You wait for ages then 3 all come at the same time

I'm now a member of a couple of Facebook bus-related groups, including the creatively named 'School Bus Conversion' page, and on there someone posted a link to a Kijiji ad' for a dog-nosed bus in Calgary. Now I'd already decided I didn't really want a dog-nose because of the extra length and poor visibility the front engine creates but this had a high ceiling and a white paint job which could potentially save me two big jobs. It also had a good engine, low km's and storage boxes under.

I decided it was worth a look especially as it was also the ex-shuttle bus from Sunshine Village ski resort so came with a cool (literally, ha ha) history and sent the seller a message asking for more details about the bus - size, transmission, etc. The ad said he usually replied within 2 hours so I was surprised when I hadn't heard back by the next day. Sent him another mentioning his usual response rate and joking that I was feeling ignored. Still no reply. Then I noticed that the ad' had been edited! I sent him another message, noting that and finally got a reply saying, in a somewhat irritated tone, that "Sorry, they'd been busy". Too busy to respond to interest but not so busy that they couldn't edit the ad'?! They suggested that I could always come and just see it. I pointed out that I was a long way away and I wasn't going to waste more time and money after the Van' experience to see something that wasn't suitable. I suggested ways to make answering the questions I had re: measurements easier, said I could come view on Wednesday, a couple of days later, and waited for a reply. 2 days later nothing! I decided to give him one more chance, messaged to ask him if he'd sold it yet and that I could come at the weekend. He replied soon after saying he'd not had time to do anything due to flooding at the family home but that a couple of other people were interested. I decided I needed to push him and said that I was a fair buyer and if the bus was ok for the asking price I'd not be looking to knock him down. That got his interest and me informed that I could come on Sunday. Got his details and said I'd confirm nearer the date.

Meanwhile, I'd had the day off on the previous Monday because I'd had a big, 12 hour work day on Sunday and the weather was spectacular. I spent the morning doing bus research on all sorts of subjects including importing a bus from the US then, as I'd recently got new tires for my bike and had a driving/cycling holiday in Nova Scotia coming up in 3 weeks, decided to go for a ride to try out the tires and get some training in. New boots! (I built this bike in 2003 and I still love it)

On my ride I happened to be passed by a couple of school buses, one a shorty with 'A1 Bus Lines' on its side, and a gorgeous Bluebird operated by Revelstoke School District. One thing I'd forgotten to do in the morning was call the school district to see if they had any info on procuring a bus. Later on I was just cycling back from a dead-end and found the Bluebird turning round at the junction where it had just dropped off a school kid. I hailed the driver and had a quick chat with the friendly lady at the wheel. She had no idea if they'd be getting rid of any buses at the end of the year but encouraged me to call.

As soon as I got back I called A1 Bus Lines, who I found were in Vernon, and spoke to Trevor who, after I told him what I was looking for, said that he had a couple of buses that he would consider selling if I wanted to come down and have a look. This was exciting - more than one bus to look at and, also, from the dry Okanagan so hopefully no rust! He was very amenable to viewing whenever so I said I'd get back in touch when I knew when I could make it down.

I also called the School District but all their buses were supplied by, and disposed of, by the Province, presumably through auction.

A couple of days later Friday revealed itself to be a good day to go down to Vernon so I called Trevor and arranged to meet around lunchtime. A mostly uneventful drive down (other than the crash scene where a semi tractor was being hauled out of a ditch!) got me to a hot Vernon. I'd been awake early so pulled into a fuel station, grabbed some lunch, had a 15 minute nap, then called Trevor to find out where to meet. He was in a meeting for 20 minutes and said that the buses were not at the company address so I let him know where I was and had another nap. Once he found me we drove 15 minutes west towards Falkland to a field where there must've been 30 buses in various states of repair, one having been used as practice for fire-fighters using 'jaws-of-life'.

We talked generally for a bit then he offered to show me his first offering - a rear-engined '95 Bluebird TC-2000 84-seater with a Cummins 8.3 litre, 6 cylinder, 12 valve mechanical injection engine (a very desirable, simple, bullet-proof motor). It also had huge, full-width storage boxes underneath, was in WAY better condition than the Van' bus and had tires with what seemed like 1/2" of tread. It had 340,000 kms on it but that's just broken in for a bus. We took a look at the VIN number, called up a local supplier and found that the transmission was an Allison MT-643, another very desirable component. The first bus we looked at and it was almost perfect - I was stoked!

We took a look at a couple of others but neither were the complete package that the first was. I asked about price and he said $6-7000 which was pretty reasonable, especially compared to the Van' bus. I was starting to feel very glad I hadn't got that one and quite sorry for the young couple who bought it with no service history, no confirmed mileage, almost worn-out tires, etc, etc. This one had a complete service history and even the original factory order sheet listing every specification item.

It had actually come from Sooke on Vancouver Island so not an Okanagan one after all but still, despite all that rain, it was solid underneath. Road salt seems to be the real problem for rust.

Trevor seemed busy and was happy to leave me to crawl all over the bus with my tape measure for a while. I found that it was a good 4-5' longer than the SketchUp CAD model I'd drawn up of my proposed floor plan so hopefully, depending on how things worked out around wheel wells, I'd have more room for the living area. Left feeling very positive, not least because Trevor seemed like a very genuine, honest guy and I like dealing with people like that. I'm sure he got it for less than he's asking but that's ok - I'm happy to pay a bit more to avoid the risk of buying at auction. A great day it was, until I tried to get home and found that there had been another accident on the highway, very close to where the other had been, and the road would be closed for 6 hours while they cleared up. Well, at least I just had to wait and hadn't been part of the accident - it didn't sound pretty.

The following Sunday I headed to Calgary to view the Sunshine bus. I could see from the ad' that it was only an 11-window and probably too small for my purposes but I just couldn't let it go without checking it out. The seller had added a couple more photos to the ad' which showed, despite the sellers claims, that there was a little body rust. I set out in pouring rain, a marked contrast to the beautiful weather I'd viewed the Vernon bus in - it had been raining hard when I viewed the Van' bus and I wondered if this was an omen.

Finding the seller, Kent, proved to be a little tricky as Google Maps didn't really know where he was but got me close enough to figure it out, in the middle of the Albertan prairie, complete with wind and spitting rain. He already had it running and we dived inside for shelter and warmth. Its providence was proved by 'Sunshine Village - Ski Banff' stickers all over it. 

The head height at 6'6" was good but I realised that even with the extra height the windows were the same height so the view, standing up, was still of the curved wall-roof section. It was only 26' long from entry steps back  so 5' shorter than the SketchUp model floorplan I'd drawn up that only just accommodated my needs. A tour around the outside confirmed my loss of interest revealing a dinged rear corner, smaller storage boxes that weren't full width and a rust problem as severe as the Van' bus - I could see that trying to remove anything threaded would be a pain.

We took it for a little drive down the dirt road outside his place and everything seemed harsh, rattly, worn out, etc. That might have been largely to do with the state of the road but it sealed the deal for me - no deal. I'd been right about the weather!

I rang Trevor in Vernon in the afternoon just before I went into the town Library/Aquatic centre to do some 'office' catching up away from my digs. I confirmed my purchase and we figured out details of payment and delivery over the next month - I was going to be away from the 10th to the 28th May, wouldn't be getting my Air Brakes training and endorsement until June 3, if I was bringing it back then I had to get all the seats out prior to comply with BC licensing for my class of license, etc so it wasn't as simple as just going, paying, and taking away. He still had to replace some minor parts they'd scavenged to keep another bus running while they waited for spare parts.

I'd already called an acquaintance, Keith a speciality lumber sawmill owner, that I'd discussed renting a piece of his sawmill property from, to park and work on the bus, and maybe even live there while I did, hoping to discuss and confirm that deal, but hadn't got through. 10 minutes after sitting down in the waiting area of the Centre (the library was closed Mondays) he emerged from the changing room! That explained why he hadn't answered but didn't explain why these random incidents keep occurring - I'm gonna stick with the Universe continuing to confirm I'm in alignment with it and doing the 'right' thing.

That seemed to be confirmed when, as I left Golden where I’d stayed with friends over the weekend that morning, I decided to drive past my old house that I’d sold a couple of years previously. To my astonishment, in the driveway of an old next door neighbour, was a dog-nosed skoolie conversion, complete with a newly-sheeted ‘window band’ and new RV windows. 

You just can’t make this up.

Faith restored..

My trip to Van' hadn't been completely wasted but I still wanted to get as much out of it as possible so I decided to see if I could view another bus I'd had my eye on for a while as I'd be passing close by its location in Chilliwack. It was a long way out of my budget at $15k but it was intriguing because it was claimed to be an Arizona import. Having seen the amount of rust on yesterday's bus I wanted to compare.
I found the ad' again and was surprised to see that the original offer of two near identical units at $15k each, with a deal to be had if you bought both, had changed to just the one at $20k!.. While struggling to make any sense of that I contacted the seller and asked if I could just drop in to view it and to my pleasant surprise he was happy to meet me. I just had to let him know when I was 5 mins away and he'd pop over from wherever he was.
I met Neil at 1.30pm at the back of the Chilliwack Travelodge where he had 5 buses of various makes and models that they used for charter services. The one I wanted to look at, an International, was taking workers up to a local LPG construction site that had limited parking.
He was happy to show me around the bus, once we'd removed a homeless persons stuff from inside the entry. Apparently he had a regular problem with them using the buses as storage and sleeping accommodation. The bus was 12 years younger than the Van' bus but the rust difference was startling - not a sign anywhere. I started thinking seriously about importing one - a little hassle to begin with, including having to leave it at the border for 3 days while paperwork is checked which was new useful info to me, but a much better platform after. I discovered that all the buses he had there were imports and interestingly, he showed me a Thomas from Missouri that was similarly rust free. I'd heard that all Mid-West buses were rust-buckets due to the amount of salt they use on roads in winter but this one seemed to disprove that.
Also interesting was learning about the differences between regular school buses and 'activity' buses which essentially look identical but have larger storage lockers underneath and wider spaced seating - the latter is of no interest to me as they'll all be coming out anyway but the former is of definite interest - if you're living in 320 square feet storage options are gold.
 Neil was super-friendly, seemed as honest as a stick and a gold-mine of useful info having been a driver for years. I left with my faith in humanity restored and a better feeling about continuing my search.

Some people.. Sigh

I'm just about to head back to Revelstoke and the mountains from Vancouver where I've visited a couple of friends, got some useful chores done, and viewed my first bus! Unfortunately I won't be taking the bus back with me.

After a week of figuring out what specification I want for my bus and a couple of days of searching all over North America for suitable vehicles, and sources of the same, I came across an ad' on Craigslist for one that looked almost perfect and it was 'only' 600km's away on the coast. Given Revy's location I knew I probably wouldn't be finding one on my doorstep so was prepared to travel to find the right one and, having friends and family in Van', have no problems finding excuses to go there especially at this time of year as the cherry trees are in bloom and leaves are starting to sprout everywhere. The morning I left it was snowing heavily again when I woke up so signs of Spring were particularly welcome.

I spoke to the seller a number of times before agreeing to drive down and determined that it needed some work to pass inspection but that the seller would be paying for that to be done - approx $1200 worth. He seemed pretty honest and was very open even sending me an inspection report that had the mechanics contact details on it. That, however, was the first point at which I thought he might not be being completely straight with me. He had described some 'surface rust' on the chassis but the report stated 'cross-member rotted threw' (sic). I then asked him to be completely honest so as not to waste the time and money I would be investing to drive so far and he stuck to his story that it was nothing major. Feeling somewhat reassured I agreed to drive down.

The night before I left he started talking about me paying for the temporary insurance and test driver that was required which I wasn't happy about given how much I was investing and felt it was fair that he paid for that as his contribution to getting a sale, or at least 50%. He then suggested that the cost wouldn't be that much as it would be split 3 ways but didn't expand on why when I asked why other than 'Do you like surprises?'. I ended up agreeing to contribute $30 if, after looking it over, I was interested in a test drive. When I confirmed I was coming down on Monday I suggested after lunch for a look over and test drive was better for me. I then discovered that he'd already booked the test drive but hadn't let me know when. At that point I probably should've known how this was going to go.

By the time I left the snow had stopped and it was brightening up which I was very grateful for. It was a pretty uneventful drive down, mostly sunny until I hit the coast range at Coquihalla and the familiar Lower Mainland clouds and rain. One notable exception to that was an LED sign in Salmon Arm that flashed a new message as I passed it.

The bus I was going to look at had air brakes which requires training, certification and endorsement on your licence to operate so I'd researched where & when I could do that. Revy had a course but not until June and the nearest alternative was Salmon Arm in a couple of weeks. If I bought the bus it would take a little time to have the required work done anyway and I enquired about temporary storage if required which apparently wasn't a problem for a reasonable fee. A couple of weeks would allow plenty of time to get all necessary aspects wrapped up ready for a big drive back.

So, as I passed the sign it flashed up 'Airbrakes April 27-29' and I realised I was at the college where the course is offered! Now, I love coinkydinks like that, and it made me feel that the Universe was giving me a little nod to let me know I was on the right path despite my reservations. Had it not flashed right at that moment I would probably never noticed it.

I stopped by the depot location that I'd sleuthed the bus was stored at on my way into Van' because it was just off the highway but there was no sign of it. It was good to know where I would be heading in the morning anyway.

The test drive was booked for 11 so I aimed to be there before to have a good look over prior to any test drive. I took the opportunity to call the mechanic to ask if he remembered inspecting the bus and asking him if he'd mind giving his thoughts on it. He was more than happy to and told me that as a school bus it was on it's last legs, the certification requiring a higher degree of safety & condition that private ownership does, but that as a mobile home it would be fine. He also told me that the seller was a little desperate having not paid storage fees for some time. I arrived at the depot in pouring rain, met Don and was there for 20 minutes, having a chat and a prod here and there, when a couple showed up and I found that they were the 3rd party who were also interested in the bus! This thing had been on Craigslist for 2 months and the day I decided to look at it.. ??!! The bus was a little rustier in the body than I hoped for and the chassis definitely had a little more than surface rust but for '92 it seemed generally sound - they are built like tanks after all. The test drive went well with everything working smoothly and cruising at 100km/h was fine. We got back to the depot and I went to carry on with finishing my checklist. 5 minutes later I stuck my head into the bus to ask a question, to where the couple and Don were talking, and found them shaking hands on a deal! I was gob-smacked. I hadn't even been offered an opportunity to make a bid. I had wondered how this would go if we were both interested but I wasn't expecting that. Having invested all that I had I couldn't believe that he hadn't asked if everyone was interested and, if so, to make their 'best offer', the highest to be accepted.

The old me would have been livid but new me is a lot more accepting that some things are just not meant to be and that's ok. I asked how much they'd agreed on and it was only $6200! He'd told me that he'd already had that offered previously but he'd refused it. I told him that I had been thinking to offer $7000 as a win/win between that amount he didn't like and his asking price so his underhand-ness had meant he'd missed out. I congratulated the couple on their purchase and told Don, with a smile, that he a was a dirty dog. One more blow to the image I had in my head that all Canadians are straight-up, fair and honest people.

In the end, it was the first bus I had looked at, it had been a useful and informative experience and I'd got some other things out of the trip so no hard feelings but I let Don know later, by email, how disappointed I was at how he'd acted.

So, onward and upward from sea level back to 500m altitude in the heart of the mountains and more perusing! 

Allow me to introduce myself!

Hi!

Welcome to my blog. My name is Adam, I’m 51, a British Canadian living in BC, Canada and I’m just starting out on the journey of buying an old school bus to convert into a mobile home. I only arrived at the decision a couple of days ago, having spent some considerable time thinking about options, trying to find one that suits my current existence.

I was a regular home-owner/occupier until a couple of years ago when a series of unfortunate incidents found me with what was left of my belongings in a 6x10’ storage locker, my same-sized cargo trailer and what was left from my house sale in the bank and me with no home.

I was in Victoria, BC Canada, wasn’t feeling very positive about finding a place on my own - I had no full-time job, vacancy rates were 0.5%, prices were exorbitant and I just didn’t want to be alone. So I disappeared to an ashram in the Bahamas for the winter and had a great time meeting and living with many amazing people, enjoying the warm weather and doing a lot of yoga and picking up trash on the beach.

3 months later I was back in BC and talking to an ex-colleague again about the possibility of buying land together with a group he’d assembled to form a co-creating community on the Island. I loved the idea of creating a version of the ashram at home but a problem was that I had enough money to buy in but not to build anything, let alone buy something temporary to live in in the interim. If one word describes me it’s ‘perfectionist’ and perfectionists have real difficulty with starting anything if we can’t see how it will work out and work out well, so I struggled with the details and practicality of that. In the meantime I had found that I was invited to attend two family functions in Europe in the Summer, followed by a couple of months work in the mountains for another ex-colleague. Without a job, I was reluctant to try to find a place to live if I was then going to leave it empty for months in a couple of months time. So I moved all my stuff back to a friends newly-bought piece of land in Golden, BC, parked up my trailer there, stayed and worked with him for a few months then set off. Since then I’ve been regularly moving, going from job to job, travelling a little, generally not spending time in any one place for very long and really enjoying the freedom and variety. 

That said, I also miss having my own place. I get frustrated when I find I don’t have something I own because it’s somewhere else - most often in my trailer, 750kms away. In addition, I’ve been very fortunate to have been staying with friends, family and employers the entire time I’ve been back, which has been very friendly and very economical, but sometimes you just need your own space.

Why have I chosen a bus? I need a place to live but I don’t feel located anywhere. Part of the reason for that is that I now don’t have a full-time job so I don’t have to be in any one place. I have friends and family all over BC in particular but also the rest of Canada and the US. I’ve worked in a number of places since moving out of my last ‘bricks & mortar’ home but have had to rely on the hospitality of friends and family for  accommodation and also accommodate living with them.

I’ve enjoyed not spending the last few winters in the Great White North so the ability to move south and live economically when it starts getting cold and grey is very appealing. 

I have a long-term plan to build a cabin/small house on a piece of land somewhere and will need somewhere to live when I find a place, and the money, to do that.

I can design/build it out exactly as I want it. I could buy a ready-made RV or mobile home but then I have to live with someone else's taste and layout, etc, etc and I don’t get the fun of designing and building such a project. 

Lastly, I can tow my cargo trailer with it meaning I can take all my toys and tools wherever I go. 

Why not one of the other options? I looked at and considered most of the alternatives: a ready-made RV, a camping trailer, tiny home and a container conversion and these were my reasons for rejection:

RV - the main reason is their cheap, plastic interiors in varying degrees of bland tackiness. 

Camping trailer - As above but also that I couldn’t tow a home and my tool trailer.

Tiny House - 120 square feet is too small for me and even larger ones wouldn’t provide enough space to be comfortable. I’d require a larger truck to tow it and even then, as above, I’d be unable to haul my tool trailer too.

Container - Transportable but not easily particularly of a size that would provide enough space.

I’ll be posting about the trials, tribulations and tributaries I paddle up and down trying to find out stuff about buses, find a bus, find stuff to do to my bus and stuff to put in & on it, and maybe even finding myself, as often as I can. 

I hope you enjoy the ride with me :)

N'om'ad(am)