, look at that, one belt left, and that's what it looks like. Got my bolt off completely so that I can pivot this more. This is a brand new belt.
Hold on a second, I can't see it. Okay, there we go.
And it's working. I may want to get it on there. Wow, look at that, guys! I did it! Hand me another new one, guys. All right, I was able to leverage this to get that nut back in there. We're gonna get it on there tight but not tight tight, and then leverage it and make it Pull this belt as tight as we can. It's already really tight. We've got the bolts on snug but not tight. I'm gonna try to get a leverage point here to make it even tighter. Oh yeah, look. Oh yeah. That's tight. There we go, it's working. We got these belts on back. I also found a way to drink the Bulletproof coffee you made for me without Oh God, making the cup a big fat mess.
Oh good.
Oh, here.
Thanks, alumina, for the shop cloths. They're really going a long way, buddy. Feel how tight that is. Okay, well, we're gonna see.
Yay, I got one. Oh, can I help too?
Come on, put this one on, Jonah. There you go. Okay, put it around there. All right, it was easier when we didn't That way. Oh, because this is new. Wait, that one's flat quick.
That one's new.
That one has just had one drive and it was that much easier to put on here.
Keep going, keep going, He-Man. Do you need your Wonder Woman?
Okay, keep going, Mommy.
You're Wonder Woman.
You're Wonder Woman.
Are you sure it won't go all the way?
Okay, let's try.
It did before, didn't it?
No, it didn't.
There you go.
How's that?
That's great. Don't pop anything.
Mama, so you're Wonder Woman, Papa He-Man.
How's it feel? Oh wow, it feels real good.
Let me see.
One more down here. Two more down here. Let's put this one on there just so I—
It's going, Josie.
Yep, get it going. You get it on there, you get it started.
Can you hold this though?
Josiah, I think you can do this.
He's on it. Yeah, you got it, buddy. Keep doing it. Keep going. You got it.
Good job.
And then let's just check these one more time. Oh yeah, we needed a little bit more. Okay, you want to try it?
Oh, I'm so scared. I'm nervous. I don't know what's gonna happen. We're not super mechanical, so So like maybe we messed something up if we didn't know. I shouldn't say we, I should say him.
Put me on the line, huh?
No, it was us. It was us. This was total us.
You were out here supervising.
I was supervising.
You ready?
Yep.
It's running real smooth right now. Okay, it's been 3 minutes. Running smooth, running as smooth as I've ever seen it. So we're gonna call it, it's good. We'll check it, tighten it up a little bit more after a day or two. Let's do it. Hey, what a truck system you guys have going on here. Hey, good news, we fixed it. Pop fixed it. They don't care. During the crisis when we were broke down on the side of the road, they're just playing. We're cooking them dinner. Nothing's changed. Nothing changed for them. Oh, I envy them. No worries. The kid life. No worries. Mom and dad take care of it all. 10 states to go. Another travel day today. We're gonna go to Yosemite. Yes, that's gonna be tomorrow, but we got to get there today. All right, let's hit the road. We have arrived. We're at our campground near Yosemite. You putting the flag up, monkey boy? Oh, it looks good. Some determined boys.
Oh wow, I can't do it.
Close. You need help?
Yeah.
Straight down. Smells like cooking oil in here, is that right?
Yeah, I'm just browning this.
What are you cooking us?
It's a rump roast from the Prairie Homestead.
Oh, now you put some onions in there?
Yeah.
What'd you do?
I forgot to pour in my water.
What about your bone broth? When that going? That's what I'm What you like to call it? Water?
Probably turn this off.
Welcome to the Burn It Up Cooking Show with the beautiful one Rebecca Rhodes and her Instant Pot and her 280 square foot bus. It's still a little frozen, actually. Yeah, it is. While dinner cooks, we're just gonna kill some time on the playground.
Okay, let's go.
You got it? Yes.
Okay.
Can you do it yourself? I can't.
You can't?
You can't do it yourself?
I can't. Let me down.
Okay, ready?
Yeah.
Hi.
Hi. Oh, watch out, man.
Is there a car in there?
Yeah, see?
Okay, go, go, go, go!
Get up that hill!
Whoa, whoa!
Oh my goodness sakes, Mama! Oh no!
Oh, wrong way.
No, hit it.
Oh, you can't grab it. You can only hit it.
Uh oh.
You got your own ropes.
Oh, no. Stop grabbing it. Hey, Against a man much bigger than me.
She's grabbing the string.
No! Big paw! No! Oh my God, that was good, Tyler. I don't know, I can't reach it.
Yes, you got it! Oh yeah, I just did what you did.
Oh no, no, oh no, I can do it!
Okay, dang, she's tough.
Let's do that again. Good game.
Let's do that again.
I need to put my I love how they're like, let's do it again. And they did nothing. Okay, you were complaining about me grabbing it, but you would do it in your own way. He would, he would catch the ball.
No, I wouldn't.
It would come and he would get it off of his hands and then—
Hey, Papa, let's just play your game.
Let's go back, guys. Getting close to time to eat. We've got the rump roast. Mama's gonna make some fried green tomatoes. Is it done?
Yeah, I'm letting the steam out. Stop, I'm reading. It's not done. That's— it just seems really hard in the middle still.
It looks cooked. It's cooked, but you can cook it longer because you still have to make fried green tomatoes. Yeah, so beef from the Prairie Homestead, fried green tomatoes from Hardy Nuts Approach.
Yep.
So you cooked it for 20 more minutes. How is it now?
It is fabulous.
That looks good, very tender. And you made some awesome fried green tomatoes, cooked up some carrots really quick. And some frozen kale.
That's right.
What a dinner. Good job, beautiful one. We're gonna eat dinner now. Tomorrow, Yosemite National Park. It's gonna be so good.
