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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, September 14, 2004
Home, James
Welp, we made it! But first I need to catch everyone up. We spent about 3 days in Yellowstone and a couple in the Tetons. Boy, I love them Tetons! We soaked in some natural hot springs, saw the sights, met up with my cousin, and had such a great time. We also met some fabulous people that were traveling with the Adventure Bus. Seemed like a great way to vacation. Check out their web site. After Wyoming we went to Dinosaur National Monument in the corner of Utah and Colorado. We saw dinosaur bones that were 145 million years old.... I can't even wrap my head around that. The bus had to work really hard to get there. We went up and down and up and down for a long time. But the bus really held its own. From there we went through Colorado stopped by the Garden of the Gods and experienced the Royal Gorge. By this time Ema was actually getting tired of seeing cool things! Eastern Colorado and Kansas made for a long ride but we cut it into about 3 days and made it back to ol' Springfield.
We continued to easily get grease along our way. Grocery stores really seem to be a good place. We got a lot of grease from Albertsons and some smaller home town stores. The restaurants in the Tetons (not sure about Yellowstone) are all "green" restaurants. And though we didn't actually get any grease from them, it sure seems like a good place to get some. Chris did a lot of filtering! We would really like to come up with an easier method of doing this.
As we were collecting grease from a small store in the middle of Kansas we looked up to see a reporter standing there. That was a fun surprise. She said she would send us a copy of their small weekly paper when it came out.
So everything I have been focused on and put my energy into for so long has actually come around to the end. It is hard to believe. We traveled 4,641 miles and used approximately 500 gallons of grease. And, yes we still have 1/4 of a tank of diesel left!! Oh, the satisfaction. We crossed the continental divide 8 times, climbed some huge mountains, and saw amazing things. We grew individually and as a family, were able to share with a lot of people, and experience the general goodness of humanity. As I look through all our photos I wonder what all those vacationers say when showing their friends the picture of that big green bus they saw. It has been amazing. We want to take what we have learned about this process and expand on it. Now all I can think about is how can I do this again.....?
We continued to easily get grease along our way. Grocery stores really seem to be a good place. We got a lot of grease from Albertsons and some smaller home town stores. The restaurants in the Tetons (not sure about Yellowstone) are all "green" restaurants. And though we didn't actually get any grease from them, it sure seems like a good place to get some. Chris did a lot of filtering! We would really like to come up with an easier method of doing this.
As we were collecting grease from a small store in the middle of Kansas we looked up to see a reporter standing there. That was a fun surprise. She said she would send us a copy of their small weekly paper when it came out.
So everything I have been focused on and put my energy into for so long has actually come around to the end. It is hard to believe. We traveled 4,641 miles and used approximately 500 gallons of grease. And, yes we still have 1/4 of a tank of diesel left!! Oh, the satisfaction. We crossed the continental divide 8 times, climbed some huge mountains, and saw amazing things. We grew individually and as a family, were able to share with a lot of people, and experience the general goodness of humanity. As I look through all our photos I wonder what all those vacationers say when showing their friends the picture of that big green bus they saw. It has been amazing. We want to take what we have learned about this process and expand on it. Now all I can think about is how can I do this again.....?
