Veg Oil Powered Band: Them Damned Young Livers

I just got an email from a band asking for a good place to get biofuels in the southwest US (I pointed them towards our friends at the Denver Biodiesel and Boulder Biodiesel CoOps, natch).

The band is Them Damned Young Livers, and they're on tour right now in a vegetable oil powered bus. I took a listen to their MySpace page - and they put out some pretty decent driving tunes (nearly makes me wish I had a car again) about hard drinking.

Good luck, out there guys.

Travel - Grand Canyon National Park

We have both wanted to visit the Grand Canyon for some time, and decided that no matter what, we'll be hiking into it this trip, and hopefully camping at the bottom!

Being first-timers to this park, we were unaware of the procedure to obtain a permit for camping in the Canyon. Naively, we thought we could easily make reservation, until we check the National Park Service (NPS) website to make a reservation and found out that we should have made reservations four months in advance (on the first day of the month) of our desired backpacking dates. After speaking to a friendly Grand Canyon presenter at REI, we were told to make reservations by reaching person via phone rather than the normal method of faxing or mailing permit request. After dialing several numbers and being re-directed three times, I was able to talk to a friendly person working at the park. She informed me that the procedure for reservations begins on the first day of the month, four months in advance of the desired camping dates. A permit request, available on the NPS Grand Canyon website, should be faxed or mailed in the park's office and then we wait to hear back from them.

The friendly lady was unable to make a reservation for me but was able to tell me that the park was 95% booked for the month of May. I asked if we would have any chance of getting a permit. She began to give me tips on getting a permit maybe because she heard my dejected tone. Since we were so late in the game, we definitely had to fax our permit request and be flexible in our dates. And if that does not work, our next option is to go to the park and check for cancellations. Usually, after one to three days something opens up.

Despite making our reservation request as flexible as we could, we were denied a reservation to go camping below the rim.

So, now, our plan is to camp at the rim for a few days, and hopefully a back country camping spot will open up... Bummer.

Travel - Touring Boston

We recently met Jill and Brian who lived in Boston for several years and had many suggestions for our visit. They suggested we take the duck tour of the city. The (admittedly very touristy) tour is a fun-filled 80 minutes of history and quacking. The Freedom Trail is another good way to explore Boston: we just have to follow the red arrows over 2.5 mile trail that will lead us to 16 historic Revolutionary sites. Another suggestion was to take a trip through the underground tunnels of MIT after dark to experience the unique night life of the students.

For the flower and art lovers, the Glass Flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History exhibits 847 plant species in different stages of development, marrying art and engineering. This collection was originally commissioned for teaching botany and now an art attraction.

Since we are complete dorks, we are most excited about visiting the Boston Public Library. When it opened its doors, the BPL was the first public lending library.

Travel: Environmental Disasters

Along our road trip we may encounter some of these environmental disasters caused by humans:
1. In Georgia, Providence Canyon State Park's 16 canyons came into existence due to poor farming practices. Gradually as rows were plowed into the hillsides, they became ditches and then gullies as the land eroded. Today this area is home to sixteen impressive canyons, each as deep as 150 feet, ironically named one of Georgia's "Seven Natural Wonders."

2. The Desert of Maine is another impressive environmental disaster. You would never think to find a desert in Maine, but the Desert was born in the 1800s when the Tuttles, a farming family, exposed a patch of sand. The patch began as the size of a plate and has now expanded to into a little desert, complete with dunes and its own hot, arid microclimate.

Under the layer of rich topsoil where the Maine forests grow is a sandy layer of glacial silt (formed when the Ice Age glaciers ground rocks into sand as they slowly moved across Maine). The land was purchased by Willian Tuttle in 1797. Over a number of years the land was overgrazed by sheep and damaged by poor crop rotation, leading to the soil erosion. As the soil eroded, a small patch of the sandy silt layer was exposed. Once exposed, the sandy patch grew and began taking over the farmland. Eventually, the Tuttles abandoned their land because the sand had begun swallowing buildings and trees. In 1919, Henry Goldru purchased the land and transformed it into a tourist attraction. Now it's an oddity visited by 30,000 visitors each year who come to witness the Desert of Maine.

3. California is home to our third environmental disaster: Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. The Fort Bragg beach was used as a public dumping ground starting in 1949. Everything from cars to household waste was dumped over the cliff directly into the ocean. In 1967 the North Coast Water Quality Board closed the dump and now the ocean waves have broken down the waste, leaving behind a beach filled with polished, glittering glass stones. Sacha has been there - he says it's quite lovely, for an environmental disaster. He even has some glass pebbles from the beach down in the basement, somewhere.

Travel - Philly

Things to do in Philadelphia
Historical Philadelphia contains the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall, where the U.S. government had its very beginnings. What excites us most about Philly is the chance to visit the largest outdoor Italian market (on 9th between Christian St and Washington Ave). We both love to cook, so specialty food markets of any kind get us excited.

On our list of things to see is of Benjamin Franklin's invention museum and the world's largest suspension bridge. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge is 1.8 miles long and was completed before most of us were born (1926). Being huge fans of sculpture, we will probably stop by Rodin Museum. It has the largest collection of Rodin pieces outside of the Musee Rodin in Paris. Of course, while we are in the city we will have to try a cheesesteak sandwich (I hear that we should get it "wit' whiz", or don't even bother) and a hoagie. Let us know where the best place is for either sandwich and also leads to other good foods are appreciated.

Sending Philly Tips

The many shoulders on which we stand 2

In this (somewhat) weekly column, I want to highlight the fact that what we're doing here is by no means a completely original act: we stand on the shoulders of giants. And sometimes pirates. Sometimes, we also stand on the shoulders of normal people, but not if we can at all help it.

This week: the people who have made vegetable oil road trips before us.

We're not the first attempt at a cross-country trip on vegetable oil. Far from it.

The begs the question: why do it?

We are doing this because it still needs doing. This country is still addicted to oil. Most people have no idea that it's possible to run a car on something other than petroleum. We're still harming our environment and sending money to tyrants when we could be growing our own fuel. This isn't a road trip, it's a pilgrimage. We're doing this to expose as many people to a simple, viral idea: you could be driving on waste vegetable oil instead of petroleum. Just by driving down the road, we are illustrating the possibility that anyone else can.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you know of a trip I'm neglecting to mention (it must have a homepage on the web), please leave a comment below.

First up are the busses:

The Big Green Bus
An ongoing student project where students from Dartmouth take an annual road trip in a veggie powered (green) schoolbus.

"We are a group of Dartmouth students committed to promoting the use of sustainable energy through education and example. On a school bus converted to run on used vegetable oil, we are traveling around the country fostering awareness about current global energy issues and creating dialogue about tangible solutions to those problems."

Project BioBus
A 2004 trip where 12 Middlebury College students visited 21 cities in 90 days to spread biofuel awareness in a converted school bus.

Biotour
A group of artists and musicians touring around the country in (gasp) an old school bus. They will be traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast along a Northern Route this spring (if you draw their tour on the same map as our tour, you get a cool ring around America).

"BioTour seeks to build and invigorate a broad grassroots sustainable energy movement within the United States. BioTour will encourage Americans to exert political pressure for wider implementation of existing sustainable energy technologies and the push for the development of new technologies. The BioTour project will directly reach thousands and indirectly reach millions of people with crucial information on global climate change, the dangers of fossil fuels, how to use sustainable energy in their everyday lives, and how to become part of a movement to end American dependence on fossil fuels.

BioTour will bring people together for exploration and celebration."

And now, the Mercedes Benz Tours, more personal, more risky, more lonely.

Improbability Drive 2005
Chronicles the current head of the National VegOil Board's trip across America to purchase a Benz in California, and drive it back to the East Coast in one piece, alone. It's a pretty cool story (and a sweet looking Benz).

The Ultimate Ball Park Tour
This guy drove around the country in a lime green Benz and toured baseball stadiums. Unfortunately, the story seems to end about halfway through. Does anyone out there know what happened? Did he give up? Did the car die?

...and of course there are celebrities in the act too...
Neil Young's Vegetable oil powered tour busses

Willie Nelson's personal brand of Biodiesel

Travel - Stairway to Nowhere

New York

The TKTS booth (where last minute Broadway tickets are sold) in Time Square is getting a face lift. It has outgrown its former location and will be located under a newly constructed red staircase in Father Duffy Square. It is 26 glass stair amphitheatre that leads to nowhere but allowing pedestrians to sit, relax and take in the scenery. The grand opening as been delayed and the predicted new date is still undetermined for sometime in 2007. We hope this structure will be completed by the time we arrive for us to enjoy the one of best seats in Time Square.

Contact us if you have any information about this.

Travel - the ugly building experience of Boston

One thing we want to see in Boston is a building both identified by the Project for Public Space as the worst public space in the world and by historians and architects as one of the greatest buildings in American history. This building is Boston's City Hall.

It is a massive concrete structure built in the 60's by Kallmann, McKinnell, and Knowles. This building is an example of brutalist architecture (regular geometic style). Bostonians describe the interior is a expansive, sterile void while the exterior is oppressive upside-down pyramid. In 2006, mayor Tom Menino proposed to sell the space and move City Hall to a site on the waterfront.

Any building that inspires so many strong feelings is one we have to go check out, if only to see it before it gets torn down.

Here's a picture from the side:

And an areal image (thanks to google maps) showing the inverted pyramid.

Sightseeing with Mary

The best part of traveling is exploring the sights, sounds and tastes of new places. As we learn about new things explore, I will document them here. We have already heard about several interesting sites from friends and will begin to post them. They range from good food to structural feats to vegetable oil fuel landmarks. We hope that you will join us and also contribute suggestions for us to sample along our trip.

Please email us your travel tips.
Contact us

Actual route

Google just released a new feature for Google Maps that allows you to choose multiple destinations. I have personally been wishing fervently for exactly this new feature (thanks, guys!).

So, using the new feature, I was able to get a good handle on exactly how far a route we're talking about: 5,955 miles, with a combined driving time of about 3 days, 22 hours. Luckily, this is mostly broken up in 3 to 4 hour chunks. Unfortunately, I count 4 chunks of driving that are over the 8-hour range.

They are:

• From Savannah, GA to New Orleans, LA (10 hours)
• From New Orleans, LA to Austin, TX (8.5 hours)
• From Austin, TX to El Paso, TX (8.5 hours)
• From Las Vegas, NV to San Francisco, CA (8.5 hours)

Any ideas for breaking these up? I'm trying to make this a fun trip, and 8+ hour drives aren't my idea of fun.

Update:
I just re-did the map, with a few additions (Boston, Lake Charles, Pensacola, and Dallas), and the new total is about 6400 miles. I think I'll change my engine oil in Albuquerque...

Destinos

So, here is the list of people and places we're currently planning on visiting around the country (with approximate dates):

• Cleveland, Ohio to see Jen (3/27)
• Boston, Massachusetts to hang out and eat at the hospital (3/29)
• New Haven, Connecticut to hang out with Betsy (4/2)
• Dover, New Jersey to see Harry (4/5)
• I'll fly to Austin for the weekend for Carrie's wedding
• New York, New York to see C. in the Village (4/10)
• D.C. to see Angela and N. (4/13)
• Norfolk, Virginia to see Dirk (4/17)
• Raleigh, North Carolina to visit O. (4/20)
  
• Charleston, South Carolina to visit Karen's brother (4/23)
• Savannah, Georgia to visit Lynn (4/24)
• Someplace on the gulf coast in Florida for a few days of beach (4/26)
• New Orleans, Louisiana to see a place I've never been (4/28)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana to eat etouffe and gumbo with Tyler's family (4/30)
• Austin, Texas to visit Carrie (again!) (5/1)
• Dallas, Texas to visit family (5/3)
• El Paso, Texas to eat some good Mexican food (5/4)
• Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit Corina, Erik, and many more people (5/5)
• Flagstaff, Arizona to see the Grand Canyon (5/11)
• Las Vegas, Nevada to... well do whatever one does in Las Vegas (5/15)
• San Francisco, California and surrounding areas to drink wine and visit with Rita, Bryan, Sarah, Anna, and many many more people (5/17)
• A week of camping up the Northern California Coast to Oregon and Portland will finish off the trip on 5/31!

So, all my friends, tell me if these dates are good, bad, or indifferent. And in places where I don't have someplace to stay, do you have a friend with a comfortable couch?

I can't wait to see you all!