Åland Move

for Sale!

1985 Bluebird International Bus S 1700 Series

6.9l, 8 cyl. International Harvester Diesel

170.400 original km

11.5 m/37'6" long

2.4m/8' wide

GVWR(GrossVehicleWeightRating) 13.200 kgs

galvanized steel body!!

Toyota Four Runner Drivers Seat

CB Radio and Car Stereo

brandnew brake calipers, hydr. disk brakes front and rear

lots of good rubber, Michelin in front, regrooveable dual wheels rear.

5 Speed Spicer Manual transmission

xtra Vormax, coolant heatable, 2 stage filter w/Racor 5 micron cartridge for Waste Vegetable Oil Use

1000 W Electrical Engine Block Heater Plug for Cold Weather Starts

Large Steel Roofrack

powerfull 520 Watt Solar System on roof, enough power to run electric waffle iron, water kettle, power tools in summer and have full batteries in the evening, in a moderately sunny spot it even got me through the whole winter, using lights, laptop and grain mill whenever needed.

Panels cost $3000

Morningstar 30 A charge controller

brandnew 242 Ah 4 x 6 Volt Deep cycle Battery bank in under floor bay with easy outside access ($600 VALUE)

1000W and 300W Inverters

Dickinson diesel stove and wood stove

aswell as two burner propane stove. (Dickinson Diesel Stove with oven, not hooked up yet, that could be run on Waste vegetable oil just like the bus)

Wood Stove, solid welded steel, glass door, stainless single and insulated pipes and cap, copper flashing

1.86m/6'2" standing headroom

One Main room, for spacious unobstructed uncluttered cozy wooden cabin feel

Walls insulated and covered with cedar and Doug Fir wood paneling for total thickness of @ 4 1/2"

Natural durable bright redorangeish Linoleum Flooring(from cork, wood, linseedoil, resin)

Floors insulated where standing headroom wouldn't have mattered anyhow

Lg Stainless Sink, drain through floor, no stinky tanks or pipes to freeze, Simplicity!!

Uniquely Suspended integrated 5 gal Water Dispenser Unit above sink, using polycarbonate carboysbookshelves above windows

8 Foot workshop space in rear, with workbench and tool storage space

Lots of wooden integrated shelf space overhead for books and stuff,

apple and herb drying racks

Big Bed platform that would sleep 4 when connected across the isle,

Van Seat Sofa next to woodstove and cot near the door on other side of Stove, for additional sleeping and sitting space

Mousefree, Clean, Well organized spaciousness; light, natural earth pigment stained, waxfinished, wooden surfaces

w/Complete Set of original International Harvester Repair and Service Manuals, Electrical Wiring Handbook, as well as performed services book from School District No. 10 Arrow Lakes Bus Maintenance Yard, the previous owner!

more pictures of my Bus-stead http://birchbarkbobananda.blogspot.com

more details below picture section

Moving to Lasqueti Island, Sept 2005


drivers throne and speaker system


details, shelf above windshield, speaker/seat details

stovepipe and hood custom work with copper and stainless


fir ceiling with hatch/skylight

woodstove and stovepipejack

260 Watts of Solar manual tracking device, very handy!

I don't have a homestead, instead I got bus"stead"
on the right preparing for insulating the floor on the sides only, so as to not loose headroom

6 Volt Batteries and charge controller for home battery bank /Bus starting batteries

shelf space for strap-in 5 gallon water dispenser above sink(left),
Apple drying rack around stovepipe

kitchen counter and sink

sheep and snow, summer and winter

workshop and bed area, mostly used for storage lately



view back and forward

lots of good rubber and overall cozy instant place to live and set up shop from

Great charming cozy liveaboard with lots of roadlife/adventure left in it.
complete with 520 Watt Solar System and manual wheeled solar tracking unit to get max output on those days when it matters, enough power to run electric waffle irons and water kettles and power tools in the summer and have full batteries in the evening, in a moderately sunny spot it even got me through the whole winter, using lights, laptop and electric grain mill whenever needed. Unless you are heading to Arizona, you could sell of half the solar panels!

Bus has been used as a home, more than anything else, conversion has been in cozy warm cabin style. Natural Wooden surfaces everywhere, lots of windows for max light, one skylight-vent hatch. Simple and effective for Lasqueti Island off the grid living.

Perfect for anyone wanting to live on the island not ready to buy land yet, but unwilling to pay rent and deal with funky cabins, or someone who has bought land and wants an instant starter place that can be moved to a nice sunny location on it's own wheels and be used to build the dream place from. plus as a bonus: Lots of adventure miles still in this fresh rig.

Mousefree!!! Knock on Wood!

Solid built interior, the beds feel like they have substance and thermal mass, lots of storage space, underneath beds or in workshop at rear end.

No pipes than can freeze, no watertanks that get foul, no stinkin' toilets or leaky showers and their holding tank troubles....

Power is produced on said panels on roof rack
indoor Morningstar 30 A charge controller does the trick of filling
the brandnew 4 x 6 Volt Deep cycle Battery bank in under floor bay with easy outside access and venting

One Main room, to give spacious unobstructed uncluttered cozy wooden cabin feel
Walls insulated and covered with cedar and Doug Fir wood paneling for total thickness of @ 4 1/2"
Standing headroom approx 186 cm/6'2"

Natural durable bright red-orangeish Linoleum Flooring(from cork, wood, linseedoil, resin)
Floors insulated where standing headroom wouldn't have mattered anyhow

Wood Stove, heavy duty welded steel, glass door, stainless single and insulated pipes and cap, copper flashing

2 Burner propane Cooker, and a Stainless Steel Dickinson Diesel Stove, that could be run on Waste vegetable oil just like the bus

Large Stainless Sink

Suspended integrated 5 gal Water Dispenser Unit above sink

8 Foot workshop space in rear, with workbench and tool storage space

Lots of shelf space overhead for books and stuff, apple and herb drying racks

Big Bed platform that would sleep 4 when connected across the walkway, otherwise sleep one each on each side of walkway before arched doorway into workshop.

Radio and CB radio


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OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT


Birchbarkbobananda's Yellow 1985 Bluebird International 6.9l Diesel (170.000 original km) 12m "Sourdough Waffle Pallace" is now
for Sale


let me share with you the "short" of the story why:

"Birchbarkbobananda's-1985-Bluebird-International-6.9l-Diesel-Sourdough-Waffle Pallace" for Sale or not for Sale? that is the question!

Alright folks, for those who don't know yet, it's time to make this announcement, before i will be accused for just dissapearing without a trace!
I'm leaving the island for Europe for a while, again, this time it's a bigger move than just going on a bike trip, like last time, where 3 months turned into 18, and people thought I'd never come back. Still I don't want you to think i won't come back to this cool island with the best beach-combing ever, which I stumbled across 10 years ago in February, because i wanted to meet Allen Farrell.
On the crest of the mentioned Biketrip which i started out with Swiss Dave in 2009 from Switzerland to Finland via Slovakia, I met a very special woman, named Åsa, with 10 year old twin girls and a 5 year old boy, who some of you have met when she came here in miserable November for a couple of weeks.
She continues to amaze me and i would like to try teaming up with her, which is a real big shift for me.
Unfortuanately she cannot take all her children here at this point, so it is me who finds it easier to move about.
AM very much looking forward to doing that as soon as possible, so Åsa, Lucy, Zoe and Charlie and I can fully enjoy adventures in the light nordic summer together at the 60th parallel!
Also i would be closer to aging parents in Germany, my "litlle" brother and my young nieces in south-western Norway, and my European set of friends, plus some of the best bicycling countries and beer in the world.
On the Åland Islands there are lots of bike paths, and all the inter-island car ferries are free for pedestrians and bicycles, almost paradise!



Åland is (pronounced Oland), it is also where the oldest champagne in the world was found last summer by local divers in an old sunken ship (200 y plus, you might have read about it) just a few kms from where my friend Åsa lives.

BBB's European Bike Journey 2009, now on Åland, Finland

Welcome to my travel blog

For the past 6 months i have been bicycling from germany via switzerland and back to germany following the danube river down to bratislava, then bicycling more or less northward through mountainous slovakia, also hiking in the tatras for some days, across poland, lithuania, latvia, estonia, and have arrived on the åland archipelago of finland in the middle of sept. 2009, meeting new friends has really kept me busy and engaged in positiv ways.

thisjourney once again show me how little material belongings one can really get away with. And still i seem to always carry more on the bicycle than i need, I have since May spent probably less than a thousand euros in total, because i have chosen a lifestyle of resourcefulness and improvisation, using my innate knack for creativity.

All of my bicycle's repairs have been done by me, sometimes with assistance of generous people along the way, who lent me certain tools which i had not brought along, or lost along the way,
I most often choose to repair something, than replacing the whole thing, so before the trip i replaced the steel ball bearings in the pedals, after all the bike is my ownership since 1987.
So on bikes like that you can still replace parts, rather than buying a whole new wheel when the rim and the freewheel wore out at the same time in Tallin, Estonia. I just replaced the freewheel, bought a new rim and rebuilt the wheel myself and had it professionally trued/aligned in a shop, in the end it was even cheaper than buying new one, and the time i spent doing it i didn't have to buy from anyone, i woke up with it available to me that day.

Choosing to live simply, really frees ones life from the yoke of slavery.



No loans to pay back for 30 years to the legalized crime syndicates, also known as banksters and moneylenders, know to finance wars since ages and always financing both sides of the front lines, great business, but n one that i am eager to help inflate using my freedom to be human in this world, remaining without bosses and without becoming one myself.

Now here on Åland one of my bike tires has worn out so far that i started looking for a replacement, knowning the rich/wealthy countries to have rich dumpsters, i always turn there first to look for prematurely discarded things, and it takes almost no time at all. The first bicycle shop's back side i looked at, had a huge heap of tires, mostly in bad shape, but from experience i know, there is always someone who chooses to replace both at the same time although, while one is perfectly good.

So i found one the first time. Basically good for at least 7000 km as much as i have ridden since may to get here, and i almost got here for free that way, seeing so much and meeting so many good people (not to mention the trees whose oxygen i breathed, and whose fruit i ate along the wayside, thank you too, so very generous), whose generosity, even in small ways, remains with me as shining examples of what humanity is capable of when their basic needs are met, and they are inspired to share their plenty with others, who then in their turns are led to do so to others down the road, thus upholding a whole "shining wave" or avalanche (less widely known as "pay-it-forward" principle) to use a more dramatic expression for a wave of love pushing ahead of themselves. And it just grows and grows and reaches the far corners of our planet.

Also before the trip commenced i made my bicycle's front panniers and some other bags from thrown away materials such as vinyl covered polyester cloth used for large advertisement signs briefly, and they are then thrown out instead of reusing them...., The bags then got reinforced with a thin price of plywood, found often in old drawer bottoms, discarded by the thousands in cities across germany,

I also make some of my own clothes, that I wear year round, such as pants and windbreaker jackets, the latter made from 100% cotton and reindeer leather.

The clothes that I haven't made most likely came from a second hand shop or the free store on the island in the georgia strait of western canada, or were simply given to me by people who didn't longer have any need for them and thought of me as a good new wearer of them...