Original 1997 Tour Journal

During the summer of 1997 Joshua Tickell & Kaia Roman set out to prove that
used restaurant oil could fuel a 1986 Winnebago across the USA. They began
their 1997 tour at New College and ended it at the Real Goods Solar Living
Center in Hopland, California. Tickell and Roman gave presentations of the
Veggie Van in 30 cities across the U.S. while creating a windfall of print,
radio, and TV media coverage.

Letters of Support

June 30, 1997
New Orleans, LA

We made it to New Orleans about a week ago. We both had all 4 of our wisdom teeth removed which knocked us out and set us back about a week. Small-town Louisiana is going crazy about the van. The Veggie Van has appeared on the front cover of the Times Picayune and the local News
Banner. There seems to be an almost endless stream of traffic beside the house where the van is parked. Sometimes it's hard to drive down the street due to the traffic jams full of staring country-folk. We drove around the French Quarter in the van--blasting Bob Marley and explaining the Veggie Van over the PA. People were groovin', starin' and just lovin' it!

July 10, 1997
Lexington, KY

After a 20 hour drive straight from New Orleans, we arrived at 4 am in downtown Lexington. Although the scenery into the Blue Grass country is astounding, Joshua was definitely withering at the wheel toward the end of the journey (well, it was sort of dark by then.)

Luckily, Kaia still had a little energy and she alerted Joshua at 8:45 in the morning when the hotel TV came alive with the nationally-broadcast Veggie Van. Yes, it has finally come true, the Van has reached national fame via NBC's The Today Show. Excited and groggy, we gave a presentation at
Long John Silver's corporate headquarters around lunchtime. It was a hit with the staff who all think the idea of using used grease for something other than doggie treats is fantastic. At an outdoor concert in the park this evening, we learned that NBC also showed the piece on Dateline. We're only just beginning and already 40 million people have seen us!

July 13, 1997
Richmond, VA

Awoke slowly to the realization that we had spent the night in a Super 8 Motel parking lot. Even slower, came the realization that we were jammed between a huge U-Hall truck and an abandoned Ford Taurus. Spent a bummer of a few hours trying to figure out how to extricate the van and trailer without moving the car or the U-Haul. We even pushed the car out of the way a bit, but to no avail.
The van and trailer were eventually separated in a hot 5 minutes of loud, not-rated for TV language and each was carefully moved out into the larger parking lot. For afternoon entertainment, we were interviewed on the local public radio station and spent a few hours filming for a PBS documentary. What fun life on the road is!

July 17, 1997
The Big Apple

Driving through New York City was like driving through the armpit of America. Our eyes burned, our lungs felt funny, and everything got covered in a thin film of nasty brownish grayish stuff. Once beyond the city, New York State becomes a gorgeous drive through history. Two-family towns dot the country-side like spots on a cow's back. The air is clean, the people look wholesome (well, pretty wholesome) and the crops seem rich and healthy. We've been hiding out in the woods at a friend's house while we install a new water heater and some new plumbing in the Green Grease Machine. Oh, yeah, we re-welded the axle on the trailer too. It was about to crack like a match stick due to the overbearing weight of all the fuel and oil we've been lugging around. people go ga-ga everywhere we take the van, especially when we go to a fast food place to get oil. Kentucky Fried Chicken grease now covers our friend's garage and the processor. Due to a few bumps we hit on the way home, the trailer has been eternally embalmed in fryer oil. The fuel we made checks out, though, and we're almost ready for our next adventure.

Middletown Springs, VT
July 20, 1997

It's the Solar Fest in Vermont! And we're cold! Can you believe it? Three days on a secluded mountaintop in nowhere, Vermont is a truly invigorating experience. Especially with 1,000 of your hip, mountainperson best friends and a solar-powered stage filled with acts like John Gorka, Patty Larkin, and Dar Williams. No worries, though, there was a vendor selling Vermont-made warm
clothes and we took the opportunity to bundle up. People here are friendly are we're having a good time. The van is parked on a slope (all of Vermont is on a slope) and we keep rolling off the bed at night. It's beautiful here.

Minneapolis, MN
July 27, 1997

Our first experience near the "Land of a Thousand Lakes" was the local hippie love fest just across the border in Wisconsin. Indeed, we hung out with the still living members of the former Grateful Dead and about 5,000 21st Century love children at the Furthur Festival. To our surprise, they did not bow down and worship the van. (Most of them were still mourning for Jerry, and consequently
spending hundreds of dollars on pictures of the deceased wonder.) Somewhere in there, we talked to many of these wayward travelers who seemed very happy to know they could use vegetable oil for something other than group massages. Now we're having a much more upbeat time in Minneapolis where we tried to chill out at a local cultural festival (it was about 100 degrees in the shade). Definitely a cool thing to be in a poor, urban area for the day because these people have pride and respect for their community. They have fought the building of a waste incinerator and in its place have built the "Re-Use Center." This cross between a Goodwill and a Home Depot serves the community with jobs, a way to turn potential landfill fodder into capital, and a place around which to exchange ideas and friendly "hello's". Not only have they built the Center, but they are breaking ground on a totally Green industrial park which will be powered by solar and wind energy and will generate no waste. With exciting things like this happening from nothing more than human willpower,
there is surely hope for America to reclaim its inner cities.

Bloomington, IL
August 1, 1997

Today we visited AgriVisions--a company which supposedly researches and develops everything imaginable from vegetable oil. They make a form of biodiesel which they call BioGreen. The thick, viscous stuff is actually colored green! This company has equipment lying all over the place, covered in cobwebs. The "leader," of the company, Tim Lee (perhaps a relative of Dennis Lee?) showed us around the "lab" and the "workshop" pointing to devices which have obviously been sitting for years. His outlandish claims ranged from the creation of the perfect ehthyl ester fuel to cars that run on anything (literally). Every person working there seemed to be hiding some kind of secret joke. One look at their presentation and facility told us that these people are creepy. They did give us 15 gallons of their fuel and a guarantee that it will run fine. We shall see about that...

Dancing Rabbit, MO
August 4, 1997

Who would have thought that one of the most cutting-edge, exciting group eco-projects is taking place right here in Missouri? They call themselves Dancing Rabbit and they are a community of young, energetic environmental pioneers. In more simple terms, these people are dedicated to creating a sustainable community that produces its own food, energy and jobs. They are also a
bunch of really nice, down-to-earth folks. Of course, they had 30 gallons of used fryer oil awaiting us when the Veggie Van finally came to a hault on their dusty gravel road. With some serious group work and engineering, everyone pitched in to get the Green Grease Machine cookin' and the oil was
poured into the main reactor. By morning, the oil had separted cleanly into biodiesel and glycerin. Together, we had made Dancing Rabbit's first batch of home-made fuel. By the conversation that followed, we gathered that there would be more fuel made here with time. These people take their fuel as seriously as their beautiful organic garden--they are very committed to building a fully functioning biodiesel processor. In only a few short days of clean Missouri air, open vistas of the broad landscape, and swimming in the nearby pond, life has slowed down for us. The Dancing Rabbit Community is made of special people and who we believe will realize their dreams.

Nebraska City, NE
August 6, 1997

Nebraska is definitely turned on to renewable energy. People here have a general understanding that what's growing in their fields is more than just food; it's mother nature's energy stockpiles in their rawest form. It's unbelievable how much of this state is corn and soybean fields. Flat, solid land and warm friendly people give Nebraska a sense of timelessness. We stopped to buy a few groceries and ask for directions at a local supermarket. We had walked almost two blocks before an out-of-breath young sales clerk caught us and apologized for telling us to take a right on Central, he had meant to say to take a left. Indeed, people are friendly and good hearted here. We visited the Arbor Day Farms Lied Conference Center which is a remarkable hotel. Aside from the stunning architecture inside and out, this center is carpeted with recycled soda pop jugs! It's unbelievable, but the carpet looks and feels normal. The hotel has recycling bins in every room and has environmentally-centered famous quotes painted around the main foyer. The entire facility is cooled and heated by a biomass generator which churns away in the basement using agricultural waste as
fuel. And the personal highlight about the Conference Center--their vans run on blended biodiesel fuel! In fact, one of their vans has been running on the mixture for 4 years! This place is hands-down, the best eco-hotel we've visited yet.

Lincoln, NE
August 7, 1997

Today signifies four special events. The first is Joshua's 22nd birthday. The second is that the Veggie Van has now crossed the 6,000 mile, half-way point of the tour. The third, and most tangible event was the meeting of the Veggie Van and the Lincoln Bean Bus. The Veggie Van came to life around the same time that its owners (Joshua and Kaia) saw pictures of the "Bean Bus" for the first time. The Bean Bus was a regular Diesel transport bus which ran around Lincoln. What makes the bus different now is that it runs on 25% Soybean Biodiesel and has a huge cartoon-like depiction of soybeans all the way around it. Needless to say, the reporters were not terribly interested in pictures of the Veggie Van and Bean Bus together but we had a great time taking pictures of the two of them looking oddly friendly in the bus depot parking lot. Another tribute to Nebraska's clean ideals are the 4 other buses run by the public depot with burn 95% ethanol fuel. Although their Diesel engines were modified, these buses have very low emissions and reportedly good pickup. Oh, the fourth special event we just heard about and we are amazed. Veggievan.org was featured in Yahoo's weekly pics. Thanks to all of you dedicated Veggie Van supporters for checking in and following the greasy trail across America!

Truck Stop, CO
August 9

A dismal day by all accounts. We spent last night at a truck stop somewhere outside of Denver. We realized in the middle of the day yesterday that the Veggie Van was dying. It has been making strange sounds on startup for a couple of days now, in fact, ever since we left Missouri. It did not take us long to figure out that the batch of fuel we have been testing from AgriVisions is bad. Either they tried to sabotage the van, or they are too stupid to check each batch of fuel before sending it out the door. At ten o'clock last night, we had taken a wrong turn and the van was climbing Lookout Mountain in Golden. The temperature gauge was climbing and we were grinding along in 1st gear.
Suddenly, the engine gave one last pitiful turn and shuddered. The dash lights illuminated and in their red glow Kaia and I looked at one another. Our hearts pounded so loudly that neither of us could utter the unspeakable words: Is this the end? Eventually, we realized that we were only 1 block away from our friend's house. That did not help us remove the van from the middle of the street. Nor did it help us direct traffic, or explain to the nice police men just exactly what we were doing. After half an hour on hold with AAA, I talked to a wrecker who assured me he could be there in at least two hours. Gee Wiz, what fun! Two hours on the side of a windy mountain with a broken Veggie Van and two cops. By the time the tow truck reached the truck stop, it had already been a night of complete despair and unspeakable torture. The mechanic said he could look at the van in the morning.

Today we drained the fuel tank, installed new fuel filters, and attempted to flush the fuel system with diesel. What we drained from the tank was a thick yellow liquid, different in color than our biodiesel or NOPEC's. The van runs again, but only barely. Whatever damage was caused by the horrible BioGreen has now been done. Hopefully, it is just the injectors and not the fuel pump.

Denver, CO
August 11

Lalapalooza was a bust as the van would not start yesterday. It's cold here and we stayed inside with the heater on and slept all day. Thankfully, today we found a diesel mechanic who does carbon flushes on diesels and he cleaned the injectors and the fuel pump on the van. After he finished his work, I turned the key and the van roared to life as if it had never missed a beat. Yes! The Veggie
Van rides again! Of course, AgroVisions agreed to foot the bill, but we are not going to hold our breath...

October 29, 1997

Dear Josh & Kaia,

We hope your journey home was more pleasant than your visit to AgriVisions / BioResearch International, or what ever they are calling themselves this week. **** and myself would like to offer our apologies for the trouble that resulted from your visit. Your journal / log entry was painfully accurate, especially regarding the secret joke you referred to. Your timing was
unfortunately two months early. *** & I had both become so disgusted by the activities of our former employer, that we both quit Tim Lee's circus early in September. Since that time, we have founded our own company, devoted to truly researching and developing soy based products. We wish we could have spoken of our plans during your visit, but our plans were not yet solid enough to become public knowledge. During the time of your visit, **** & I were aware that there were serious problems with some of the "300" so called products "developed" by Tim Lee. Both of us were uneasy about Tim giving you any fuel. **** expressly stated to Tim in my presence, that the biodeisel fuel batch made by Tim had not been checked & should not be given out to anyone. BRI does
hold a patent on a biodeisel formulation, though we have no idea how Tim has made the past batches.

The chances of you getting any money from Mr. Lee are probably slim to none. The list of creditors and law suits seems to be growing at an exponential rate. I would predict that he closes his doors very soon. The only recourse, aside from legal action, is to spread the word about Mr. Lee's snake oil.

**** and I both believe strongly in your cause, and recognize the personal sacrifice you have made during your journey across the U.S. Not so long ago, we too were "poor" college students, and understand the financial hardships of working toward a dream. Although we can not make up for the time and frustration caused by using Tim's fuel, we would like to help "do the right thing."

Golden, CO
August 12

Tom Reed runs the Biomass Energy Foundation which produces a number of good books on biomass gasification. He does a number of experiments on wood gasification and he has helped design a super efficient wood cooker which actually burns wood with a blue flame. What is gasification? you might ask... Well, it is a more efficient way to burn wood or other biomass. Instead of trying to burn something by simply igniting it, a gasifier allows wood to turn into ash while it allows a gas to escape and be burned in a fire pit or in an engine. That means that you can run cars on wood chips. In fact, most of Sweden's vehicles ran on wood gas during the second world war. Tom was also one of the first people to make biodiesel from waste vegetable oil in this country. He tried to call it McDiesel, but McDonalds did not approve! We visited with Tom this morning before rushing off to meet with the folks at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado is funded by the Department of Energy to do high profile research on renewable energy fuels and technologies. Aside from a high-security research center, they also have a completely interactive new-seum, a place where computers and graphical depictions allow people to understand the importance of Renewable Energies. There we met with John Sheehan, a researcher who has worked extensively with biodiesel. John has done experiments with growing algae as a potential biodiesel crop! If successful, this type of research could lead to an unprecedented source of cheap fuel. John is optimistic about his research and hopes it can continue.

The excitement of the day continued when we went to visit with Agua Das, a self-proclaimed "reformed rocket scientist." Das is a jolly fellow with a beard to his middle and hair to match. He wears a baret and talks incessantly about gasification and pyrolisis. Pyrolisis is the extraction of a gas from a substance through extreme heat. Around Das' yard lie several interesting engines and a
number of gasifiers. Das explained that making fuel from wood is totally renewable because tree harvesting can be done sanely and sustainably. He showed us several engines which run on wood chips and he described a gasifier he once built to run an entire bus. He also showed us a wood stove he built which burns wood and other refuse so cleanly that there are no visible smoke emissions. Of course, Das also told us about his experiments in conjunction with Tom Reed to make biodiesel from waste vegetable oil. They made quite a bit of biodiesel from used oil and actually convinced the local transit buses to try it for a couple of weeks as a test!

Coalville, UT
August 15

While driving down a mountain toward Salt Lake City, UT, we felt a distinct "thud." The van slowed automatically and I pulled over as fast as possible. Upon further inspection, we found a wheel missing from the Green Grease Machine. Its bent, steaming hot axle lay upon the asphalt. Before it, stretched a groove in the road half a mile long. There had been no warning or sign that the wheel or
the tire was going out. Even now, as I stared sadly at the wheel, it sat there with all of its lugs intact. The wheel had vaporized and it had been our spare. Now we were on the side of the road, it was getting dark, and even if we had had another wheel it would not have helped because the axle was so badly bent. After the nice men in the pickup stopped to help us, after speaking to AAA in three states before being connected to an office in Utah and then holding for another half an hour, after waiting yet another couple of hours, our Green Grease Machine was trucked into Coalville. We parked next to it at the only gas station in town and slept in the van.

The next day revealed to us a town which still exists somewhere in the late 1930's. Aside from the modern pickups, the ATM, and the payphone, the small society of Coalville is a storybook example of Americana. We awoke to find ourselves amidst the busting crowds heading down the street for the annual Coalville rodeo. At noon, people lined the streets to watch the great Coalville parade which, according to the announcer, featured "some of the prettiest women in America...Don Edson's 1931 pickup truck...and the local snow rescue team..." It featured those wonderful prizes of middle America three times as the parade circle the town again, and again. We considered entering the Veggie Van in the parade, but after being told that the townspeople had originally feared we were "granola crunchers," or even worse, "tree huggers," we thought it best to keep a low profile. By nightfall, the festivities had moved to the fairgrounds and we were back on the road with a new axle and wheel.

Arcosanti, AZ
August 23

A few miles east off the big four lane heading south from Flagstaff and Sedona lies a half-built, cement, lunar colony. If you look closely from the highway, you can see its odd shapes poking up from the desert like shells on a recently stormed beach. This city, or rather township, is called Arcosanti and is the brainchild of visionary architect Palo Solari. His idea began quite simply as a city inside which cars are unnecessary, people live close to work, gardens provide food from every available nook and cranny, and the entire technology of the city is smoothly integrated with the living necessities of humankind. This vision was perhaps a reaction to the pancake megalopolises of Los Angeles and New York which during the 1970's had completed the destruction of their inner
communities to build the intricate networks of automobile freeways. Most large cities in the US are now caught in such a plight: People need cars to get to work; cars need freeways to be able to move; freeways facilitate expansion and cut off communities; people are even more isolated and the quality of life declines; inner city communities fall into disrepair and eventually become war zones; freeways are built to escape the inner city; ad infinitum. Fortunately, the city-machine only devours itself until its citizens rise up and demand change. Arcosanti is pioneering that kind of change and setting an example of possible urban revitalization. The buildings and structures here are based around the apse, or archway which allows sunlight to hit a building during winter and shades it during summer. Future offices are located underneath apartments; there are a number of community work spaces, meeting places, as well as a pool area and a community amphitheater. We hiked a hill adjacent to the town from which we could see its entire frontal architecture. I realized that Arcosanti looks surprisingly like a self-sufficient colony which humankind might one day establish on the moon or on mars. But, while we fantasize about future worlds, we must work to build colonies sufficient for maintaining life here on Planet Earth.

Los Angeles CA
August 25

It is ironic how elegant wind turbines stretch across the mountains east of what is perhaps the largest disaster in urban technology known to humankind. Those turbines produce energy from limitless winds; the city into which we descended survives on an ever narrowing ration of our Planet's energy reserves. But in the vast cement sea of this megalopolis, islands of hope remain. The Center for Regenerative Studies in Pomona is a living/learning center based within the Cal Polytechnic University. Set on a hilltop surrounded by experimental agricultural fields, adjacent to a municipal waste dump, lies the small campus of CRS. A set of south-facing buildings house dormitories, offices, classrooms, a community kitchen, a recycling center, and a computer laboratory.

Real Goods Solar Living Center, Hopland, CA
Saturday, September 6th

We awoke this morning to watch the sun pouring golden rays over the wine fields of Hopland California. We both felt so relaxed, relieved and exhausted. This journey has taken more from us than we could ever have imagined possible. We have poured our hearts, minds, and souls into the Veggie Van trek and in turn it has given us hope. Hope that there are better ways to fuel our machines, better ways to use technology, and better ways to live.

Today we were greeted by more than 200 people who had read about the Veggie Van voyage in newspapers, on the Internet, and seen us on TV. With those many voices of congratulation came a feeling of accomplishment and peace. We have accomplished what we set out to do: to travel across the country in a Winnebago powered by vegetable oil.

As we shook hands with Veggie Van followers and supporters, we began to realize that they wanted to see this project continue. In fact, many of the folks we met today see this as the beginning. Surrounded by the solar panels of the Real Goods Solar Living Center, these folks were inspired to do something. They wanted to make biodiesel, to run their vehicles on alternative fuels, and to be instrumental in changing the transportation infrastructure of our country. And if these people are like the thousands who e-mailed us during the journey, there are people everywhere who will run their cars on alternative fuels and their houses on clean electricity at the first available opportunity.

As the sun cast its last rays over the hills of Northern California, we realized that today marks the end of our 1997 journey and the beginning of a much larger journey to promote and develop fuels for a clean and safe future for everyone.