Some video: http://www.youtube.com/v/j4HomYtGAu0
There's something about flying down the road at 75 miles per hour, hauling 9,000 pounds and blowing out a back tire that makes you go WHOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!
So, I'm taking this moment to relax. Reflect on my life now that it's flashed before my eyes again. Reflect on the 1,500+ miles I've driven, the break downs,
the people I've met, the people I miss, and what's to come...
Wednesday...
I left late. In a rush. Van complete, but far from finished.Mind racing. Veg oil pumping."Service Engine Soon" light at Montpelier - not even 35 minutes into my trip!Stop and see Kim.
Thursday...Take the van to an RV shop in Guilford, VT. They say it's the waste gate vacuum. I call Jason, the owner of Full Circle Automotive - the guy who installed the veg system.Great person - highly recommend him to anyone considering veg, or in need of a great mechanic! (http://www.vtvegcar.com/)Stop at mom's. Drop storage and the cat. Keep working on the interior.
Friday...Mom helps with the curtains and shades.Keep working on the interior. Little details. I decide to stay the night again and get more things done.The solar battery isolator breaks. Fuck. Fix it up with some plastic epoxy and leave it out for the time being.
Saturday...Load up and head out from Mom's. Keep on trucking through New York.Exit in Bath, NY for energy drinks - van dies.Luck shows up, named Quentin Clark. Happens to be a diesel mechanic who knows veg systems!Thankful to say the least... really great person. Puts my faith back into people and random acts of kindness.Take another 24 hours to work on the van while I wait... sleep, it feels good.
Sunday...Shop for some items for the van interior.Quentin hooks me up and I'm back on the road. Turned out to be 'vapor lock' - I switched to diesel on a deccelaration, bad idea apparently.Make it through NY, PA, and into OH. Met up with my friend Sean and had dinner at Fat Fish Blue's in Cleveland (nice place, good food). Apparently it was my
birthday - thanks Sean! :)Try to score some oil from two restaurants but my pump dies. Keep on trucking Sean, you'll figure it out tomorrow!Stop for 2 hours sleep at a truckstop at 3am. 5am wake up - gotta keep moving...
Monday...Make it through rest of OH, IN, IL, IA, and into KS.Stop and fix pump - turned out to be an exposed wire inside te pump housing causing a short.Drop the last 15 gals of veg into my tank and keep going.Contact a guy I found online to see about getting some oil. Sounds possible, but not sure.Met up with Toby Nichols for oil. Nice guy. Quite the setup - 700 gal pull behind veg tank, plus a garage full of 55 gal drums, pumps, tools, and 4 yearsof experience on veg. Help him out prepare for a meeting with a fire marshall (neighbor thinks he's got combustibles).Toby hooks me up with about 100 gals of filtered oil. Nice.Load the van up and drive about an hour. Pull off to sleep.
Tuesday...Get up in a panic - I slept for 6 hours! Shit. GET MOVING!Rush back onto the road. Tire blows at 75mph while I'm editing video on my computer. Heart attack. Deep breathe. Unload the back, change the tire, take the
hint. Time to slow down... oh, look - a Walmart right here at this exit. Tires!
So here I am at a Walmart outside of Lawrence, Kansas, getting new tires all around, finally taking time to write in my blog.The last three months have been an amazing feat of dreaming, doing, being, preparing, fixing, breaking, constructing, planning, re-planning, learning,
learning, learning, growing. I'm tired, excited, hungry, skinny, oily, thankful, happy.There's a fine shine of oil on almost everything I own and I smell like a deep fryer. My hands look like the surface of Mars. Like a mechanics hands.My living space is in total disarray and I love it.Once I get to Reno, Nevada I'll organize and prepare for the last 3 hours to Burning Man.I'm two days late to Burning Man, but I'm alive and thankful for the twists of fate along the way.When I have time next week, I'll put up some video of the van conversion process. The gutting, cutting, welding, wiring, re-lighting, tooling, painting, and
installs... almost 3 months of tireless work to get to where I am. To get to a place that is placeless, constantly shifting, endlessly changing and unfolding
as the roadway whizzes on by...
9 comments:
Sean,
Awesome travelogue so far. I'm looking forward to updates. Thanks for breaking free from the constraints of the day-job world and reminding us all of what adventures are out There.
Oh, and I'm really sorry I missed the party. I'm the asshole, I know.
Best,
Bushlow
Hey, Sean. Just remember that life is what happens when you're busy making plans. It's probably a good thing to get all the bugs out of the engine while you're still in the states. That's good advice for yourself as well: Clear your head in the heartland and prepare for the uphill run through the Rockies. Once you cross the Continental Divide, it's all downhill from there.
Best of luck, and fry high!
Hi Sean,
Glad to know you're on your way--we've been thinking of you. You sound like quite the MacGuyver--
I drove by your house on Wed and saw that the vanigan had gone, only to have that space be inhabited by chickens. !! Your blog posts are great--keep them coming and keep us in the loop...I'm sending good thoughts of clean, filtered veggie oil coming your way when you need it.
Take care, and keep on trucking.
on a journey to anywhere you can draw your own map
Such great endeavors are rare in this life, I'm glad you entered into this 3 month battle for your mechanic education and new levels of patience. I remember driving across country and having a string of garlic permeate the smell of everything in my car at the time. Don't leave garlic baking in your van unless you are trying for a new type of smell to accompany your oil smell with garlic.
Yep. The road generally provides, it's just a amtter of how long you have to wait for it. There's also a certain magic to the fact that, even if 199 people are assholes, you really only need the one to be kind, in a pinch.
Wait... did you say you shopped at Wal Mart?!!!
Just kidding : ) Reading your blog got the ol' wandering spirit up. A feeling I havn't felt in about 10 years. Take care, be careful especially in Mexico, and have fun. Keep the posts comming.
Patrick
Yes, unfortunately I had to shop at Wal-Mart. I was stuck off of I-70 - luckily had the blow out at an exit right near Wal-Mart. While I didn't want to give WalMart my money, the people who work there were AMAZING and totally took care of me - and, were very interested in the van, conversions, and my trip. So it was all gooooood. :)
Hey Sean, Great to hear your trials and tribulations. I'm enjoying the stories. It's possible to keep the travelling mindset of being on an adventure all the time, even staying home in your daily work routine, however it's a lot easier in new places meeting new people everywhere you go. Keep the photos coming, too. Men Alive starts tonight. I probably will be there- I'm torn by unfinished projects and much work to do. I look forward to the next installment. Arthur
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