Vegginator II -- North on the coast

Wednesday morning, Pawley's Island, SC

Yesterday morning we left Columbus and headed east to Savannah, after a quick bit of car maintenance. Monday evening when I shut off the veg, it seemed like the car ran much better on diesel, and I was concerned that the filter on the veg system neededd changing. So, back to the autoparts store for a filter wrench, and I made the change in their parking lot. It got a bit messy, but we finished up and were on our way.

We were in Savannah for lunch. It's a beautiful city -- lots of green, with parkways down the avenues and small parks at every other intersection. After lunch we strolled around for a while having a "who's the bigger tourist with a camera" competition.

Then we headed north along the coast on Highway 17. The route gave us a good look at coastal South Carolina, running in and out of resort areas and sections that look like they haven't changed much in 50 years. We made a scenic stop at a boat landing on the Edisto River, stopped for ice cream, and stopped to buy a sawgrass basket for Lynn.

Then on to Charleston. We had planned to stop there, but by the time we arrived the traffic was heavy and we were hot and all we could think about was getting out of town, so we stayed on 17 north. It took us over one of the most beatiful cable suspension bridges I've ever seen.

On to Pawley's Island.

Vegginator II -- Mandy has a sense of humor

"Mandy" is our nickname for Kent's new GPS, ourchased what seems like a long long time ago. One of Mandy's features that can be especially handy is "find me a restaurant."

After leaving Quon to the vaguaries of Alabama troopers and cars that burn oil, Rachel and I continued north. We had a memorable stop in Montgomery, which seemed to have been the site of a recent neutron bomb attack. Seriously, the place was deserted. We wandered around the eerily quiet but otherwise lovely city for a while, and were lucky to stumble onto the Civil Rights Memorial. Its centerpiece was a beatiful fountain with a quote from MLK, and a history of some key dates in the Civil Rights movement, including the Selma march,Rosa Parks, Johnson's bill,and King's assassination. Coming on the heels of Ward 9, the crash, and Quon's quandry, it was a soothing and contemplative stop. Later we'll post some pictures...

Our next stop was Tuskegee, where we visited the memorial to the Tuskegee Airmen. Sadly, all of the memorial is inside a closed building -- we had hoped for at least one plane to photograph for Kent, but nada. Then we drove by Tuskegee University, andtook a look at the Booker T. Washington Monument. By now, it's getting dark and we're getting hungry, so we turned to Mandy to find a restaurant.

Now, Mandy is really just about location, but I think she led us into the woods on purpose. We picked a place that had an interesting, non-chain food name, and headed off into the Alabama night. It's always a hoot when Mandy says "turn here" and the "here" looks like a long driveway, but we're game enough,so we give it a whirl. It all led us, 8 miles later in the wrong direction, to a very very very dark corner on the far edge of nowhere, empty except for an unlit sign hinting that the restaurant was somewhere back in the woods at the end of an unlit driveway and obviously, closed. Sigh. Way to go, Mandy.

Making this long story short, we drove off into the night and settled for Micky D's, which our close friends and family will know is a very rare thing for us. And last night, we were reminded why. yech.

After the feast we headed off to Columbus, Alabama, which of course turned out to be merely 30 minutes away and stuffed full of interesting places to eat. But not for us. We got a room and called it a day.

And that's what I'm going to do now. There's lots to tell about today's journey, and I promise to catch up next time I'm able to get a working internet connection on Adam's beater laptop.

Vegginator II -- The Journey North Day 1

Rachel and I began our trip with a drive east along the Gulf coast to Biloxi, Mississippi. Along the way the evidence of Katrina's damage continued -- entire blocks, malls, and industrial building empty and boarded up. But unlike the 9th Ward in NOLA, the rebuilding along the coast seems to be progressing. The tone was set by a sign on the way to the East Bay Bridge -- "Halleluyah! The Bridge is open!" It's a pretty nice bridge, too. But, the bridge in Biloxi is still closed, so we took our cue and headed north.

Later that day, on I65 in Alabama, we spotted someone by a car on the shoulder waving fairly desperately for help. We pulled over and met Quon, who asked us if we had any oil (of course, we had a trunkfull, but he needed motor oil, not vegetable oil). He said his red light had come on, with acoompanying smoke and overheating (oops). I was at first reluctant to get too involved, but we couldn't strand him. The state troopers were all otherwise engaged with a massive speed trap one exit south, and couldn't be counted on. So we offered to take him to the next exit, hoping that he'd connect with a tow truck to get out of there.

At the service station, he practically begged us to give him a ride back, and since we had no real itinerary, we figured we could spare the time. He first came out with one container of oil, so I sent him back in for 2 more (red light, remember?). We piled back in the Vegginator and headed south. Quon wanted to get out across from his car and walk (run?) across the highway to it, but I kept moving, to avoid the carnage. At the next exit, I stopped to interrupt the troopers and let them know what was up -- maybe they could take a break from ruining people's days and do a little serving with all that protecting. They said sure thing, and off we went north to get Quon back to his car.

A bit south of the car, still, we weresurprised by a HUGE cloud of dust ahead, followed by lots of brakelights and swerving. Turns out we were about 50 yards short of witnessing not one but two SUVs in a joint rollover. I'm only flip about it because everyone got out okay, but it was a horrific crash -- clothing and stuff strewn all over the highway, and both cars totalled, I'm sure. They were on their sides about 15 yards apart in the median strip, with both roofs completely smashed in.

Quon, meantime, is worried that it was his car, but we reassurred him. After checking that everyone was out of the SUVs safely, we continued on up the road. (editorial comment -- I'll assume that the occupants are thankful that they were in SUVs and could survive the rollover. duh.)

Back at Quon's car we have to fight him off as he tries to throw a $20 bill in the back seat. I even showed him the trunk full of veg to prove that we were driving for free. I think it shocked him enough to calm him down. We took a picture shook hands and headed on our way. I hope he made it. Quon, by the way, is from Viet Nam, and lives in Alanta. He's been here 18 years, and his last car never burned any oil, so he's not in the habit of checking.

I could do this road trip for another month, just to keep meeting these people. What a treat.

Vegginator II -- The Journey North Begins

Pawley's Island, South Carolina:

Rachel an I are on the way north, the long way around. I'll revisit the past few days to get you caught up on our adventures.

Rachel arrived in New Orleans on Sunday and toured around the French Quarter and the riverfront while awaiting our arrival. Adam has already told you some about our visit with Elvia, our source for veg in NOLA. I'll only add by saying that this was a very generous and interesting guy -- meeting him was certainly one of the highligts of our trip.

Sunday night the Vegginator crew, complete with replacement driver Rachel, went out for a celebbratory dinner in the French Quarter (yum) followed by a stroll up and down Bourbon St. The already raucus street scene was enhanced by running nto fellolw BABE celebrants every block or so. Everyone's mood fit well with the party atmosphere in the street.

Monday morning Adam left early so he could waste the day in the NOLA airport trying to get back to Boston. Meanwhile, Kent joined me and Rachel for breakfast in the hotel, then the three of us drove off for a tour of the city. The words that kept running through my head throughout the drive was "criminals in the White House." The extent of the damage from Katrina was really overwhelming. Not block by block, but mile by mile of crumbling homes, piles of debris, and FEMA trailers. There's something very wrong here.

We dropped Kent back at the hotel late morning and got to say more goodbyes to more BABEites. Then, on the road....

Day Four: Off the Grid in New Orleans

Sorry to be late posting an update, but I've spent all day today trying to get back to Boston on US Air. Would have been easier in the Vegginator.

Our challenge on Sunday was to take pictures of as many state and provincial license plates as possible. The route was all interstate today, and we wanted to get to New Orleans in time to pick up our veggie oil resupply and get to the hotel to log our points in by 7:30 PM and catch the awards cermony at 8 PM.

The start had all of the beater BABE cars bombing down the interstate, passing each other and snapping license plates. Good fun. We ended up bagging 37 states and provinces, with our best hauls coming from U-Haul rental sites and truck stops. Dept. of Homeland Security might have raised an eyebrow or two, as we were slowly driving around the trucks snapping pictures.

It was a sobering ride into New Orleans on I-10, seeing the abandoned apartment complexes and houses on the side of the road. Kent and Richard had more of a chance to look around New Orleans, but just from the little bit I saw it hit hard. It's all so very sad.

The day's notable feature, and a big overall trip highlight, was visiting a fellow in New Orleans with a tremendous spirit, excellent handyman skills, a generous heart and 2.2 acres of property to play with. He lives close to the city center, and even without flooding he experienced $50,000 of damage during Katrina. There is no obvious evidence of the hurricane at his place now, nearly two years on.

Mandy the GPS found his compound with less than a gallon of veg to spare. We had done the trip on about 75 gallons of veg. and 1/2 a tank of diesel (used mostly for getting the engine warm at the beginning of the day, and shuttling to and fro the auto parts store during our Day 1 & 2 repairs).

Our kind friend was puttering in the backyard when we arrived, gave us a warm welcome and started showing us his set-up. We'll get some pictures up soon, but highlights of the tour included his massive truck and trailer with an old propane tank in the back for free restaurant veg. oil pickup, his shed with clever filtering and dewatering systems (including parts of an old air conditioner and a hot water tank), and the piping back to the four 250-gallon storage tanks of clean veg. He gave us about 60 gallons of filtered fuel and wouldn't let us pay a dime for it -- he enjoys the travellers that stop by with their wacky set-ups, and generously offers to refuel.

His goal is to go off the grid completely. He's getting a sound-proofed diesel electric generator up and running, and he's bought a bio-diesel set up. This will allow for conversion from veg. oil to a fuel that will go directly into a diesel tank, with no need for pre-warming. His wife's VW will be the first recipient of the bio-diesel.

The Vegginator was a real novelty on the rally and on the road, but I think we'll look back in a few years and realize that what we experienced on this trip was part of the quaint start of an energy revolution. Recycled, renewable non-fossil fuels will become commonplace, and these pioneering efforts to run on vegetable oil will be like the initial experiments with automobiles over a 100 years ago. In fact, flying home today I read in the paper about a company that has contracted with something like 400 restaurant chains to collect waste vegetable oil for a biodiesel plant planned for the NY/NJ area. Pretty soon, we will go from restaurants having to pay to have their waste oil taken away to getting paid to get rid of it. Going beyond recycling to mass production will raise its own thorny problems in terms of the food supply and risk of deforestation. Recycling waste veggie oil is an easy first step.

I hope everyone reading this will one day be able to say, "believe it or not, there was a time when running a car on something other than fossil fuels was remarkable."

After tasting an orange from the orchard it was time to give thanks, say our goodbyes and head to the French Quarter. We decided to switch to diesel as it was a long stop and the new veggie oil was coming in cold. We were so thrilled by our visit that we forgot to switch off the return back to the veggie tank in time, and for the first time we had some overflow in the trunk. We noticed a pungent oil smell, and thought it was because the new oil was from a different source. Actually, it was sloshing around in the trunk. Gross.

We pulled into the festive Quarter and met up with Richard's daughter Rachel, who is going to travel with him in the Vegginator back to Boston (road trip!!!), as she has a bit of time before her summer job starts up in Acadia National Park. I logged in our points before the deadline, while Rich and Kent cleaned up the trunk. The BABE cars made quite a stir, as the stretch limo pulled up with the BABE-ites in full prom regalia. Martini motored in with the Union Jack flying and the festivities began.

The first award was for the most-beat car, which went to the '71 VW Bus driven by team #47. Among their many colorful moments was the Day Four detachment of the camper top from the bus, with the top almost flying off of the bus at speed. They were proud of their "victory," and want to bring an even older VW bus next year.

We haven't seen the full standings, but I sadly must report that the Greasers were not on the podium at the end. The winning teams had hundreds of more points (thousands?) than we did, some how. Today the big points winners drove around the parking lot at the airport and bagged a bunch of obscure plates, totalling as many as 45+ state license plates. The awards ceremony was good fun, and we then broke for dinner and hanging out in the Quarter.

There was a great spirit on the rally, and I want to give a big THANK YOU to my teammates for all of their work both getting us ready and throughout the trip. Martini said, "it's funny, you grow up with your best mates, you'd do anything for them, they're like brothers, but after a few days in a car with them you want to wring their necks." And yes, the Greasers had one or two tense moments, but overall I thought we did great for three sweaty guys with no air conditioning, bombing through the mountains and the swamps with a pile of vegetable oil in tow.
Tip 'o the hat to my fellow Greasers -- I very much enjoyed the ride and thanks for taking me along. I can only imagine what you are going to come up with next year...

Late night Gadsden

Getting to Alabama today gave us a bonus hour, and it';s a good thing, because it's 1 am local time and I'm still up. I just finished showing off the Vegginator's fuel system to the four Irish guys. They lost their car (a stretch Caddy) on the second day out -- the center universal joint gave way, and they had to desert it on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But they're still partying along with the rest of the gang, in a much more comfortable rental car. The social part of the rally has proven to be a real bonus -- everyone is rooting for each other, and the routine of applause for every arriving car is a treat, whether we're doing the clapping or being welcomed as a late arrival, as we were last night. I was glad tonight that Adam reminded us about making a stop at the local convenience store so we could bring along a case of Corona to share.

The Vegginator performed really well today. It is remarkably smooth on the highway. On the steep backroads it takes a bit more patience, but it does get going. I actually thought it handled really well through the 300+ curves on the dragon. It's a bit loose, but very predictable and stable within its limits.

Overall the trip has been very comfortable, and except for the emergency repairs yesterday, very relaxed. Even that was fun -- Kent and I had a good time lying on the pavement under the car trying to sort out how to patch together three ill-fitting repair kits to do the job of one. We even managed to fit the floor ramps we purchased into the car when we left -- it just took a little time and some Damariscotta style car packing, and I think we had more room in the back seat than without them.

One more day to go. I've been in touch with my veggie oil contact in New Orleans. Timing may be a bit difficult, as I don't know how early we'll make it there tomorrow, but I'm optimistic that Rachel and I will have 50+ gallons of veg to start our trip north.

Day Three: Cruisin' to Gadsden, Alabama

Saturday: Another beautiful day in the mountains, this time much more relaxed as we had no mechanical difficulties and could get off at 9 AM with the other BABE beater cars. Poor entry #13 had to be taken to the crusher, and that team showed up last night in a rented PT Cruiser. Also a pink car, but not the same. Very sad.

Early on I was driving, and Mandy the GPS took the Vegginator on a steep and curvy gravel road that we had no business attempting. It required a running start to get up the first hill, and we had to make sure not to lose speed around the curves as the steepness was too much for the Vegginator from a dead stop. Very exciting, and luckily no cars coming in the other direction around the curves. We were very pleased to get up and over the moutain and back on pavement.

Today's challenge was to find the oldest car along the route that still had four wheels on it. We were having no luck until we hit the jackpot in Smokey Mountain National Park: a Ford Model A Club heading in the opposite direction. We did a 180 and about 10 miles later they happened to pull over to have lunch. The enthusiasts were very friendly and even offered to let us take one of their beatifully restored cars for a test drive. Here is our entry, a Model A from 1928, the first year of production.

After lunch of blackened local trout and catfish we were off for Deals Gap, a famously dangerous 11-mile stretch in the mountains with about 350 hairpin turns going up, down and around. A favorite of motorcyclists, we were warned not to cross the yellow strip ever or leave any oil on the street that could cause skidding.

Here's a picture of the Tree of Shame, with many broken pieces of motorcycle attached:

The scene when we arrived at "the tail of the dragon" was memorable, with hundreds of bikers hanging around along with participants in a Dodge Viper rally. The sports bikes go roaring off from the start, and apparently there have been many unfortunate Darwin Award winners created at this site. Richard really wanted to test the Vegginator in Deals Gap, and after affixing the requisite bumper sticker we were off. He really put the Veg through its paces, showing off his excellent driving skills honed in his Mini. Richard's judgement: "well, we could have done it faster in a Mini, but this was so much better than that piece of %$#!@%$ van that Joe's driving."

We were so relaxed today we had time for a detour or two, so of course Kent took us to an airport. Specifically the airport in Athens, Tennessee that was holding the annual Swift plane fly-in. Kent is a club member and we got to meet the #1 flying ace of the Swift Magic Aerobatic Team. As we arrived the Ace took off with smoke coming out of the back and did a nifty barrel roll.

Here's the Ace and one of the planes.

When we pulled behind the Holiday Inn Express we were met with the sweet sound and poisonous smoke of the metal roof being sheard off of one of the cars. Ah, another night in BABEland! Richard is outside enjoying the pleasant evening and sharing war stories with the other rally goers.

Tomorrow, on to New Orleans. First stop when we arrive: Elmira, who has kindly offered to provide us with 50 gallons of veg oil for Richard's trip back to Cambridge.

Day 2: Long and Triumphant

We started out at 7:30 AM at the Harrisonburg, VA Autozone and ended at 11:00 PM, 381 miles later, in the Best Western Asheville, NC lobby singing "Alison" in our Elvis (Costello) costumes to the BABE Marshalls. We received full marks from the British judges and a hearty round of applause from the crowd. Unfortunately, "Alison" is now permanently imprinted into our cortexes after practicing about 300 times in the car on the Blue Ridge Highway.

The gathering in the parking lot of about 50 Elvises in various states of glory and decline was entertaining. Another perfect weather day to have a look at Vegas Elvis, Young Elvis, Elvis with a walker, etc. The crowds only regret was that there was no dead Elvis, complete with commode, fried banana and peanut butter.

Kent and Richard were car jock heros today, somehow engineering a working boot to hold the grease on our left c.v. axle joint. Of course Autozone didn't have the boot, so the boys manufactured something that worked using three other boots and lots of glue. We bought bunches of little grease packets, two wheel lifts and borrowed parts from this awesome Autozone hero, Jennie. She nailed the trip: "So the carpenter (Kent) wants everything perfect, the project manager (Richard) wants to control everything and get it done, and this guy (Adam) just wants to hang out in the back and get going."

The challenge for Day 2 was to convince 10 separate groups of individuals to willingly let us have their pictures taken with us in our Elvis (Costello) garb. Here we are with Robin and her super-friendly coworkers and clients at the Hollywood Restarant and Bakery in VA (HIGHLY recommended), and the entourage of Amanda -- who was gearing up for her pre-wedding lingerie party (yes, Richard asked to be invited). Extra points for 10 people in the picture.

We'll post more pictures when we can get the pixel size down later, including Joyce at the Country Cottage, some bulls we considered consenting individuals (they didn't leave when we asked them if it was OK to take their picture), the bikers who feared we would hit them over the heads and steal their kidneys, and some others met along the way. Our only real bust was the salon next to the tattoo parlor. No pictures boys!

The car ran smooth as silk today, burnin' the veg over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

8:15 AM. Time for a quick cup o' joe and onward to Bama at 9:00!

Elvis is ready to leave the building

Noon in Harrisonburg, VA. The CV Boot has been more or less successfully replaced. Friend Steve from Lucky the Duckmobile commented on the irony that the best looking car in the bunch was the one to break down. We consider that the ultimate compliment.

The fix entailed patching together three different size boot replacement kits. True BABE spirit, and best of all, we think it will work. Now, how to fit the car ramps we purchased in the Vegginator in case we need them later?

Final challenge of the morning -- back in the hotel room to shower up before hitting the road. Yes! Except, water? No! Ooops from the front dek -- "Sorry, we thought everyone was gone." 10 minute wait for water. Now refreshed and ready to hit the road...

Pics from Days One and Two

We grabbed a card reader from Circuit City in Harrisonburg so here you go. The first pic is the dudes from Western Mass in Car 13 we ran into at the rest stop on Day Zero. The Union Jack is a retrofit from Martin the Inebriated, who showed up a couple of weeks ago from Oxford England and managed to shear off half the top of the car, decal it in UK colours, and stick the flag on the back. The last pic is Adam and Brother Lou enjoying Island living at the Staten Island Hotel on the morning before launch on Day One.

We had a great time at the Friends School in Baltimore. Here is the first grade class. Pic 2 is Richard with his brother Robert, who came up huge for the Greasers with lunch, snacks for the road and 18 gallons of super-clean recycled veggie oil from Bill in Baltimore. Huge thanks to Bill Elliot for the refueling -- we left Baltimore completely topped up.

Kent to the rescue when we arrive in Harrisonburg at the end of Day One, ready to investigate our CV joint grease leak.

Day One: Staten Island to Harrisonburg, VA

Thursday morning was quite the colorful scene as the cars gathers in back of the hotel to hang out before the start. We'll try to post some pictures, but are having technical difficulties so those may have to wait until we return. The participants are as colorful as the cars. Some of the highlights were the stretch limo with two couples dressed up for the prom, the sports car with a huge Union Jack flying from the back, and the car covered completely with aluminium foil.

It was another day of perfect weather. The marshals got on the bullhorn and we all jumped into our cars. On the way out the parking lot we were handed our challenge packets. Challenge one: go three miles up the road to the K-mart and buy as many individual items as you can for a total cost of $1, including tax, and get it done by 10:00 AM (20 minutes). We ended up with 7 items bought at 9:58. Challenge two was 20 obscure photographs of things to find along the way. We managed to photograph about 5 of them.

We were on the veggie oil by 10:15 and Mandy the GPS had us heading to the Friends School in Baltimore, where Richard's brother Robert was to meet us with 18 gallons of veg, some sandwiches, and a few classes of kids from the school to check out the car. At a rest stop we met up with a state trooper who let us photograph his car but not his face...the troopers were harder on the aluminum car, which by the time it got to Maryland had become a bit of a littering hazard.

We arrived at the Friends School at 13:45, Robert at the ready. Richard, chef's hat on, introduced himself to Heidi the school's PR person. She snapped away as first the middle schoolers and then the first graders checked out the car. They asked good questions and were really into the Vegginator.

At 18:05 we had gotten past DC traffic and into the pretty part of the trip in the Shennendoah valley. Unfortunately, just before the turnoff for Skyline Drive we started to hear a noise from the back, and upon inspection found a grease leak on the back axle. Prudence led us to skip Skyline Drive but we managed to find a pretty valley route into Harrisonburg on Highway 11. It was too late to get the car checked out before getting to Harrisonburg, but help was available in the Best Western parking lot when we arrived around 20.00.

The Central Square Dart duds lent us their lift, Kent put on his tyvac suit, gloves and headlamp (got to get those pictures uploaded!) and upon inspection found that the boot around the left rear axle c.v. joint was cracked, so grease wasn't getting to the joint, which eventually will ruin the joint, which will keep the car from moving, hence making it impossible to drive to New Orleans.

Wise man Joe told us that one option was a boot repair kit, that could be a decent fix without having to pull everything apart. So we bombed over to Autozone at 20:50, 10 minutes before closing, but they didn't have the repair kit, and the replacement part couldn't get here 'till Saturday. We caught up with Joe just finishing up the $8.99 all-you-can-eat BBQ special at Shoney's, and he suggested maybe buying a bunch of grease and wrapping the thing with adhesive and ... you guessed it, duck tape as a temporary fix. So we're going to try that tomorrow morning, as Autozone opens at 7:30 AM and launch isn't till 10:00 AM.

Meanwhile, the Shoney's buffet beckoned and was pretty awful, especially as they don't serve beer. We later caught up with the Marshalls at Ruby Tuesdays and saw that we had missed out on a great looking salad bar...oh well, the party is hopping in the parking lot so it's time for a few beers down there with the other Babe-heads before trying to grease up our C.V. joints tomorrow.

Day Zero: Cambridge to Staten Island

Wednesday, May 23rd: Kent and Richard added a few washers to the trunk latch so it would close, and Rachel and Lynn cheerily saw us off, delayed but not denied. Fearing permanent relegation to the back seat, I offered to drive, my maiden voyage in the Vegginator. We launched at 15:34. Used to driving the Prius for minimal gas usage, I eased onto the “accelerator” and little happened. The boys explained that the diesel engine takes some time to get going, so I should downshift to “S” and keep the pedal to the metal. 0-40 in about two minutes.

The steering wheel is impressively huge and very loose, the climate control system fairly non-existent. It was windows down on a crisp and cool day. We stopped at Soldier’s Field to say goodbye to Lyda and Lily, and after a 10 mile warmup to get the temperature gauge to 80 Celsius we flicked the green and blue console switches to engage the veggie oil system. Smooth as silk, we were off.

Kent brought along his ancient GPS system, which has a range from about Cambridge to Western Mass. So we made a pit stop at 18:00 in E. Hartford to pick up “Mandy,” our sultry voiced GPS system. We asked Mandy to take us to the Staten Island Hotel and off we went, Richard at the wheel.

Richard has a heavy foot and we started making better time. We pulled into a rest stop at 19:05 (Mandy keeps Military Time) to top up the veg tank. At the stop we spotted fellow BABE travelers, car #13 from Western Mass with Short Bus, Lagger and Darren at the helm. The boys' '83 Reliant wagon couldn’t have looked more Babe-liscious. Their names were spray-painted on the wagon. Darren’s dad had signed with an arrow pointing under the front fender, indicating where he had spent the last week to make the car almost road-worthy. #13 was given to the boys out of an estate where it was discovered in a barn as an after-thought. Last year, in a different junker, they made it all the way to New Orleans and almost all the way back to Western Mass, dying in Hartford.

Leaving late turned out all for the best as we hit virtually no traffic and had a beautiful twilight cruise through Brooklyn and over the Verrazano Narrows bridge onto Staten Island. The small parking area in front of the hotel was rockin’ with rally goers and their beater cars. The Vegginator got a huge welcome, and we jumped out in our Vegginator chefs’ hats to greet the throngs of well-wishers.

We filled out the voluminous release forms, which the UK-based marshals had mistakenly based on English common law. So we pledged to conform to the laws of Britain, whatever those might be. A couple of intrepid entrants from Sheffield, England met us in the bar, waiting for their car to be delivered from the Mid-West. Courage!

Our extremely friendly waitress, Diamond, took a strong interest in the chefs’ hats and our project, and offered to investigate the possibility of getting a bit of canola oil from the kitchen for our fuel tank. After some appropriately greasy food and a few island brews we were off to rest up for the real action: Day One!

Launch delayed but not denied

Houston, we've got a problem...sitting on my can in the launch capsule waiting for some technical difficulties to be ironed out. Actually, it's just Kent and Richard running last-minute errands while I hang out in Cambridge awaiting liftoff. Not so bad as Lynn is here to see us off and its a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

The Vegginator trunk is now oil filled with the 10 gallon tank plus a bunch of 5-gallon containers. A bit of room left over for other supplies, but not much. All told there are about 50 gallons in the trunk, or what should be well over 1,000 miles of range before we coast into a McDonald's seeking fuel and fries. The official BABE rally decals on the side and back look great, and a spell-checked VEGGINATOR decal for the front windshield is waiting for us at the Staten Island Hotel.

Brother Lou is planning on coming out to Staten Island tonight to hang with us and check out the 50-odd beater rally cars gathered tomorrow morning. Today's prelmininary launch time was 1:00 PM; it's now 2:30 pm, pretty soon worrying about NYC rush hour traffic will be moot. I think we're close -- Kent and Richard now constantly calling each other despite living next door...Richard on the phone calling Kent for a time estimate, he's ready, I'm ready, Kent's showered, been to the bank, but not quite ready to commit to a leaving time...he's on the other phone with US Airways...Richard's knowledge of "Kent time" suggests that half an hour from now is a real...possibility. Onward!

I should have asked how you use the facilities in one of these space suits...

A Lucky Encounter

On Saturday Lynn and I took the Vegginator down to the Cape to meet up with a gang of MINIs and one very ducky minivan. The MINIs are all friends of ours from the New England MINI crowd, many of whom we've done numerous rides with, especially MINIs on Top. The minivan is "Lucky," also heading out on the BABE Rally with four of our friends from MINIland.

LUCKY is festooned with ducks, all part of a fundraiser mounted by team captain Steve, with lots of help and support from his friends and teammates. The fundraiser is to help out another member of the gang, and it's been a smashing success.

One of the other Lucky team members is the ever resourceful Joe Rose, who's been very helpful as we've tried to sort out parts issues for the Vegginator. He even showed up at the ride Saturday with a genuine Mercedes issue first aid kit for our built-in rear deck first-aid box. We're ready for anything.

All in all, it was a marvelously fowl party, with ducks...











Chicks (wow, this is way bigger than a MINI boot!)


And a goose. (meet Steve)

What do you mean we leave in 3 days?

Can anyone tell me why it is that just when one is ready to set out on a relaxing venture like the BABE Rally that there is a convergence of things (not related to the BABE Rally) that have to be taken care of - NOW? All that I really would like to have to worry about at this point is getting my Elvis outfit dry-cleaned.

The weather has been wet and cold for about the last week. How are we supposed to get out there and buff up the finish on the Vegginator?

On Friday evening while we had a small monsoon blowing through the area, Richard & I took the Vegginator out for a drive to put it through its paces - so to speak.

We just had new tires put on a couple of days before and sitting in the passenger seat I noticed a vibration. Hmmm. Had Sal not tightened all of the lug nuts? Were the tires out of balance? Is this a reason to worry? Should we do anything about it? As it was cold, wet & dark we thought the best course of action was to do nothing and continue driving. Fortunately the vibration diminished, disappeared and hasn't returned. So far.

We bombed out Route 2 on the way to Route 128 and waited for the temperature gauge to head past the magical 80 degrees Celsius normal engine operating temperature that signified we could switch over to running on veggie oil instead of diesel. I checked the hoses running along the floor next to me for a rise in temperature. Tepid at best. We turned off the defroster and heater so more of the engine heat would flow back to warm up the tank in the trunk. It wasn't until we were near to crossing I-93 in Woburn that the temperature was close to the mark (and our patience was running a bit thin) and we threw the switches to start the flow of veg.

Wow! Those illuminated toggles were bright enough to play havoc with our night vision. (Especially since the windshield was now seriously fogged up.) The cool thing was that the Vegginator didn't skip a beat and continued plunging its way forward through the rain and wind. (Toward the car that Richard was tail-gating.) Except for one little hiccup of power loss which we worked out with a short run of diesel, the road test was an unqualified success.

I'm heading over to the dry-cleaners.

1 week, ready or not...

Time to hit the road is coming on soon, and there's a bit more to do. Yesterday we got the last of the known required parts ordered -- some air cleaner housing mounts and a thermo vacuum valve (no idea what that's for). The parts should arrive Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

Today I picked up insulation foam for the radiator hoses that run through the passenger compartment. We're not too sure the AC works, so anything to offer a little shield from the heat is a plus.

Then there's the grease -- we have some filter bags on order from GreaseCar.com, and we're finally getting some good connections for waste veggie oil here and on the road. Kent met some guy who has a veggie Mercedes wagon and is a salesguy or something for a restaurant supply company. I made a connection at the Craigie Street Bistro. Then, on a tip from Mark at Greasecar, I discovered the Fillup4free web site, a loose network of waste veggie oil people. I think this might be the best bet for snagging free veg along the way.

Then there's Jen & Julie, who have some restaurant connection in Somerville, and they need someone to use it for the summer, but they haven't called back yet. And, there's the guy in Pepperel who has loads of oil for sale cheap, dewatered and filtered. Still waiting to hear from him too.

On a less oily note, I discovered today that there's another team from Cambridge, with modest celebrity connections. It's the RallyDart, and maybe we can connect with them for a caravan to Staten Island, just to get in the mood.

Speaking of Staten Island, we decided that that's the only part of NYC worth seeing ont he way down, so all you Manhattanites are out of luck. Maybe we'll swing through on the return trip so you can see the Vegginator.

Tomorrow's a day off from BABE preparation so I can make a run up to Colby and grab some stuff from Rachel, so she can finish her move home in her own car on Sunday. Good thing I like to drive. And tomorrow I can take the MINI, after being resued by Kent to finish the connections for my roof rack so I can haul Rachel's bike home. It is nice having him and his fully equipped shop next door, and it never goes unappreciated.

Vegginator Signage -- squeal like a pig, fat boy?

Given this is a trip through the South and I live in the suburbs, I'm getting a bit of blow back from neighbors and friends about trip safety. Scratch the surface and perhaps behind the hand-wringing is the age-old fear of the dreaded "Deliverance"-type experience ("Hey Bubba, that one's got a pretty mouth..."). Other than hounding Richard to get the brakes checked out before the Blue Ridge mountains, I'm whistling Dixie and not too worried.

My teammates courageously refuse to fly under the gay-dar. Richard is working to get the Vegginator decked out with window decals that broadcast the purpose of our trip, and Pam is busy designing the official Vegginator tee shirt (hand lettered and signed, only $350 on Ebay, proceeds go to the EJS College Fund). The bumper sticker on the back is in synch with nativist attitudes so shouldn't get us into trouble (This car powered by foreign oil, with the "foreign" crossed out and replaced with "vegetable.") A bit more dicey is the yellow ribbon magnet decal on the trunk ("Support our Vacuous Slogans"). Oy. Might want to stick that one in the back pocket before pulling into the Dixie Truck Stop.

Fight the fear and may the Greasers turn our red and blue country purple. Meanwhile, time to shop for some of that bullet resistant lace-up underwear...

Strategy Session

Last night the three of us met with our significant others to get them to read, discuss and sign the Spouse/Significant Other approval form. After a careful review of the materials, no one signed. This could get tricky...

We began to develop a list of necessary items to take with us in the car. Kent took copious notes and sent around the list, below.

Stuff:
Plugstrip
Inverter
Aluminum Foil & Manifold Destiny Cookbook?
Cooler
Lug wrench
Tools
Flashlight(s)
GPS
Beer?
Video Mount
Filters – Spin & Sack
IPods & adapters
Sound System?
Spousal/Significant Other Permission Form
Aero Bed
Big mother spotlight
Gutter Roof Rack
Coveralls
Gloves
Elvis Glasses
Elvis Clothes
(Don't forget Elvis lyrics and music)

Work Day:
Insulate Hoses
Windshield Washer
Music
Bolt Down Seats
Veggie Filtering System
Veggie Source
Trunk Partition

Expense Sheet

Given the massive list, we discussed the possibility of a car carrier on top, but I think that would be quite dorky and not consistent with the spirit of the trip. My plan is to bring four pairs of undies, a toothbrush, and a bottle of water. The trunk is going to be full of veggie oil and tools, and the back seat has enough room for, perhaps, Richard, now that he is going to the gym regularly (or at least has a gym membership). Kent or I won't fit. But we think Richrad will enjoy it back there.

The Conversion

No, we're not considering any religious affiliation adjustments. But we did finally convert the Vegginator to run on diesel OR waste vegetable oil. Truthfully, we got Pat and Dave to do it. They're the Green Grease Monkeys, and they are true veggie evangelists, just the guys you need for a convincing conversion.

Kent and I went and met these guys at the Thirsty Scholar in Cambridge so we could prove our worthiness by plying them with stout. By the end of it all, they were either impressed or drunk, so we had some agreement about going forward. To make things more interesting, we arranged to do the conversion as a demonstration project for the advanced classes at the RSTA Automotive Technology Class. RSTA is the Rindge School of Technical Arts, which is the Vocational Education arm of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Roy, Rob and Steve run a top notch program there, and we were pleased to get an invite.

The conversion went well, and the students seemed to find it interesting. The whole job took all of two class days and a bit of a third, but Pat and Dave typically do it in a day.

This is Pat working on a copper coil as part of the system the heats the veggie oil for better flow and combustion. The wvo system uses an adapted boat fuel tank in the trunk. There's a line from the cooling system that runs back to the tank to preheat the veggie oil, which is then carried forward in a fuel line inside a continuation of the same radiator hose, through a filter, and into the injector system. It's all switched back and forth by a couple of solenoid switches controlled by some snazzy switches on the dashboard.

The next picture here is Kent (rear) pretending to work on the car. He's really just watching Dave. The gloves are for effect.



Can't leave without a picture of some of the students...

The Car - Part 2

When we first laid eyes on the Vegginator at Dan's Auto Wholesale in Middleton, NH, it was love at first sight. Of course, Kent had to tear me away from the Lincoln Town Car Dan had off to the side, but we were pretty sure this cream-colored Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel was the car for us. With only 208,000 or so miles on it, it was practically new, and the perfect candidate for a wvo conversion.

Dan helped things along by fixing a leak in the brake line that Kent had discovered when he tried to stop during our test drive. Oops. Dan was also able to secure a couple of used tires good enough to get us back to Cambridge. We picked it up the next week.

When we got there Dan wasn't around, but he left us a nice note about spraying ether under the the throttle cover if we needed a boost to get it started. Which we did (we later learned that this is a BAD THING to do to a diesel, but it's survived).

We got the car back to Cambridge and got it registered and inspected and most important, stuck a Cambridge Parking Sticker on it so I could get it out of my driveway. We even drove it once in a while.

The Car - Part 1

So, what do you do to make a drive to New Orleans in a $250 banger (that's English for beater) more interesting? Make it smell like french fries, of course.

I don't recall exactly how the idea came up, but I think it's safe to give Kent credit for it. I do recall that much of December was spent reading about old diesels on craigslist.com. We even managed to go look at a few.

One of our favorites was Kyle's 1976 Mercedes, somewhere in southern NH. Kyle is a high school senior of great promise -- really cool kid. He did the wvo (that's waste veggie oil) conversion on this car himself as a school project. It was our first look at a complete conversion.

While we were pretty impressed with Kyle, we weren't sure that his car was totally up to the trip, and he wanted to get real money for it (at least $400). So we kept looking.

Next up was another home-grown conversion in Portland, Maine. The best thing I can say about this one is that it made Kyle's car look really good.

Along the way we (well, mostly Kent) ferreted out every diesel anything for sale under $1000 on craigslist, anywhere in the country. We kept our spouses entertained with late night cries of "Hey! Look at this one!"

The Team

Kent and I immediately thought of everyone we knew who would have fun and be fun on the journey. Then we realized that we probably couldn't buy a roadworthy bus for $250, so we'd have to shorten the list.

In the end it came down to the three of us Adam, Kent & Richard. Our connection dates back to preschool days at the always fabulous Newtowne Preschool in Cambridge (that's for our kids, not us). Since then we've vacationed together (with families and other friends) at the Sunset Cabins on Damariscotta Lake, we've been in a regular poker game (Richard is ahead in winnings) just generally enjoyed each others company. We're sure the trip won't change that.

The Idea

Back in November I read a post on mini2.com from my friend Steve, aka CapeCodMINI about his plans to enter a car in the BABE Rally. My first thought was, "Sounds like a hoot! Got room for one more?" As soon as he said yes, I rushed into Kent's basement (or The Clubhouse, as I like to call it) to share the big news. Next thing you know, we're entering our own car in the Rally, and we're hot on the trail of our very own beater. The key rule for the BABE Rally is that whatever piece of junk you drive can't cost you more than $250.00.

We've got some catching up to do here, but stick with us...