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Zoggy
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:36 pm
Location: Birkenfeld, Oregon
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Intro

Post by Zoggy »

Hi.

I go by Zoggy. I am a single man, a bit of a hippy, fast approaching 40 and at an interesting point in my life. I own 16 acres in the Oregon Coast range, near Birkenfeld, on the Nehalem River. I have been thinking of building a truck house off and on for years, and now find myself in the position to do so, almost out of necessity. I wandered onto this site several years ago (I think, at least before the forum...) and just stumbled back into it.

See, I bought my little homestead about a year and a half ago, after looking for some property to settle down on. Not being as far sighted as I should be, I didn't think about a) a job, b) living in a flood plane, or c) a job. During the last year and a half I learned as to why property is so cheap (no jobs) and found out that during the floods my 16 acres becomes 10 or less acres. During this falls ('07) flood (second 100 year flood in a little over a decade,) I would say I had about an acre and a half. My cabin was well into the middle of the Nehalem, although from the stilts the last family built it up on after the flood of '96 it was spared any real damage. Still... Now I know which acre to build my blacksmith and machine shop on. Lost my vehicle and firewood in the flood, so I am staying with my folks in Portland.

There are more jobs here at least, especially with people with metals experience, so I have been looking for a job in town. Once I get one (should be soon, interviews have been going well,) I am going to buy a rig I can get back to the hills with. I can bicycle around town, but it's 75 miles to the homestead, and my Huffy (and my huffing) aren't quite up to the commute. A small house truck (or house bus) would allow me to make the run once a week or there abouts, and I could camp within bike distance from work in between. I don't have livestock, so I can be away from my hollow for extended periods of time.

I remembered my old dreams of having a small house truck to travel and live in. With flooding on the homestead, I would like to be able to take off and leave in short notice. I'm not really ready to move the old cabin, (or build a new one,) and it's too big for my tastes anyways. If I can get a fully working blacksmith shop together, being able to run my art and tools to farmers markets and craft fairs would be nice. Already setting up a small shop here in town, but I have way more room out in the valley.

Still in the planning stages, but after reading the forums for the last several hours I would hope that I can pick your collective brains when things do get moving. Mostly, I'm just saying hi, introducing myself, and then I will jump in when I get more of a grip as to how things work around here. Going to read more for a bit, as I am a horrible insomniac and I really don't feel like sleeping right now.

So, Hi! Catch you soon. Zoggy.
splummer
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 3:13 am
Location: western maine , the other alaska
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intro

Post by splummer »

hello iam steve , new here but not new to old buses and trucks, i live in western maine ,on top of a mt.just looking at some pics of house trucks and buses and thought this might be a nice place to vist. we own a 87 international x school bus that we use for camping and fairs. we wont be traveling much this winter butwill be soon, way to many projects here at home.
dburt
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Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:53 am
Location: NE Oregon, SW Idaho
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Post by dburt »

Hey Zog, welcome to Sharkey's forum. He has put together a really neat place to share and commiserate together. It's a good thing to bounce ideas and plans off each other, learn from each other, as we used to say- "go to school" on each other.

Used buses are cheap right now, and I would also guess that used trucks in a cab-chassis configuration are down in price also. One truck that I always thought would be an easy conversion project would be a used Penske or U-Haul type cargo truck with a 24-ft van box on the back. You have the basic structure to work with, usually they have a good diesel engine and alots of life left in them. You just add windows, doors and interior components, and you can paint the outside to taste.

A good used bus has it's good points also, and there are plenty of them for sale right now. On EbayMotors the state of Washington sells surplus buses for school districts, and there are some pretty good buys on them all the time. Plus you can go and inspect them in person at thier Auburn sale site so you are not forced "to buy a pig in a poke".

We will look forward to seeing what you choose for your project, and the progress you make on it. Keep posting your questions, thoughts and ideas on making your own mobile dwelling. As we used to say in the good old days- "Keep on trucking man!"
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GoodClue
Posts: 267
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:49 pm
Location: Florissant, Colorado, US
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New Members, Welcome from Doug in his 1946 Cheverolet bus

Post by GoodClue »

Hello Zoggy, splummer, et all ...

Welcome ... great site, great info and support ... now I know where everyone from the 60s/70s went ... To Sharkeys.

Graduated high school 1967, travelled the north and south west every summer either on a motorbike or old pickup. Worked as a part time machinist and draftsman while going to UCCS, Colo. Springs till I dropped out after two and a half years ... no architectural department and I couldn't afford Boulder or KS ...

Delt with the draft and service, Nat'l Guard ... surprised when I wasn't sent to Leavenworth for keeping the guard from shooting hippies at a DU lawschool boycott ... constitutional law students ... where I was a teacher's assistant, questioning authority, trying to understand where the Constitution went ... am still looking for it ...

Did another stint in California where the love of my life was ... Shiela, beautiful, even with her birthmark ... because of her did a little theater and PBS work ... still one of the best times, and most hurtful of my life ... again, another story ...

I've had three welding shops set up and torn down in Colorado, getting ready to put another together. I have both mig/plasma/gas torches and my old hand forge and equipment, anxious to put all of them back to use again. Computer graphics and drafting carried me a while, worked part time for 15 years both with Vince O'brien, stained glass artist until he died ... did churches/synagogs, and a local metal sculptor, B.Buck, who can't kill himself no matter how hard he tries ... took the bus to St. Louis ...he cost me a major IRS settlement, had to start over again ... but art is where the heart is ... all art, including music, Rudy.

Tried a job in Corpus Christi, living in the bus, but Colorado ... Texas ... what can I say? On the road again ...

Settling in for the winter, 8500 feet, skirted my bus once already, till last week's tornado like winds decided otherwise ... took my cat to the vets this morning, infected molar but will be good to go tomorrow again ... every bus needs live in companions ... am going back after lunch to skirt the bus again, lashing the scrap 2" foam board down with more than gorilla tape this time. Hopper will have a warm bus to come back to tomorrow.

Best winter skirting I ever had was at a winter construction job high in the mountains, 10,000 feet, had a pile of scrap windows on the jobsite, placed them at a 45 degree slope all around the bus, oriented north/south. Never froze without a fire, the sun heated the earth under the bus all day, the overlapping glass shed the winds, stayed cozy with minimal use of the woodstove and keeping the snow off the glazing.

Not doing much cut and fit with the odd sized scrap foam board, want to save it for future use, laying it against the bus again at a 45 angle, east/west orientation just because of where I'm renting, to gain more insulated groundspace ... works incredibly well.

Anxiously waiting for the Incinolet toilet I ordered ... another few weeks!

I have a Pop-up Camper (brand name) for needs like you describe, on and off my 92 Toyota pickup easy, much easier on gas than running the bus, tho in 79/80 I commuted daily from Ft Collins, CO to the Husky Oil refinery in Cheyenne, 40 miles distant ... the bus was light, stripped to a bunk, woodstove, and gold canvas roof ... light ... gas was cheap. loved to watch the sun rise as I headed north in the morning, a cup of coffee on the heater cover.

I was a boilermaker for several years, bought a used BMW for the commute ... which led me again back to Montana, BC Canada (Prince Rupert this time) Was headed to Alaska but the November snows put me and the bike on an inland ferry boat to Vancouver Island for 3 weeks, meandering thru the rain to Corvalis, OR, over the McKennzie highway to John Day, where I ran into a job with a land survey company that sent me to Gabbs, Nevada for the winter. Strange, the survey company was the Owens Survey Outfit out of Denver ... per diem was great ...

Eventually back to Colorado and my bus in the mountains caretaking ranches again. A few 2 to 4 year jobs with local engineering companies had me on military posts in Colorado and Germany, then back to Colorado. Not bad for being an army brat born in Frankfurt in 1949 ... came to the states when I was six, spent a year in El Paso, three in the SF Bay area, the Presidio and Berkley, while dad was commandant of a Nike missle base across the Golden Gate bridge, then Colorado Springs, CO. Still feel like and immigrant, but that's another story.

My father passed in 1994, I took mom through bankruptcy, helped save her house, then back to the mountains in my bus. Mom's just turning 90, god bless her, so I'm staying close, within 40 miles.

A twelve year relationship got me and my shop on 41 acres in the Colorado S. Central front range, Aguilar CO, below the Spanish Peaks, cost me my Siberian/Samoid of fourteen years, then back to the high country behind Pikes Peak ...

And now again, in my bus with a cat, getting ready to open up a welding shop/studio on some old mining town lots I've paid taxes on for over 30 years ...

I can't envision getting rid of the bus, my 1946 Cheverolet ... she's been friend and home for so long ... I'd call her Luxury Liner except Emmy Lou Harris has the name on her cruiser ...

I'm in awe with the knowledge expressed by the people on this site, all levels of the forum ... one of the best past-times I have ... no wireless unless I go off property to the closest towns, otherwise I'd be following every eve ...

Keep exploring the site, it's awsome ... even getting music CDs from Rudy. Thanks Rudy ... I hope to respond with my archaeological DVDs when I get a little more settled, been my avocation for years ...

And again, thanks to Sharkey and all ... :wink:
Doug
goodclueproductions.com
Rudy
Posts: 2762
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Strangeweather, Mo.

Post by Rudy »

Hi Steve and Zoggy, Perhaps you could post some pictures of your bus on the bus barn forum, Steve. We would all love to see them. Especially the inside.
Hey Doug, Thanks for the plug about my music. I'm looking forward to see some DVDs you have made.
Steve and Zoggy, keep on posting. There are a lot of friendly folks in this forum, and as Sharkey says, there are no advertisements to distract you from the beauty of all the posts. Ask a lot of questions. I know I certainly do. There are many people here who most likely can answer any questions you have.
WOW! Now that I think about it, I sure would like to see the insides of many of the forum posters' buses and housetrucks. Yeah! Give us some. That will be fun.
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