For the alt fuel Guru's part 1
Hey guys this is from my best friend Clay, I had to put this in 2 threads cause apartenly you can only have 20000 characters per thread. To give you a little back ground he sent me this email last night. It's not a landcruiser but still a great feat non the less. He bought a 4 door 1990 I beleive chevrolet truck out in california and drove it back end of last summer. he got a doner truck from the junk yard with a diesel engine in it. Rebuilt it and converted it to run off cooking oil. He and I grew up together and went to clemson and majored in forestry. Once we graduated he went in to the Marine Corp, and when he got out he went out to washington state to build and clear trail for the US Forest Service. This was his second summer going out there, first with the veggie truck. Sorry it's long but well worth reading. Not sure what his odometer started at but it reads 48,793 now.
...is what the odometer read as I rolled into Deadhorse, Alaska; 250 miles above the Arctic Circle.%#@& Getting here has been an adventure I could have never imagined.%#@& But it's not because it is so damn far, although that is part of it.%#@& It's because I did it on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO).%#@& I must say, I was brimming with pride as I pulled into town here...it was my goal.%#@& My goal for over a year now.%#@& A big goal, but to be proud of an accomplishment, you have to set the bar%#@&high at some point.%#@&%#@&SC to AK on grease.%#@& Well, there was a section north of Denver to Washington, parts were on Diesel.%#@& At the time I was on%#@&a schedule to get to Wa. for the trail contract.%#@&
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The summer started in June as I left home in SC with 110 gallons of filtered WVO and 78 more in the settling tank, ready to be filtered.%#@& I picked Josh up a few hours down the road in Barnwell and we headed west.%#@& We stopped in Kansas to see Ray, who was going to be working with us in Wa.%#@& Bakner was not there yet, although he was supposed to be there 2 day earlier.%#@& Josh and I left after a brief chat and continued west.%#@& We got 10 miles down the road and the truck was acting funny.%#@& It smelled funny.%#@& I had no idea what it was, but it smelled and drove funny.%#@& I pulled over thinking it was the alternator, I have never trusted that thing.%#@& The belts were fine ands I could see no problem.%#@& The rain was coming down in buckets.%#@& I decided to head back to Ray's to figure out what the issue was.%#@& A few miles down the road I figured out it was the clutch.%#@& We made it to Ray's, but not by much; the clutch was not grabbing at all.%#@& As luck would have it, it died in the town Ray lived in...I didn't have to get the grease wagon towed.%#@& And on top of that, Ray works at a huge greenhouse complex.%#@& This complex has a fabrication and repair shop.%#@& The fellas that worked there let me work on my truck in their shop after hours!!!!!!!!!%#@& What a score!%#@& I could fix it myself.%#@& Without the shop, I could not have.%#@& I had all the tools, but not an engine hoist.%#@& The way the truck is put together, it is easer to take the engine out to get to the clutch than taking the transmission out.%#@& Anyway, the fellas were unbelievably nice...telling me where tools were I could use; just amazingly generous.%#@& I didn't need any of their tools, but they were offering them up.%#@& On Monday it was HOT!!!!%#@& They saw me out there working and told me I could move into the shop.%#@& I said no, it was too much and I didn't want to get in their way...but as I was saying this they were already pushing my 1 ton truck in.%#@& Got the truck put together and moved westward.%#@&%#@& In Idaho, I ran out of fuel, I knew I was close, and sure enough, cough, couch, dead.%#@& By this time I had long since used the 110 gallons I had already filtered and had been running on Diesel%#@&for 2-3 tanks.%#@& I still had the 78 gallons in the back, so it was either get walking to a gas station or get filtering.%#@& I opted for choice 2.%#@& In no time I had a full tank of grease and was ready to keep driving.%#@& Made it to Leavenworth, Wa and did the contract.%#@& It took only 6 weeks to do it.%#@& We had 6 people and there were not many trees at all.%#@& As far as grease goes, not much to be had in Leavenworth and Wenachee was not great either.%#@& Although I did get some.%#@& One place was behind a restaurant that had been closed for months, the left 100 gallons in back, since it had been sitting so long, it was clean as all the crap had settled to the bottom.%#@& Since the grease%#@&collection is contracted out, no one was coming out there on their own to get it; no telling how long it would have sat there.%#@& In Wa, places have to pay $ to get it hauled off.%#@& The other place I got grease in Wenachee was a bin that was not located near%#@&a restaurant, it was off by its self.%#@& I asked all around and no one knew anything about it.%#@& It was getting used, the level had increased quite a bit over several days.%#@& Anyway, I was having no luck asking at places, people were worried about the contract they has with the grease merchants.%#@& So I just got some out of this bin.%#@& 78 gallons I got, the level in the bin only went down 6-7 inches.%#@& No one would miss that.%#@&
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As soon as we got done with the work for the work, James, Ferd and I headed to Minneapolis for PJ's wedding.%#@& By this time the grease truck had been hyped up and a lot of people were wanting to see it.%#@& After a ceremony on Thursday supper was arranged at an Indian restaurant, which had a lot of grease...I looked before we even went in.%#@& After we all ate, everyone wanted to see me get grease, so Bakner and I went in and he asked.%#@& They said take it all...they had to pay to get it hauled off.%#@& So back out we went and everyone was excited.%#@& Bakner was hyping it all up, showing off the heat exchanger, tool box,%#@&gauges, and tanks.%#@& It was damn funny as he went around yelling showing all this stuff off.%#@& With the 12 volt pump I had, it only took 20 minutes to fill up my 78 gallon settling tank.%#@& (that pump died in Canada)%#@& All kinds of pictures were taken.%#@& That grease got us out of Minnesota, across North Dakota,%#@&and well into Montana, not quite half way, but pretty good savings.%#@&%#@&The truck literally did not stop in North Dakota.%#@& I have a switch in the cab that operates fuel pumps to move fuel from the%#@&110 gallon filtered tank into the 20 gallon truck tank.%#@& I'm my own fuel station.%#@& Back to Leavenworth for a few days then James, Josh and I headed to Seattle to see some friends.%#@& I ended up in Seattle for%#@&a week and a half...greasing up.%#@& I had pretty darn good luck in Seattle.%#@& One Chinese place Lesley and I went to there were 2 girls sitting by the register and overheard my strange request.%#@& One of these girls was doing an article on biodiesel and had not heard of running straight vegetable oil without the chemical process to make biodiesel.%#@& The owner let me get some grease and they came out and I showed them the entire setup.%#@& More pictures and notes were taken.%#@& So she is doing an article on WVO/my truck.%#@& She is a free-lance journalist, so I hope some one takes her article.%#@&
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I had 78 gallons in the settling tank and 20 or so I guess in the 110 gallon filtered tank.%#@& Ready to start my journey north, I left Seattle.%#@& Made it into Canada, although it took some time at the border.%#@& They went through my truck and they didn't know what the tanks, pumps, hoses in the back were.%#@& They didn't ask either, but it took a while and they were sure I had a gun.%#@& He kept asking and asking..."now I won't be surprised if I open these boxes..."%#@& He asked if I owned any guns...20 was not the correct answer.%#@& I had to list them all off.%#@& He kept asking if I had any with me.%#@& Finally made it past the border and was back on the road.%#@& As I drove through British Columbia, it was obvious I was not going to make it to Alaska in a%#@&matter of days.%#@& The first night I stayed%#@&in the parking lot of a National Park trail head.%#@& The next AM I hiked the 3 miles to the last of 3 lakes.%#@& I was told in the parking lot by two locals you could walk right up to the glacier.%#@& When I%#@&got to the last lake I didn't see how that was possible as it was steep to get to the glacier.%#@& I figured I'd go as far as I could and an hour later there I was%#@&at the glacier.%#@& A hell of a sight being right there.%#@&%#@&Back on the road, I had to find grease along the way.%#@& I had no idea how that would pan out in another country.%#@& 55 gallon drums are what is used to put the WVO in at restaurants.%#@& A truck comes every 4-6 weeks and picks up the whole drum if it is full.%#@& It cost $20 CAN per drum.%#@& The first town I tried in I didn't see a whole lot of grease, so I asked for a manager at a KFC to get some intel.%#@& I got some pretty good information and then went walking around looking.%#@& None to be had at the first few places, they were willing, but had given it away and had none on hand.%#@& I was a little worried because I needed some.%#@& The first place or two I went to told me other places in town.%#@& I ended up at the Alaska Way restaurant, but by that time I had secured grease at 2 other places...about 70 gallons worth.%#@& The Alaska Way had 50 gallons or so of suitable grease.%#@& I met the owner, I didn't know he was the owner at first, he was intrested in the truck and thought it nifty.%#@& Anyway, 20-30 gallons into this collection operation, my 12 volt collection pump died.%#@& Not good since I did not have a backup method.%#@& Even worse, by this time several fellas had come up and told me where more was.%#@& I walked to Nick's Hamburger Stand and he had a drum full of grease, it had been sitting in the sun for a week and it was nicely settled, requiring little filtering.%#@& A hell of a situation; roll into town having no clue if grease could even be gotten in Canada to having almost more than I could deal with.%#@& Ended up just having to leave town having collected 20-30 gallons.%#@& The next town down was a good bit larger and had a Canada Tire.%#@& A big store with RV type of stuff, I was told for sure they would have 12 volt pump.%#@& I got into town there a little before dark, looked for grease, took a shower, cooked dinner,%#@&and washed some clothes.%#@& Canada Tire allow RVs to park over night in their parking lot, so they have a water spigot, which was handy as I needed more water and makes it convenient to wash clothes in a bucket, which is my preferred method.%#@& The next day I went in looking for%#@&a 12 volt pump...they didn't have one.%#@& They did have a hand pump which has worked fairly well.%#@& After I had my pump, I went to collect the 50 gallons of grease I had secured at 2 locations the day before.%#@& A Greek place and a hotel restaurant.%#@& Not bad grease at either.%#@& Leave town...head north.%#@& Make it to Whitehorse, Yukon.%#@& Looked for grease, found little. I noticed there were no collection barrels.%#@& Found out that it is not recycled, it is put back in the containers it comes in and goes to the dump.%#@& The problem with this is that no one would be likely to have any waste oil on hand.%#@& I did find one place that had 4-5 containers of grease.%#@& They let me get some, it amounted to 10 gallons maybe.%#@& As I was out there this lady comes out and inquires into my activity.%#@& She was quite amazed and wanted to do an article in the local magazine on it!. She comes back out with 2 youth (she ran a youth group, one thing they do is a monthly magazine)%#@& More pictures, and interview, notes...standard stuff.%#@& In Oct or Sep the article will be in the magazine and they said they would send me a copy.%#@& As they were leaving one of the older fellas...early 30s told me where to go find more and who to ask for.%#@& I went to the fish and chips place and found Trevor...who had 40 gallons of some of the cleanest grease I've seen.%#@& Damn nice grease.%#@& So I ended up leaving town with a good bit of grease in a town that has no collection; and another article.%#@& By this time I was filtering the grease and putting it right into my tank to burn.%#@& I was trying all kinds of things to keep the grease warm to facilitate filtering...a lot of glow plug experiments.%#@& That was dangerous and while effective if done right, I quit trying to use one...too dangerous.%#@& I ran into an older fella outside of town...talked to him for a while, he%#@&was fascinated by the grease wagon.%#@& By this time I had gone a damn long ways on grease, which made the truck even more impressive.%#@& %#@&He gave me a package of bison sausage.%#@&%#@&
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Made it to North Pole, Alaska and something had to be done with my filtering teqnique.%#@& I was burning grease a little faster than I could filter it.%#@& It was slowing me down%#@&a little but I was keepnig my head above water so to speak.%#@& I decided to Take the filter under the hood and use it to replace the 6" steel metal filter canister.%#@& This canister has a filter sock in it and was just cloging up with fatty/mushy parts of grease.%#@& If I get it hot enought iw will melt and go right throught the filter and even burn just fine in the engine.%#@& But I was not able to keep the grease in the settling tank hot enough.%#@& The one I moved back there was easy to heat up with my newly purchased propane infared heater.%#@& So far this has performed much better.%#@& It only took a few hours to have everything installed and ready to filter.%#@& I figured I'd better go ahead and filter all the grease.%#@& Late that afternoon I had it all filtered and ready to head north.%#@& A trip to the grocery store then a pay phone to call home then on my way.%#@& The 30 seconds I was in the truck between the grocery store and finding a pay phone, I had the radio on.%#@& "...30,000 pound counter weight..."%#@& I thought holy s***, what is this lady talking about?%#@& I turned it up and comed to find out they had made a trebouchet at the flood channel.%#@& This I had to see.%#@& I went out there and was imediatly put to work.%#@& Hell%#@&of a crowd of folks.%#@& Met every one and stayed at the site that night.%#@& The next day was to be the grand launch.%#@& This realy was an enourmous project and was behind schedule.%#@& By this time I was not about to leave and not see the Nissan get flung.%#@& I was invited to church the next day, so I got a room at the Air force Base a few miles down.%#@& $24.00.%#@& Not a bad deal.%#@& Got%#@&a lot of clothes washed and things cleaned up.%#@& Go to church in my $2.00 thrift store suit.%#@& I was the only person in a tie...much less a suit.%#@& O well, I wasn't about to go to church not in a tie.%#@& Come to find out, the launch was not going to be that day, but the next.%#@& There was a 3 star General from the Air Force coming.%#@& So, Ross said I could stay at his house that night.%#@& Monday I put the mud flaps I had gotten in Mineapolis on.%#@& The 450 mile dirt/gravel Dalton Highway was only 50 miles away.%#@& After that and just before the car-toss, I looked for grease. I got a little.%#@& Back to the trebouchet...the fling was still a little behind schedule, but who cares?%#@& The thing was so big, it's just a marvel to look at.%#@& They gave Steve a permit to keep it there for a year!%#@& Hew didn't even go asking...they (US Army Corps of Engineers)%#@&came to him!!!!%#@& The weather cleared, so you could see for miles, up to this point you could not see a thing, smoke was everwhere and it drizzled one day.%#@& Great weather for a car toss.%#@& The pin was pulled and here we go!!!%#@& The car shoots up and the main pole breaks.%#@& But before it breaks, it still hurles the car 60' straight up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!%#@& The car lands with a huge crash, front bumper right into the ground.%#@& It was crushed al the way back to the windshield (which was taken out already).%#@& Didn't perform as it was entirely supposed to, but damn it was still BAD-ASS!!!!!!!!!!%#@& The next day I start my trek on the Dalton Highway to make it to Deadhorse.%#@& It took me about 18 hours of driving to make it.%#@& I was figuring I had enough grease to make it to Deadhorse and back to Fairbanks...but it would be close..damn close.%#@& I was hoping to get some grease in Deadhorse.%#@& Deadhorse is not a town...no one lives here.%#@& It is a worksite, about 2,000 people work here and stay here for 1-3 weeks.%#@& People work 1-3 weeks, then have 1-3 weeks off, they fly back to Florida, Delaware, or places in Alaska where they live, then come back to work.%#@& When I got here, grease was my first order of business.%#@& I found the Caribou Inn, come to find the restaurant there is no longer open.%#@& He pointed me to the other hotel a few blocks away.%#@& They told me the Bourough (county) collected it and took it to the landfill.%#@& It wasn't looking good.%#@& I got the phone # and called the landfill.%#@& No answer.%#@& The fella at the first hotel tells me to go the boughro office and gave me directions.%#@& Off I go.%#@& I had my doubts by this time.%#@& I go in the building and found the cook.%#@& I told him I was looking for Tim / grease.%#@& Rudy said Tim was not around, but he had some grease.%#@& He had 3 containers of maybe 6 gallons of useable grease.%#@& Nice fella.%#@& As we were parting ways, Rich walks up.%#@& Rich is the project manager here. (all the people here for the Borough are contractors...there are no boughro employees).%#@& Rudy intoduces us nad Rich wants to see the truck and a tour.%#@& I was more than glad to do so.%#@& As it turns out, "they" want him to start brewing biodiesel with all the waste grease.%#@& A horrible idea, Boulder, Co had problems in the winter...and you can bet it didn't get neat -50 f there.%#@& So, a few minutes into out introduction, Rich asks where I was staying and I said in my truck...I hadn't tought of where I was parking yet.%#@& he said I could park there...a good score, this is not really the type of place you can park anywhere.%#@& All vehicles here are company owned.%#@& I would have had probl;ems.%#@& Then he says I can eat supper for free!!!!!!!%#@& That's $22.00 here.%#@& Then he tells me he had a 40" trailer FULL OF GREASE!!!!!%#@& And that's not all of the grease!%#@& It ends up getting taken to%#@&Fairbanks.%#@& That day, he brings over a pallet full of grease containers!!!%#@& Then another pallet!!!!%#@& This grease had been sitting a while, so I just filtered it right there and put it in my 110 gallon tank...not even bothereing with he 78 gallon settling tank.%#@& So this afternoon, Rich says come on back for supper, the new cook is in and won't know you.%#@& Although, it is obvious to me no one cares.%#@& So, right now I am in the TV room typing and walking a few yards to the dining area where there is all kinds of food on hand.%#@& I could get used to this live.%#@& Food available all the time.%#@& What's more, is it is quite cold outside, but the grease has been put in a huge building that houses the incinerator...it's hot in there (not because of the incinerator, it's broken, the steam pipes go through there)...the grease gets very warm, makes it filter damn fast.%#@& Today I took the tour to the bay and into the oil field.%#@& When I came back I got up with Rich and off we go to the incinerator.%#@& All kinds of people stopped by to see the truck.%#@&
Hey guys this is from my best friend Clay, I had to put this in 2 threads cause apartenly you can only have 20000 characters per thread. To give you a little back ground he sent me this email last night. It's not a landcruiser but still a great feat non the less. He bought a 4 door 1990 I beleive chevrolet truck out in california and drove it back end of last summer. he got a doner truck from the junk yard with a diesel engine in it. Rebuilt it and converted it to run off cooking oil. He and I grew up together and went to clemson and majored in forestry. Once we graduated he went in to the Marine Corp, and when he got out he went out to washington state to build and clear trail for the US Forest Service. This was his second summer going out there, first with the veggie truck. Sorry it's long but well worth reading. Not sure what his odometer started at but it reads 48,793 now.
...is what the odometer read as I rolled into Deadhorse, Alaska; 250 miles above the Arctic Circle.%#@& Getting here has been an adventure I could have never imagined.%#@& But it's not because it is so damn far, although that is part of it.%#@& It's because I did it on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO).%#@& I must say, I was brimming with pride as I pulled into town here...it was my goal.%#@& My goal for over a year now.%#@& A big goal, but to be proud of an accomplishment, you have to set the bar%#@&high at some point.%#@&%#@&SC to AK on grease.%#@& Well, there was a section north of Denver to Washington, parts were on Diesel.%#@& At the time I was on%#@&a schedule to get to Wa. for the trail contract.%#@&
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The summer started in June as I left home in SC with 110 gallons of filtered WVO and 78 more in the settling tank, ready to be filtered.%#@& I picked Josh up a few hours down the road in Barnwell and we headed west.%#@& We stopped in Kansas to see Ray, who was going to be working with us in Wa.%#@& Bakner was not there yet, although he was supposed to be there 2 day earlier.%#@& Josh and I left after a brief chat and continued west.%#@& We got 10 miles down the road and the truck was acting funny.%#@& It smelled funny.%#@& I had no idea what it was, but it smelled and drove funny.%#@& I pulled over thinking it was the alternator, I have never trusted that thing.%#@& The belts were fine ands I could see no problem.%#@& The rain was coming down in buckets.%#@& I decided to head back to Ray's to figure out what the issue was.%#@& A few miles down the road I figured out it was the clutch.%#@& We made it to Ray's, but not by much; the clutch was not grabbing at all.%#@& As luck would have it, it died in the town Ray lived in...I didn't have to get the grease wagon towed.%#@& And on top of that, Ray works at a huge greenhouse complex.%#@& This complex has a fabrication and repair shop.%#@& The fellas that worked there let me work on my truck in their shop after hours!!!!!!!!!%#@& What a score!%#@& I could fix it myself.%#@& Without the shop, I could not have.%#@& I had all the tools, but not an engine hoist.%#@& The way the truck is put together, it is easer to take the engine out to get to the clutch than taking the transmission out.%#@& Anyway, the fellas were unbelievably nice...telling me where tools were I could use; just amazingly generous.%#@& I didn't need any of their tools, but they were offering them up.%#@& On Monday it was HOT!!!!%#@& They saw me out there working and told me I could move into the shop.%#@& I said no, it was too much and I didn't want to get in their way...but as I was saying this they were already pushing my 1 ton truck in.%#@& Got the truck put together and moved westward.%#@&%#@& In Idaho, I ran out of fuel, I knew I was close, and sure enough, cough, couch, dead.%#@& By this time I had long since used the 110 gallons I had already filtered and had been running on Diesel%#@&for 2-3 tanks.%#@& I still had the 78 gallons in the back, so it was either get walking to a gas station or get filtering.%#@& I opted for choice 2.%#@& In no time I had a full tank of grease and was ready to keep driving.%#@& Made it to Leavenworth, Wa and did the contract.%#@& It took only 6 weeks to do it.%#@& We had 6 people and there were not many trees at all.%#@& As far as grease goes, not much to be had in Leavenworth and Wenachee was not great either.%#@& Although I did get some.%#@& One place was behind a restaurant that had been closed for months, the left 100 gallons in back, since it had been sitting so long, it was clean as all the crap had settled to the bottom.%#@& Since the grease%#@&collection is contracted out, no one was coming out there on their own to get it; no telling how long it would have sat there.%#@& In Wa, places have to pay $ to get it hauled off.%#@& The other place I got grease in Wenachee was a bin that was not located near%#@&a restaurant, it was off by its self.%#@& I asked all around and no one knew anything about it.%#@& It was getting used, the level had increased quite a bit over several days.%#@& Anyway, I was having no luck asking at places, people were worried about the contract they has with the grease merchants.%#@& So I just got some out of this bin.%#@& 78 gallons I got, the level in the bin only went down 6-7 inches.%#@& No one would miss that.%#@&
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As soon as we got done with the work for the work, James, Ferd and I headed to Minneapolis for PJ's wedding.%#@& By this time the grease truck had been hyped up and a lot of people were wanting to see it.%#@& After a ceremony on Thursday supper was arranged at an Indian restaurant, which had a lot of grease...I looked before we even went in.%#@& After we all ate, everyone wanted to see me get grease, so Bakner and I went in and he asked.%#@& They said take it all...they had to pay to get it hauled off.%#@& So back out we went and everyone was excited.%#@& Bakner was hyping it all up, showing off the heat exchanger, tool box,%#@&gauges, and tanks.%#@& It was damn funny as he went around yelling showing all this stuff off.%#@& With the 12 volt pump I had, it only took 20 minutes to fill up my 78 gallon settling tank.%#@& (that pump died in Canada)%#@& All kinds of pictures were taken.%#@& That grease got us out of Minnesota, across North Dakota,%#@&and well into Montana, not quite half way, but pretty good savings.%#@&%#@&The truck literally did not stop in North Dakota.%#@& I have a switch in the cab that operates fuel pumps to move fuel from the%#@&110 gallon filtered tank into the 20 gallon truck tank.%#@& I'm my own fuel station.%#@& Back to Leavenworth for a few days then James, Josh and I headed to Seattle to see some friends.%#@& I ended up in Seattle for%#@&a week and a half...greasing up.%#@& I had pretty darn good luck in Seattle.%#@& One Chinese place Lesley and I went to there were 2 girls sitting by the register and overheard my strange request.%#@& One of these girls was doing an article on biodiesel and had not heard of running straight vegetable oil without the chemical process to make biodiesel.%#@& The owner let me get some grease and they came out and I showed them the entire setup.%#@& More pictures and notes were taken.%#@& So she is doing an article on WVO/my truck.%#@& She is a free-lance journalist, so I hope some one takes her article.%#@&
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I had 78 gallons in the settling tank and 20 or so I guess in the 110 gallon filtered tank.%#@& Ready to start my journey north, I left Seattle.%#@& Made it into Canada, although it took some time at the border.%#@& They went through my truck and they didn't know what the tanks, pumps, hoses in the back were.%#@& They didn't ask either, but it took a while and they were sure I had a gun.%#@& He kept asking and asking..."now I won't be surprised if I open these boxes..."%#@& He asked if I owned any guns...20 was not the correct answer.%#@& I had to list them all off.%#@& He kept asking if I had any with me.%#@& Finally made it past the border and was back on the road.%#@& As I drove through British Columbia, it was obvious I was not going to make it to Alaska in a%#@&matter of days.%#@& The first night I stayed%#@&in the parking lot of a National Park trail head.%#@& The next AM I hiked the 3 miles to the last of 3 lakes.%#@& I was told in the parking lot by two locals you could walk right up to the glacier.%#@& When I%#@&got to the last lake I didn't see how that was possible as it was steep to get to the glacier.%#@& I figured I'd go as far as I could and an hour later there I was%#@&at the glacier.%#@& A hell of a sight being right there.%#@&%#@&Back on the road, I had to find grease along the way.%#@& I had no idea how that would pan out in another country.%#@& 55 gallon drums are what is used to put the WVO in at restaurants.%#@& A truck comes every 4-6 weeks and picks up the whole drum if it is full.%#@& It cost $20 CAN per drum.%#@& The first town I tried in I didn't see a whole lot of grease, so I asked for a manager at a KFC to get some intel.%#@& I got some pretty good information and then went walking around looking.%#@& None to be had at the first few places, they were willing, but had given it away and had none on hand.%#@& I was a little worried because I needed some.%#@& The first place or two I went to told me other places in town.%#@& I ended up at the Alaska Way restaurant, but by that time I had secured grease at 2 other places...about 70 gallons worth.%#@& The Alaska Way had 50 gallons or so of suitable grease.%#@& I met the owner, I didn't know he was the owner at first, he was intrested in the truck and thought it nifty.%#@& Anyway, 20-30 gallons into this collection operation, my 12 volt collection pump died.%#@& Not good since I did not have a backup method.%#@& Even worse, by this time several fellas had come up and told me where more was.%#@& I walked to Nick's Hamburger Stand and he had a drum full of grease, it had been sitting in the sun for a week and it was nicely settled, requiring little filtering.%#@& A hell of a situation; roll into town having no clue if grease could even be gotten in Canada to having almost more than I could deal with.%#@& Ended up just having to leave town having collected 20-30 gallons.%#@& The next town down was a good bit larger and had a Canada Tire.%#@& A big store with RV type of stuff, I was told for sure they would have 12 volt pump.%#@& I got into town there a little before dark, looked for grease, took a shower, cooked dinner,%#@&and washed some clothes.%#@& Canada Tire allow RVs to park over night in their parking lot, so they have a water spigot, which was handy as I needed more water and makes it convenient to wash clothes in a bucket, which is my preferred method.%#@& The next day I went in looking for%#@&a 12 volt pump...they didn't have one.%#@& They did have a hand pump which has worked fairly well.%#@& After I had my pump, I went to collect the 50 gallons of grease I had secured at 2 locations the day before.%#@& A Greek place and a hotel restaurant.%#@& Not bad grease at either.%#@& Leave town...head north.%#@& Make it to Whitehorse, Yukon.%#@& Looked for grease, found little. I noticed there were no collection barrels.%#@& Found out that it is not recycled, it is put back in the containers it comes in and goes to the dump.%#@& The problem with this is that no one would be likely to have any waste oil on hand.%#@& I did find one place that had 4-5 containers of grease.%#@& They let me get some, it amounted to 10 gallons maybe.%#@& As I was out there this lady comes out and inquires into my activity.%#@& She was quite amazed and wanted to do an article in the local magazine on it!. She comes back out with 2 youth (she ran a youth group, one thing they do is a monthly magazine)%#@& More pictures, and interview, notes...standard stuff.%#@& In Oct or Sep the article will be in the magazine and they said they would send me a copy.%#@& As they were leaving one of the older fellas...early 30s told me where to go find more and who to ask for.%#@& I went to the fish and chips place and found Trevor...who had 40 gallons of some of the cleanest grease I've seen.%#@& Damn nice grease.%#@& So I ended up leaving town with a good bit of grease in a town that has no collection; and another article.%#@& By this time I was filtering the grease and putting it right into my tank to burn.%#@& I was trying all kinds of things to keep the grease warm to facilitate filtering...a lot of glow plug experiments.%#@& That was dangerous and while effective if done right, I quit trying to use one...too dangerous.%#@& I ran into an older fella outside of town...talked to him for a while, he%#@&was fascinated by the grease wagon.%#@& By this time I had gone a damn long ways on grease, which made the truck even more impressive.%#@& %#@&He gave me a package of bison sausage.%#@&%#@&
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Made it to North Pole, Alaska and something had to be done with my filtering teqnique.%#@& I was burning grease a little faster than I could filter it.%#@& It was slowing me down%#@&a little but I was keepnig my head above water so to speak.%#@& I decided to Take the filter under the hood and use it to replace the 6" steel metal filter canister.%#@& This canister has a filter sock in it and was just cloging up with fatty/mushy parts of grease.%#@& If I get it hot enought iw will melt and go right throught the filter and even burn just fine in the engine.%#@& But I was not able to keep the grease in the settling tank hot enough.%#@& The one I moved back there was easy to heat up with my newly purchased propane infared heater.%#@& So far this has performed much better.%#@& It only took a few hours to have everything installed and ready to filter.%#@& I figured I'd better go ahead and filter all the grease.%#@& Late that afternoon I had it all filtered and ready to head north.%#@& A trip to the grocery store then a pay phone to call home then on my way.%#@& The 30 seconds I was in the truck between the grocery store and finding a pay phone, I had the radio on.%#@& "...30,000 pound counter weight..."%#@& I thought holy s***, what is this lady talking about?%#@& I turned it up and comed to find out they had made a trebouchet at the flood channel.%#@& This I had to see.%#@& I went out there and was imediatly put to work.%#@& Hell%#@&of a crowd of folks.%#@& Met every one and stayed at the site that night.%#@& The next day was to be the grand launch.%#@& This realy was an enourmous project and was behind schedule.%#@& By this time I was not about to leave and not see the Nissan get flung.%#@& I was invited to church the next day, so I got a room at the Air force Base a few miles down.%#@& $24.00.%#@& Not a bad deal.%#@& Got%#@&a lot of clothes washed and things cleaned up.%#@& Go to church in my $2.00 thrift store suit.%#@& I was the only person in a tie...much less a suit.%#@& O well, I wasn't about to go to church not in a tie.%#@& Come to find out, the launch was not going to be that day, but the next.%#@& There was a 3 star General from the Air Force coming.%#@& So, Ross said I could stay at his house that night.%#@& Monday I put the mud flaps I had gotten in Mineapolis on.%#@& The 450 mile dirt/gravel Dalton Highway was only 50 miles away.%#@& After that and just before the car-toss, I looked for grease. I got a little.%#@& Back to the trebouchet...the fling was still a little behind schedule, but who cares?%#@& The thing was so big, it's just a marvel to look at.%#@& They gave Steve a permit to keep it there for a year!%#@& Hew didn't even go asking...they (US Army Corps of Engineers)%#@&came to him!!!!%#@& The weather cleared, so you could see for miles, up to this point you could not see a thing, smoke was everwhere and it drizzled one day.%#@& Great weather for a car toss.%#@& The pin was pulled and here we go!!!%#@& The car shoots up and the main pole breaks.%#@& But before it breaks, it still hurles the car 60' straight up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!%#@& The car lands with a huge crash, front bumper right into the ground.%#@& It was crushed al the way back to the windshield (which was taken out already).%#@& Didn't perform as it was entirely supposed to, but damn it was still BAD-ASS!!!!!!!!!!%#@& The next day I start my trek on the Dalton Highway to make it to Deadhorse.%#@& It took me about 18 hours of driving to make it.%#@& I was figuring I had enough grease to make it to Deadhorse and back to Fairbanks...but it would be close..damn close.%#@& I was hoping to get some grease in Deadhorse.%#@& Deadhorse is not a town...no one lives here.%#@& It is a worksite, about 2,000 people work here and stay here for 1-3 weeks.%#@& People work 1-3 weeks, then have 1-3 weeks off, they fly back to Florida, Delaware, or places in Alaska where they live, then come back to work.%#@& When I got here, grease was my first order of business.%#@& I found the Caribou Inn, come to find the restaurant there is no longer open.%#@& He pointed me to the other hotel a few blocks away.%#@& They told me the Bourough (county) collected it and took it to the landfill.%#@& It wasn't looking good.%#@& I got the phone # and called the landfill.%#@& No answer.%#@& The fella at the first hotel tells me to go the boughro office and gave me directions.%#@& Off I go.%#@& I had my doubts by this time.%#@& I go in the building and found the cook.%#@& I told him I was looking for Tim / grease.%#@& Rudy said Tim was not around, but he had some grease.%#@& He had 3 containers of maybe 6 gallons of useable grease.%#@& Nice fella.%#@& As we were parting ways, Rich walks up.%#@& Rich is the project manager here. (all the people here for the Borough are contractors...there are no boughro employees).%#@& Rudy intoduces us nad Rich wants to see the truck and a tour.%#@& I was more than glad to do so.%#@& As it turns out, "they" want him to start brewing biodiesel with all the waste grease.%#@& A horrible idea, Boulder, Co had problems in the winter...and you can bet it didn't get neat -50 f there.%#@& So, a few minutes into out introduction, Rich asks where I was staying and I said in my truck...I hadn't tought of where I was parking yet.%#@& he said I could park there...a good score, this is not really the type of place you can park anywhere.%#@& All vehicles here are company owned.%#@& I would have had probl;ems.%#@& Then he says I can eat supper for free!!!!!!!%#@& That's $22.00 here.%#@& Then he tells me he had a 40" trailer FULL OF GREASE!!!!!%#@& And that's not all of the grease!%#@& It ends up getting taken to%#@&Fairbanks.%#@& That day, he brings over a pallet full of grease containers!!!%#@& Then another pallet!!!!%#@& This grease had been sitting a while, so I just filtered it right there and put it in my 110 gallon tank...not even bothereing with he 78 gallon settling tank.%#@& So this afternoon, Rich says come on back for supper, the new cook is in and won't know you.%#@& Although, it is obvious to me no one cares.%#@& So, right now I am in the TV room typing and walking a few yards to the dining area where there is all kinds of food on hand.%#@& I could get used to this live.%#@& Food available all the time.%#@& What's more, is it is quite cold outside, but the grease has been put in a huge building that houses the incinerator...it's hot in there (not because of the incinerator, it's broken, the steam pipes go through there)...the grease gets very warm, makes it filter damn fast.%#@& Today I took the tour to the bay and into the oil field.%#@& When I came back I got up with Rich and off we go to the incinerator.%#@& All kinds of people stopped by to see the truck.%#@&
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