Back on the Road

It's ALIVE!

Buddhist Temple

OK, I might keep this veggie car blog going to present other cool re-usable material initiatives. Check this out: http://greenupgrader.com/4262/one-million-beer-bottles-later-and-its-a-buddhist-temple/2/

Yes, it is all made from beer bottles. I think it is great to know that even if we run out of fuel to power chainsaws to cut logs, we can still build houses with all of the "garbage" that we throw away everyday.

A Poem is Never Finished, Only Abandoned

Ah, if we had only abandoned this poem earlier. But alas, the sad story continues. The car has now finally made its way back to Syracuse (See picture at right, circa 1916). Brian hired a friend to drive down there and tow it back on the hitch of his truck. Once Brian got it back to Syracuse, and had it looked at, it turns out the pump to the transmission had blown. Would have cost about $600 to fix. Which is pretty much what Brian ended spending on the towing and gas and everything. So a sad ending, but something that I hope is a stepping stone for understanding our connection to oil and gas. And maybe a good lesson; that it is much easier to keep doing things as we have been doing them, and as we try different ways of doing things we will have difficulties and make mistakes. It won't always come out the way we expect, but there is something to be learned from each mistake and each difficult passage. I feel like I learned that lesson, and I don't feel for a second it wasn't worth trying. I learned a lot about the way the mechanics of the car works, the economy of The earth, and I learned that alot of my friends and other people are interested in it as well. It is in the air, we can't go on forever the way things are now, we have to keep changing.

And knowing Brian, I think he is kind of bummed right now about the money, but as time passes, he'll get a new idea. I bet I'll get a call some day saying he has a veggie fueled airplane or something, and can I help him fly it back to the US with him. And I'll say "is there a stereo?" and he'll say "yes, definitely", and this time I'll say "and does it work?" and he'll say "well, it works kind of but the speakers suck" and I'll say "can we stop off in Bermuda" and he'll say "of course!" and we'll give it a go again. I'll bring the parachutes.

Potatoes and the Sink

This was in the bathroom of the house we stayed at in Blacksburg. Not sure if it is a still life or actually someone was grilling somewhere. Needless to say, I didn't disturb the potatoes.

The World As It Is

Monday morning - I am back at work. Ahh...The veggie car is down, but I will never say it is out. If you read Brian's post below, you know that he is in DC - going back to get the car towed to a mechanic in Harrisburg PA either today or tomorrow. If the mechanic can't fix it, Brian will then transport it to Syracuse at a little expense. Once it is back in Syracuse, he will put in a new transition, maybe swap out the engine for the other one he has at home, and in some ways the car will be back on the road running veggie fuel again soon.

This is an unflattering picture of the car in its current state. We put the hood down, but it is still jammed under the trees like that. When we went back to get our stuff out on Saturday, a campus police car rolled up - Brian had left a note for them, so they knew the car wasn't stolen, and were happy to see that we were dressed like people that would be driving a 1975 Mercedes through Virginia. The cop said we could leave the car there for a couple of days, and they would keep an eye on it to make sure it wasn't messed with. It is in safe hands.

Was it disappointing that the car didn't make it to Syracuse - sure. But more disappointing would be if we didn't make it out of Kansas, or if the veggie oil didn't work at all. Basically, the transition blowing is something totally out of our control. As I explained it to my Mom - it is like we were working on the plumbing of a house for a week and finally got everything working perfectly, and then a tornado came by and tore the roof off. Yes, the car is un-drivable, but it isn't because of the veggie fuel. In fact, now that I have gotten back to NY, and have a little hind site - I think we really did an amazing job of dealing with crazy problems and working through them. Doing anything for the first time is difficult, and Brian and I both learned a whole lot about how to handle the difficulties of harvesting and filtering your own fuel and dealing with the diesel engine. Now, to answer the 2 most asked questions by people when we got back.....

1. DID YOU GUYS SMELL LIKE FRENCH FRIES AND TACOS WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD?

No, if anything we had a slight odor of chicken wings. Let me put it this way - no bears attacked us when we camped in the woods - you know they would have come out in droves if we were stinking of fried food the whole time!

2. DID PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU LIKE YOU WERE CRAZY WHEN YOU ASKED FOR THEIR OIL?

Um, yes. But this might have been because of our crazy sunglass and Northern accents.

We'll keep posting stuff as the continuing saga of the veggie car - and thanks for everyone's comments and everything. Until next time we go oilin' out, peace in the middle east.

Elliot

Update from Brian:

From Brain:

Elliot made it back to Brooklyn, but I'm still far from home. Car is in Harrisonburg, va - I'm in DC. Wandered around DC this weekend with my friends Damon & Sarah - Went to the National Gallery, Barbecued fantastic food, slept on a comfortable bed (the first in a long while).

I'll be back in Syracuse soon - My uncle is going to let me borrow his old rusted out ford truck - sometime this week I'll be back down in VA - I'll drive down and tow the blown transmission - veggie Benz 5 hours north -back to upstate NY. Even though the car died before the end of the journey, It'll all work out - there's lots of rusted out benz cars sitting in junkyards that I can use to resurrect my car - really wanted to drop in a standard transmission anyways. Moral of the story - be careful what you wish for- shortly before the auto transmission blew I silently wished that the veggie car was a "shifter car" - guess now I get to embark on that project.

Maybe the Moon is to Blame

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