So, this month has been a rough chapter in the story of my housebus. It’s a real Bad News, Good News, Bad News situation and it’s not over yet, as I’ll get to. For now, here’s the bullet points:

• Dec 1: Started the month off with a bright, fresh Tow Notice on my bus window, a special birthday present to me from the city of Portland. After more than a year now of arguing with neighbors and getting threats from my landlord over where the bus was parked, I seriously considered just throwing in the towel and letting the city take the bus. That was my plan the next day when I started the day, before my partner convinced me to keep trying. We are moving in another month or so, so I won’t need to deal with this neighborhood for long, and there might be a street near the new place that will be less likely to get attention. Tow notice had a standard 72-hour window, so I eventually figured I could move it to the current apartment’s parking lot for a few days to show that it’s not an abandoned vehicle and start the clock over.
• Dec 2: Moved the bus into the parking spot at my apartment to buy a little time, do a little work, and load up some of the large bus-related items stacked up in my side yard.
• Didn’t get around to doing the work or loading the items onto the bus before…
• Dec 8: …my landlord left a voicemail complaining again about the bus, demanding that I remove it from his property, and threatening to get a property management company involved to have them tow it.
• Rolled my ankle while I was rearranging some of the building materials in the bus, keeping me from even being able to drive it, let alone loading up the bus materials I was hoping to load in.
• Dec 10: After a couple days’ rest but still frustrated over the whole struggle, I ended up managing to move the bus back to the street outside, rather than trying to coordinate moving it across town to the new place. Couldn’t go back to the same spot I’d been in last weekend since the neighbors were camping their car there now – specifically to keep me from going back – so instead I went around the corner to another large, regularly vacant spot next to a massive overgrown hedge.
• Dec 11: Received an anonymous text message from a neighbor I hadn’t communicated with before, kindly asking me to move the bus as it impacted their ability to get in and out of their home. I went out and double-checked that I wasn’t blocking any driveways or anything, and wrote them back.
• Dec 12: Despite the bus being in a different location than previously parked, and a full week after the date I was told they were going to tow it, the bus got towed. Of course, I didn’t find out until…
• Dec 13: Yep, the bus was gone when I left to run my errands for the day. After I got home I was able to figure out which impound lot it had been towed to, and to see the bill I’d have to pay to get it back (a little over $1000 in fees and fines, way beyond what I’ll be able to afford for the rest of the year). I drove out to the lot with my ownership papers in hand and was allowed to at least collect my personal stuff off the bus – my load of tools and electronics, basically anything that wasn’t dedicated for use in the bus and that would fit in my car. I didn’t take any of the furniture or building materials – the flooring, insulation, wiring, any of that – since I’d picked all that up specifically for the bus.
• Said my farewells to the bus, in case it turns out that I never see it again, and came home.

So, yeah, that’s where it stands right now. The bus is at the impound lot, waiting to go up for auction probably later this month. I’ve got the auction site bookmarked so I can check it every day to be ready. Judging from previous auctions from the same tow yard, it’s entirely possible that I’ll be able to get the bus back for less at auction. They had a couple buses go unsold on their most recent auction, each for less than half of the current fees on my bus so who knows, maybe I’ll get ‘lucky’. If I’m not able to buy it back, it’ll end up getting sold for scrap. I hate the fact that I’m basically going to have to buy my bus all over AGAIN, but that’s how it is.

I also want to talk to the officer who left the notice, and find out how it was that my bus got towed so long after the notice was left, and after the bus had clearly been moved from its original spot. Not sure this will get me anywhere, but might at least give me a better understanding of the procedures involved when the city decides to tow a vehicle, for the future.

I’ll update this with Part Two after I know how the auction shakes out.