# Story of the BikeBus. (image heavy, long worthwhile read.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234 "2006-05-03T14:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/1 "2006-05-03T14:34:08Z")
[Bikebus story](http://www.geocities.com/romtomtom/bike_bus.htm) I just spent about an hour reading this and enjoying the pictures. Just a feel-good story that needs to be shared. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/2 "2006-05-03T19:08:21Z")
I read the story. it is indeed a beautiful tale but I have to admit- the part of birthing their own child and then having it taken away? Um… I understand that they are keeping a certain tone in this tale, but to be blunt, they didn’t need a good attorney as much as they needed to be forthright about exactly what circumstances brought about a court taking away all legal rights. That is not about camping out in the woods or being snuggled in a tent with Mom and Dad. There must be a serious reason behind it and they glossed over it in the extreme. Otherwise, I must say I admire the way they are living their life, and what they do for others. Made me smile, and want to get on my bike ! Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/3 "2006-05-03T20:11:02Z")
And the “what happened to the BikeBus” part of the story seriously wrecks a lot of the feel-goodness of the tale as well, or at least it did for me. Between that and the “kid taken away” part it was a downer for me. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/4 "2006-05-03T20:34:00Z")
Bandwidth exceeded. Bummer. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![little\_bit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@little\_bit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/little_bit)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/5 "2006-05-03T20:38:11Z")
Well, it looks like they’ve exceded their data transfer limit. Now my noseyness is killing me. How long do I have to wait to find out all about the fate of the bus & the child they lost custody of. It’s so frustrating. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/6 "2006-05-03T20:42:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] I read the story. it is indeed a beautiful tale but I have to admit- the part of birthing their own child and then having it taken away? Um… I understand that they are keeping a certain tone in this tale, but to be blunt, they didn’t need a good attorney as much as they needed to be forthright about exactly what circumstances brought about a court taking away all legal rights. That is not about camping out in the woods or being snuggled in a tent with Mom and Dad. There must be a serious reason behind it and they glossed over it in the extreme. Otherwise, I must say I admire the way they are living their life, and what they do for others. Made me smile, and want to get on my bike ! Cartooniverse [/QUOTE] I wish I could agree with you that there must have been a “reason” she was taken away. But I personally know three good, loving hippie homes where children were taken away or the parent’s rights were curtailed because of their parents’ lifestlyes (religions, specifically - no drugs or abuse). The most recent was the Indianapolis couple whose story was featured in the Pit last summer. I can only imagine it was even worse 30 years ago. There may have been a good reason, or it may have been a social services person who didn’t like the fact that they had no house and no plans to send her to school. Not enough info to know. The child was adopted to a Californian family who did not allow them any contact. A couple of years ago, they were reunited with her and are attempting to rebuild some sort of relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/7 "2006-05-03T20:53:13Z")
I agree with the whole ambiguity about the baby being taken away. There has to be more to it than that and I wish the reunion part. Who knows, it could have been the fact they were just hippies/nudists and vagabonds and the world was a different place then. It could be something a whole lot more. We will probably never know. It would have been nice to have the reunion story fleshed out. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/8 "2006-05-04T06:20:08Z")
The site reset and I just read through all the site pages. Not another word about the kids that got taken away is mentioned after the first page. Given the cryptic nature of the discussion re the loss of the kids, as a WAG I’d guess the authorities probably perceived the kids as living in unsantiary and dangerous conditions and if the parents were caught with drugs onboard (which is not a stretch given the lifestyle context) it might have caused the loss of the kids, but who knows. It’s odd (I mean really odd) that they wouldn’t be fighting tooth and nail to get their kids back) so one can only assume some fairly heavy stuff went down. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/9 "2006-05-04T12:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=astro] The site reset and I just read through all the site pages. Not another word about the kids that got taken away is mentioned after the first page. Given the cryptic nature of the discussion re the loss of the kids, as a WAG I’d guess the authorities probably perceived the kids as living in unsantiary and dangerous conditions and if the parents were caught with drugs onboard (which is not a stretch given the lifestyle context) it might have caused the loss of the kids, but who knows. It’s odd (I mean really odd) that they wouldn’t be fighting tooth and nail to get their kids back) so one can only assume some fairly heavy stuff went down. [/QUOTE] Kid, one kid. And he says many times that they do not, and never did, drink or do drugs. One can choose whether or not to believe him, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/10 "2006-05-04T16:05:01Z")
I still haven’t been able to read the story because of the bandwidth, but the only thing I wanted to add to the discussion at this point was that I’ve been riding a bike a lot lately, and riding as many miles as he says they have would be damn near impossible hopped up on ANYTHING but life. Other than that…_shrug_ I don’t trust what anybody says anymore, so maybe they lie! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/11 "2006-05-04T16:49:36Z")
Since the bandwidth is so flaky and/or limited for this site I merged all 7 site pages (without pics) into one off site html text file for reading. It’s pretty small at about 150K. It really needs the pics for context, but it does give you a flavor of their adventures. [The Bicycle Bus](http://home.comcast.net/~cpeek001/history_of_the__bicycle_busall.htm) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/12 "2006-05-04T16:50:48Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Kid, one kid. And he says many times that they do not, and never did, drink or do drugs. One can choose whether or not to believe him, of course. [/QUOTE] It seems (possibly I’m mistaken) to reference two kids. > [@](#): > > Our hearts ached. I was always thinking that the way the Bike Bus was going it was just a matter of time before I could go into a court of law and be able to convince them Mushmara and Sandy should be returned to us. Alas… It would never be… ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/13 "2006-05-04T17:13:05Z")
There is a 2005 archive of the site here: [http://web.archive.org/web/20040701155932/www.geocities.com/romtomsbikebus/](http://web.archive.org/web/20040701155932/www.geocities.com/romtomsbikebus/) ---
**Author:** ![grayhairedmomma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@grayhairedmomma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grayhairedmomma)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/14 "2006-05-04T18:52:54Z")
Did anyone else read that in Bob “the happy little tree painter guy’s voice”? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/15 "2006-05-04T19:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=astro] It seems (possibly I’m mistaken) to reference two kids. [/QUOTE] hmm, right you are, I see that on the link you gave. Looks like I missed a whole page before. The pages I read only referred to Sandy. Doing some more research, I’ve discovered that they had three children together, and at least two of them were taken away because RomTom’s wife (known as Ellie or Owl) was “unstable”. Opinions vary, of course, on how unstable she was and if RomTom was in a position to care for his children and his wife. It appears as though she did not speak English well, which may have exacerbated the situation. RomTom says, of course: > [@](#): > > Years ago we ran into some real Pontious Pilot bureaucrats. You know the kind. The ones who are so convinced of their superiority and righteousness --so convinced that anything they do to you is justified in their minds. They presumed that Ellie and I were not a “couple”, not two people bonded in real love. They told us so. It was a critical mistake on their part. They were way too ignorant and way too judgemental to have had the critical jobs they had. > > Our lifestyle was so different from theirs. We were vegetarians. They weren’t. We were nudist/hotspringers. They weren’t. We were wandering poet/artists. They weren’t. We were environmentally conscious activists. They weren’t. We did not worship money and corporate power. They did. So they were in a position to take away our children. And we were not in a position to stop them. Marriage is sacred. Families are sacred. Children are sacred. Wisdom is sacred. [This page](http://earthblog.net/eb-articles/crreview.html) reviews an autobiographical CD by RomTom which seems to tell more of the story: > [@](#): > > RomTom earned what money he could, working with semi-precious gems, and eventually establishing a somewhat steady bike refurbishing business. He also got into serious photography as an art form. Difficult as it is to believe in a porn-drenched country where every conceivable product is sold with sex, one art exhibit drew fire. Unbeknownst to him, a couple of his models had been underage. He ended up in jail and Owl in a mental hospital. For once, legal help was given. The ACLU took the case and they both were released. > > This wasn’t the only time Owl had to be rescued from the mental health system. Although a loyal and brave woman, she basically needed to be looked after. Her English was not good, and she had a tendency to talk to herself in public places and to wander off and go missing for hours or days. Young and spacey, Owl attracted the attention of all the wrong kinds of men. Witnessing an injustice, she would thoughtlessly lash out. After her first child was seized by the authorities, her mental state became shaky at the best of times. After the second baby had been taken away, she seems to have suffered from a more or less permanent state of post-traumatic shock. The murder of a woman friend by another street person sent her further into retreat. By the time the third baby was due, and RomTom located people willing to help, his confused wife was hostile and unable to cooperate. Her protective instinct told her that the best way keep from losing this child too, was to deny that she was even pregnant. The responsibility to watch over Owl made it even more difficult for RomTom to find jobs or take care of business. > \ > RomTom repeatedly tried to settle in Canada so Owl could be near her family – but couldn’t get a job because he wasn’t a legal immigrant, and couldn’t be a legal immigrant because he didn’t have a job. In one commune, the members griped that Owl spent too much time alone in her room with the baby, but complained bitterly when she breast-fed the baby amongst them. Social services demanded a checkup for the baby once a month, to keep her safe and healthy – but the only way to get there was to hitchhike, exposing the child to unsafe and unhealthy conditions. > > Mostly it was a Catch-22 life. Caught between a landlord who wouldn’t allow a baby in residence, and bureaucrats who insisted the baby wouldn’t be returned unless they lived indoors. Caught between the need for WIC program foodstuffs, and neighbors who didn’t want any government types coming around. And worst of all, caught between two government agencies insisting that they be in two places at once, or fulfill two mutually exclusive requirements. And poor Owl. As each child was taken away it eroded her stability more, and the worse she got, the less chance there was of ever getting any of the girls back – because their mother was so unstable. The release of the ebook motivated two of his daughters to contact him, it says. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-of-the-bikebus-image-heavy-long-worthwhile-read/355234/16 "2006-05-05T02:27:07Z")
Evidently he’s still in Eugene. I sent him an email, maybe if he replies and he doesn’t strike me as a [dangerous type] nutball, we’ll meet up 😉