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This blog began in 2004 as we set out to travel in our veggie oil powered school bus. The inside is completely set up as an RV and we run almost entirely on waste veggie oil that we gather and filter for free. The posts in 2004 were made during our trip although at the time we had limited internet access. I hope you enjoy!
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Greasy update......
Yeah, internet connection!
We are in Rapid City, SD and have come so far! We have logged, I believe around 900 miles on grease! In fact we filled up our diesel tank when we left Springfield and it just now dipped below the full line. We have gotten several no's when asking for grease but now we are starting to get alot of yesses and they have purty grease! Thanks to Emilys in Bersford, SD (thats not right, but I can't think of the name of the town right now, sorry Emily!) We got about 10 gallons there. In Mitchell, SD we got 35 gallons at the RANCH HOUSE! And most recently we got probably about that much at Cedar Pass Lodge in The Badlands National Park! THANK YOU! We are getting alot more interest in the bus in western South Dakota than we did anywhere in Iowa. I found that intersting.
We have replace the waterpump (thanks to the BP in Jefferson, SD for letting us stay there all day and night while we (I mean Chris) fixed it. And today we replace a relay that kept making this buzzer go off. Very annoying. Besides eating up some time and money these repairs are to be expected when driving an 88 school bus across the country. And none of these repairs have been veggie related.
We have been so busy! I wish I had time to post some pics. but I am limited to an hour on this computer and time is ticking. We saw The Corn Palace and Prehisotoric Indian Village in Mitchell. Went on a beautiful hike in the Badlands,visited Mount Rushomore, and are now heading on in the Black Hills. All is well.
In case anyone is intested or know anyone that is...they can receive a press packet by emailing veggiebusinfo@aol.com
We are all waving to everyone we know, and to those we don't.
Happily Bumping Along,
Tiff
(with Chris, Ema, and Jerry, the dog, on my lap)
We are in Rapid City, SD and have come so far! We have logged, I believe around 900 miles on grease! In fact we filled up our diesel tank when we left Springfield and it just now dipped below the full line. We have gotten several no's when asking for grease but now we are starting to get alot of yesses and they have purty grease! Thanks to Emilys in Bersford, SD (thats not right, but I can't think of the name of the town right now, sorry Emily!) We got about 10 gallons there. In Mitchell, SD we got 35 gallons at the RANCH HOUSE! And most recently we got probably about that much at Cedar Pass Lodge in The Badlands National Park! THANK YOU! We are getting alot more interest in the bus in western South Dakota than we did anywhere in Iowa. I found that intersting.
We have replace the waterpump (thanks to the BP in Jefferson, SD for letting us stay there all day and night while we (I mean Chris) fixed it. And today we replace a relay that kept making this buzzer go off. Very annoying. Besides eating up some time and money these repairs are to be expected when driving an 88 school bus across the country. And none of these repairs have been veggie related.
We have been so busy! I wish I had time to post some pics. but I am limited to an hour on this computer and time is ticking. We saw The Corn Palace and Prehisotoric Indian Village in Mitchell. Went on a beautiful hike in the Badlands,visited Mount Rushomore, and are now heading on in the Black Hills. All is well.
In case anyone is intested or know anyone that is...they can receive a press packet by emailing veggiebusinfo@aol.com
We are all waving to everyone we know, and to those we don't.
Happily Bumping Along,
Tiff
(with Chris, Ema, and Jerry, the dog, on my lap)
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Heater hoses and Cornfields
We're in Sioux City, Iowa, at our second Super Wal-Mart of the trip (our 'camping spot'). We sprung 3 antifreeze leaks today so Chris is completely replacing the hose because we're tired of splicers and hose clamps.
Ema says she's tired but excited, and I am too…catching up from the big push to get out of town. Tomorrow we're heading to Mitchell, hopefully without another leak. I really want to see the prehistoric Indian village I've heard about (I know people think of the Corn Palace when they think of Mitchell---yes, I'm sure we'll see that too).
Ema's keeping a journal, stuff that she's been doing and thinking about—noticing that there are a million cornfields!! I took a picture of the bus against the cornfield and thought it was pretty neat that the fuel we're using started in a field like this.
We're getting about 8.5 miles to the gallon today…pretty good. Our diesel tank is completely full. We looked for grease today but everyone had just had a pick-up, so they were fresh out of grease. We've gone 451 miles, 430 of them on veggie oil!
Somebody followed us yesterday down the highway, onto a side road, and into the parking lot just to talk to us. We're getting lot of attention and the signs are working (thanks again Sign Us).
(Transcribed over the phone by Aunt Leslie.)
Ema says she's tired but excited, and I am too…catching up from the big push to get out of town. Tomorrow we're heading to Mitchell, hopefully without another leak. I really want to see the prehistoric Indian village I've heard about (I know people think of the Corn Palace when they think of Mitchell---yes, I'm sure we'll see that too).
Ema's keeping a journal, stuff that she's been doing and thinking about—noticing that there are a million cornfields!! I took a picture of the bus against the cornfield and thought it was pretty neat that the fuel we're using started in a field like this.
We're getting about 8.5 miles to the gallon today…pretty good. Our diesel tank is completely full. We looked for grease today but everyone had just had a pick-up, so they were fresh out of grease. We've gone 451 miles, 430 of them on veggie oil!
Somebody followed us yesterday down the highway, onto a side road, and into the parking lot just to talk to us. We're getting lot of attention and the signs are working (thanks again Sign Us).
(Transcribed over the phone by Aunt Leslie.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Ema and the back signs. She is excited! There are some on the sides too but those pics didnt' come out. I will try again soon.
Signage!!!
Wow! If you are ever in Springfield Missouri and need a sign, visit SIGN US at 639 W. Walnut 417-831-4884! They were so wonderful and hooked us up with all the signs we needed. I am so excited and so grateful! Thank you guys!!!
We are trying to leave right now. Hopefully within an hour we will at least be making all those last minute stops. I can't believe how much there has been to do! People keep saying, "You're still here?" and all we can answer is "We're trying like the dickens not to be!"
Thank you to everyone who helped get us to this point. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and even some tears. But we couldn't have done it with out everyone! Thanks to D & K Painting (they painted our bus for us) and did a fabulous job! We also are indebted to Chris's parents for all their help, love, support, and meals! And of course thanks to all the restaurant that donated grease! Hopefully soon I can provide links to those businesses that have a website. I will write as soon as I can! This has been such a huge dream of ours and oh my gosh...here we go!
We are trying to leave right now. Hopefully within an hour we will at least be making all those last minute stops. I can't believe how much there has been to do! People keep saying, "You're still here?" and all we can answer is "We're trying like the dickens not to be!"
Thank you to everyone who helped get us to this point. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and even some tears. But we couldn't have done it with out everyone! Thanks to D & K Painting (they painted our bus for us) and did a fabulous job! We also are indebted to Chris's parents for all their help, love, support, and meals! And of course thanks to all the restaurant that donated grease! Hopefully soon I can provide links to those businesses that have a website. I will write as soon as I can! This has been such a huge dream of ours and oh my gosh...here we go!
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Our bus freshly painted and ready to go and yes, this is how we feel about it!
Monday, June 21, 2004
Almost!
So tomorrow is Tuesday and we are soooo close to being ready. But close only counts in horseshoes and something else I can't remember. So we are looking at Wednesday morning for departure. We want to get a vinyl sign for the back announcing the bus's use of veggie oil. We would like to get the sign donated in exchange for advertising space on the bus. So far no one has taken us up on our fabulous offer but we have one more possibility that may work out tomorrow. Let's hope! We are getting excited now instead of just getting exhausted. If you don't hear from us for awhile it is because we are trying to figure out how to post while traveling. Yeah, did you hear that? I said while traveling that means we really are going!
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Will we ever hit the road?
When you are completely involved in what you are doing and you don't have to be anywhere at any particular time, numbers lose all meaning. We get up every morning and dig into our day getting as much as possible done every day. Most of the time I have no idea what day it is or what time it is. And I often forget that we all still need to eat. Can't I just put those things on hold?
It has been a mad dash for the finish. Chris successfully got the veggie oil system all hooked up, a bunch of grease collected, filtered and put in barrels secured in the back of the bus. I should try to take a pic. of that today. The insides are coming along. I got flooring almost all down, walls painted, organization materials bought or made by Barb, my crafty mother-in-law, and we are beginning to move in. This part of the process is a bit gruelling though and we are getting very tired. Thank god for adrenaline! We are hoping to be gone on Tuesday. Let me rephrase that....We will leave on Tuesday!! Stay tuned....
It has been a mad dash for the finish. Chris successfully got the veggie oil system all hooked up, a bunch of grease collected, filtered and put in barrels secured in the back of the bus. I should try to take a pic. of that today. The insides are coming along. I got flooring almost all down, walls painted, organization materials bought or made by Barb, my crafty mother-in-law, and we are beginning to move in. This part of the process is a bit gruelling though and we are getting very tired. Thank god for adrenaline! We are hoping to be gone on Tuesday. Let me rephrase that....We will leave on Tuesday!! Stay tuned....
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
This is Ol '46 before we even drove it off the lot.
didn't happen yet
Okay we thougth we could run the veggie oil system today but it turned out our 50 gallon veggie tank has a couple leaks. Please stand by as Chris works to remedy that situaion.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Getting gone
This trip is taking such major amounts of preparation, I think we need a vacation before our vacation! Chris spent allllllllll day today getting the waste vegetable oil system completely hooked up. It wasn't a difficult process, just a long one. Tomorrow we will fill the tank with grease and flip the switch. I love the smell of a veggie oil exhaust! As you may or may not know we also have diesel rabbit truck that has been converted since July of '03 so we are well aware of what we have to look forward to. Today we were featured on the front page of our local paper. Okay, it was just the monday edition but we were excited and pround none-the-less!
