Our Volksvegan Adventure

The Temple at Burning Man 2009

Wow. That’s really the only word that can accurately describe our first Burning Man experience. We’d been hearing about the crazy event in the temporary “Black Rock City” in the Nevada desert for years, and this year, we decided to check it out with a bunch of our good friends. What an amazing experience it was, and quite the adventure!

We decided to take the volksvegan to Burning Man, and she weathered the dust storms, heat, and the long trek quite well. However, no journey in an old VW is without its technical difficulties! On the way there, it was getting dark and we had just turned the headlights on. Suddenly we heard a crackling noise and putrid smoke started pouring out of the dashboard! We radioed to our friends ahead of us in the caravan as we pulled over and rolled down windows. Sen spent at least an hour fixing and jerry-rigging the headlight wiring, which he had just fixed a few weeks before. An entire wire in the front burned, but he managed to hotwire the headlights and get us back on the road.

We made several stops and our caravan of seven people in three cars got a late start, so we drove through the night and watched the sun rise as we got stuck in the long line leading into Black Rock City, about 2 hours northeast of Reno. Burning Man is held on a dry lakebed in the desert called the playa, which is devoid of all life and covered in a fine, silty dust. We excitedly waited in line for hours as the sun came up. At some point we decided to stop idling the van and turned it off, put it in neutral, and pushed it as the line slowly inched forward. It was quite the workout, but it was the green thing to do, so push we did!

Once we found our camp and got settled, we walked out to the man statue at the center of the playa. It was a beautiful sight – a huge man surrounded by organic flame shapes made out of wood. Later that day, we endured quite the hazing as a brutal dust storm blew through, with high winds and dust so thick we couldn’t see (goggles and dust masks are a must on the playa). Luckily, it cooled down enough during the storm to allow us to take a nap. That first day we found it pretty difficult to adjust to the harsh playa atmosphere, but we were lucky enough to camp in Martian camp with many experienced and very fun people that made our transition easier.

Over the next week, we got very little sleep but had the time of our lives! There is so much to do and see at Burning Man, there is no way we could have seen it all in a week. There are huge interactive art projects and sculptures, “mutant vehicles” pumping music to ride around on, classes and workshops, talks, activities, games like mini-golf and tetris on a giant screen, light shows, live music, dance parties, bars and clubs, performances, alternative energy in action, and countless other amazing ways to keep busy. The best part is that once we were inside, everything was free (except ice and coffee, the only things sold at the event). Free drinks, free fun, free expression and freedom in general!

The photo above shows my favorite art installation, the temple. It varies every year and serves as a memorial and sacred space. Like the man, it is a temporary masterpiece, and at the end of the week it goes up in flames, taking with it anything you want to burn and purge. We were simply blown away by the outpourings of creativity we witnessed at Burning Man.

While on the playa, we dressed up in costumes (Seneca even paired a pirate hat with a tutu and stripey socks), played in a giant drum circle (where Sen got to play a hang drum), went to a yoga class and a henna painting party, hooped and made new hula hoops, made new friends, took turns feeding our entire camp, saw live music from Beats Antique, BassNectar and many others, danced our butts off, stayed up all night to watch the sunrise (twice), biked around checking out art, played mini-golf, went to a talk on 2012, and of course, watched the man and the temple burn in extravagant pyrotechnic displays. It was a life-changing and eye-opening event, but it definitely took a lot of stamina just to endure the harsh climate and conditions out there. We had to really want to have a great time and make the best of whatever nature threw our way (which was mostly heat, insane winds, and loads of dust).

The only bad part of the entire week was that my camera did not cooperate, and I now have only a tiny handful of pictures of our experience. Sometime in the middle of the week, after I’d taken a few hundred amazing pictures, suddenly my memory card was empty and they were all deleted. Later in the week it happened again twice, deleting hundreds of pictures with no warning. Not cool! Then the screen broke, and I could no longer see what I was taking a picture of. I switched memory cards and managed to get a few crooked, blurry pictures of the last day and a half of the trip. Sad!

Perhaps the camera was just another lesson learned at Burning Man… you can’t get too wrapped up in technology or capturing memories, you just have to live fully and let go to enjoy the moment. I’m sad to lose the hundreds of beautiful photos I took, but it makes me even more determined to go back next year and prepare for the worst!

We’re finally done with our mountains of laundry and in the process of unpacking and cleaning everything. The bus is so dusty, it’s going to take days to clean it out from top to bottom! Everything we own (including us) was covered in a layer of dust, and I still don’t think I’ve gotten the playa completely out of my hair! But it was all worth it for one of the craziest parties we’ve ever been to. What an amazing journey!

Next up is Earthdance, in nearby Laytonville, September 25-27. The bus makes a perfect hangout for our favorite local event. Now, if we could just get it clean enough for the next trip!

The first camping trip of the summer was amazing! The volksvegan made the trip beautifully – though I am really glad Sen was driving, because the little one-lane dirt road from Highway 1 to Usal campground is insane! It was a steep eroded road with huge ruts, tight switchbacks and loose gravel, and was really close to the edge of the cliff at some points. But boy was it an amazing view from the edge!

We packed up the volksvegan and followed our friends Pal & Ottie out to Usal. It takes about two hours from home, though it’s only about 60 miles or so. The volksvegan carried us up up up and then across a ridge along a steep cliff, then down down down into a big valley, overlooking Usal beach as we descended. When we got there, we easily found the campsite where our friends Mike & Kelsie and Rick & Paula were already set up. It was a fairly secluded site with lots of room for all 8 of us. We set up the pop-top quickly and then figured out how to put up the canopy that attaches to the side of the bus (it has been a while) before hopping on the bikes and heading to the beach. When we were almost at the beach, we stopped dead in our tracks: just ahead of us, near the side of the road, was a herd of HUGE elk. And we forgot the dog leashes at camp. So we headed back, got the leashes, and sped back to the beach in time to see watch the elk and check out the area. Apparently the elk that live there are one of the largest subspecies of elk in the world. They had huge fuzzy antlers and seemed totally oblivious to us. Good thing the pooches were leashed up so they couldn’t scare them away! Unfortunately my camera was acting up when we first got there and I didn’t get very good elk shots. 

We hung out with our closest friends all weekend, met the “neighbors” and brought them some midnight munchies (lots of fruit). We went for a hike up the ridge to an overlook where we could see the whole beach and had a close view of an osprey nest just above us on a dead tree. We also took another hike to a really crazy grove of redwoods. I have never seen redwoods like this before! They were gnarly, with huge trunks and branches that twisted and turned in all directions. The whole hillside was covered with them in one area, it made me wonder what made them grow that way. We spent a lot of time with one tree in particular (check out the picture at the top of this post), which looked like an octopus with tons of branches coming off a huge trunk. It was definitely a magical place!

We got to watch sunsets at the beach, cook big meals outside, and got lots of exercise biking and hiking around all weekend. We headed home after visiting the gnarly redwood grove one more time. The forest was teeming with life and lush. Juneau and Niko had such a blast running around, hiking with us, and playing on the beach. The Lost Coast is definitely a special place, we’d love to return soon and do the backpacking trip from Usal to Shelter Cove. It hardly felt like camping with our little home away from home – both pooches fit nicely in the bus with us and we were quite comfy!

It was a beautiful mini-vacation! You can see all the photos of the trip on flickr.

Next up for the volksvegan: Seneca and Pal will be heading to Hopland’s Solar Living Institute in the van in a little over a week, where they will learn how to make bio-diesel, create a processor, and learn how to run a bio-business. Hopefully they’ll learn enough to start producing fuel for ourselves and gradually build a client base from there. It’s exciting that we’re finally moving forward with a business and becoming a bigger part of the biofuel revolution! Stay tuned for notes from the course.

Well, we’re still in Boise. It has been fun seeing friends and we went to my friend Jen Jen’s wedding reception on Saturday. We even picked up some free grease (thanks to FillUp4Free) in nearby Middleton.

We waited into the week because Tuesday was the earliest that Wagon Works (a VW place that was recommended to us) could get us in to check out the engine and put in new glow plugs. Yesterday we got up early and took the bus into Wagon Works. A few hours later Sen got a call from the mechanic there. He basically bitched at him and insulted his work on the bus because it was running on veg oil. He didn’t understand the grease system, but instead of asking us about it, he just said it was stupid and he wouldn’t work on it. I guess it’s obvious we’re in Idaho…

We finally convinced the mechanic to change the glow plugs, since he had tested them and found that two were bad. But he wouldn’t test the compression or check our engine to make sure that the coolant problems didn’t harm anything. So, I can’t say I recommend the grumpy mechanics at Wagon Works who fear what they do not know… Unfortunately, today’s a holiday, so nothing’s getting done and it’s supposed to be 105 degrees, so we’ll be spending some time in my parents’ pool! Hopefully the new glow plugs will allow her to start up better, and we’ll be back on the road soon.

We recently put a new engine in the Volksvegan. The 1.6L engine was just too small for our big bus! So we got a 1.9L Turbo Diesel engine from a ’95 Passat and Seneca and our friend the VW expert installed it last week. As you can see, the engine is pretty darn clean. She runs great! We actually were able to go up hills going 50 in third gear instead of 30 in second gear.

We had plans to go to the Okanogan Family Faire Volunteer Summit last weekend, and we were determined to take the bus. Thankfully, she was running great in time for the weekend. Seneca filtered grease and filled the tank while I cleaned out the interior a bit and packed all our gear in the handy-dandy cabinets on Friday. Before we left, Seneca was even able to install new shocks, for a better ride and added safety in the wind (since the bus is about as aerodynamic as a big sheet of plywood).

I even got some interior shots of the bus, since I haven’t shared views of the inside much yet. I dig the retro brown and green upholstery on the chairs & curtains. We’re going to replace the white upholstery stuff that’s on the walls and ceiling, on the back of the door, and inside of all the cabinets, which you can’t see from the picture but it’s buckled and peeling off. We’re waiting for a nice warm weekend at home for that project. It’s a cozy little home!

We left Friday afternoon and headed North to the faire site near Tonasket, Washington. After about thirty minutes we switched on the grease system and she purred along just fine. However, after a few hiccups going uphill on grease, Seneca switched back to diesel. When he switched back to grease again, the switch seemed to be out! We stopped to check it but the grease system wasn’t getting power at all. We’ve come to conclude that we should’ve coughed up the cash for a really nice Frybrid system, Greasecar’s components are a little cheapy. We’re also thinking it may have not worked correctly because the Turbo Diesel engine runs a lot cooler (and is more efficient), which means that less heat is going to the grease and it may not be hot enough to reach the ideal temperature for the engine. So, we plan to install an in-line heater on the grease lines. It was a bit nerve-racking dealing with the grease mishaps, but that’s why this is a test run and we’re taking a couple of them before our big trip! It’s good to get all the kinks worked out.

Anyway, the bus ran just fine on diesel for the rest of the trip, but unfortunately we didn’t find any bio-diesel. I guess having two tanks is good, but we were upset that our trip wasn’t as sustainable as we wanted it to be. Send some good vibes to that grease system, we’re a little worried about it with our new engine because it is still quite experimental. And that’s one hell of an expensive experiment…

The trip was awesome and we had a great time meeting other volunteers and the organizers of the faire we’ve attended in the fall for the last several years. I even volunteered to help with the redesign of the faire’s web site, so it was a great networking opportunity as well. The bus was the perfect home for the weekend. The only problem was that we found out we were out of propane when we got there! So we couldn’t cook on the stove or turn the propane on to power the fridge. Drat! We brought enough food and the family fed us though, so all was well. And now we know we need to refill that tank before the trip! It sure was nice to roll in late Friday night and not have to pitch a tent in the dark. We just turned on the light in the bus, popped the pop top, and put down the seat. Viola – cozy bed! And it really doesn’t feel quite like camping when you get to use real sheets and blankets instead of sleeping bags!

We enjoyed our weekend in the bus, even with the mishaps it was still exciting trying out the new engine. We even passed someone going uphill in the bus! That was a first, and it certainly wouldn’t have been possible with the old engine. The Turbo Diesel is more efficient and runs cooler than the old engine as well, so we should get similar mileage. It’s about time that the engine was powerful enough for the size of the bus. We’re one step closer to our big volksvegan adventure, although the bus is still a work in progress, as usual… there’s lots to do!

It sure would be nice to have a garage this time of year. Seneca has been working on the bus a little bit, but he can’t last long when his fingers freeze. A garage is definitely something we’re looking for in our next place, but in the meantime we’re hoping to set up a makeshift shelter for the bus so we can actually work on it during the winter. Seneca installed the new starter switch, but found out that the battery has died. It’s just one problem after another, and it’s pretty obvious that this bus sat for a long time and a lot of the parts need to be replaced. So we’re doing that one part at a time…

We hope to move in the spring, hopefully to Eugene, Oregon, or somewhere around there. It sure would be nice to get the bus running first though, and get a trailer hitch on it so we can move all our stuff (or what remains after a huge yard sale). The bus is kinda on hold until a warmer day in the meantime…

We made our first veggie-oil fueled trip this weekend to the Santa Barter Fair. It’s about 60 miles North, not a very long trip but a perfect one for trying out the grease system. It ran great on the way there on veg oil, but on the way back we lost power as we were going up a hill. We had to switch to diesel and it ran fine the rest of the way home as long as we stayed on the diesel. When we got home we discovered the veggie oil fuel tank was almost empty and that’s why we lost power. It’s pretty crazy cuz Sen filled it up with about 10 gallons before we left!

We have discovered the culprit though. At the shop last week the mechanic said that our injector pump is leaking and needs rebuilt. Ugh. So that’s what’s leaking, apparently it leaks more on veggie oil than diesel. We haven’t replaced our hoses & gaskets with non-rubber ones yet and we’re pretty sure that’s the problem. We did use some bio-diesel blends like B20 and it’s best to replace all the rubber if you’re using any bio-diesel because it will erode. So we kinda figured we’d have to do it sometime. Now Seneca is trying to decide whether we should fix the injector pump, replace it and all the rubber hoses/gaskets, or just get a new turbo engine. All options are going to be a bit spendy. I was warned that VW ownership meant one project/problem after another… I guess we should’ve expected it.

Here’s Seneca driving on the way to Santa. We had a great time at the barter fair. We’ve been going to it for about 4 years now, it’s a small fair but a lot of Moscow people go since it’s so close and so we always know a lot of people. I actually sold and/or traded quite a bit of soap and massage oil, and a couple pieces of jewelry as well! I handed out lots of PETA stickers, too. There was a potluck on Saturday night and a drum circle as always. I have some pictures up on My Flickr Page of the trip. Our next big adventure is planned for the second weekend in October, the Okanogan Family Faire near Tonasket, WA. It’ll be a 5 hour drive, so we may actually be packing extra grease, and we’ll be staying a bit longer. It’s a huge faire, and we’ll have a booth, so I gotta get busy with my crafting! Hopefully we can promote sustainable transportation and maybe even get some grease from the food booths at the faire!

So as promised, here are some grease collection photos of our quickest collection ever. We collect grease at the Breakfast Club every Friday, and they are nice enough to leave out the hot fryer oil in a big bucket so we can come get it before it solidifies. Seneca has to prime the pump (by sucking on the end of the hose, ewwww!) to get the grease flowing. Sometimes we hook up the pump to 3 filters so the grease can go right into the tank, but this time we opted to filter it at home so we just pumped it straight from the bucket into a container.

With a little cooperation, we got the grease in record time. Our friend Crystal works at the Breakfast Club, so she unlocks it and we plug in the pump, then pump it from the bucket into a container. It usually takes 2 people (one at each end of the hose) to collect grease, but on this trip we had 4 just for good measure. I held the hose in the “cubie” container and took the picture at the same time, Crystal unlocked the door and plugged in the pump, Seneca primed the pump and held the hose into the bucket, and Andy helped hook up the electrical cord and generally supervised the edeavor. That’s what I call teamwork.

Seneca filled up the tank for our maiden grease voyage to the Santa Barter Fair (about 60 miles away). But that’s a story for another post…

Well, we have a greasecar! Seneca finished up the greasecar kit installation on Friday. Here is the converted engine… the main additions are 2 valves and a fuel filter for the grease, and of course the hoses carrying grease from the tank. The wiring is a bit shoddy at this point because the wire that came with the kit was too short, so we gotta call greasecar to get a longer wire and re-do the wiring. I’m sure it’ll look much better since the wire we got is a single insulated wire, and it will be hidden under everything up to the front of the bus.

Before running on grease, we had to warm up the engine and time how long it took to purge veggie oil from the tank. When we stop the car, we’ll have to purge it first, so it’s good to know how long before we turn off the car we need to flip the grease switch off. We have a buzzer that warns us if we shut down without purging the lines, as well, but we still need to install it once we get the longer wire. Our purge time is pretty quick at about 40 seconds. In the picture, Seneca watches the veggie oil tank and waits for diesel fuel to start flowing back in, indicating the purge is complete.

We took our first test drive in the greasecar at last! We ran it on pure veggie oil instead of waste veggie oil for the first run, and just did a quick trip out to the park. She drove perfectly, and Sen says the engine sounds a bit quieter on grease. We even stopped to smell the exhaust to make sure it was truly on grease. The exhaust on grease smelled very mild and almost like nothing, it’s a bit more of a french-fry smell with used oil, but it sure beats diesel exhaust!

We’re quite excited about finally being up and running on grease! It was much easier than we thought to convert the bus, and hopefully we’ll have many veggie-fueled travels from now on. We’re not quite ready for a road trip yet, we need to get the wiring for the kit done properly, mount the gages a bit better, and get new tires and wheels put on the bus. Then, let the grease collection commence!

We’re making progress on the Greasecar kit installation! (OK, I guess I should say Seneca is making progress while I work and check on him periodically to take pictures!) The filter & valves are installed, the veggie oil fuel tank is in place, and now Sen is working on getting the coolant lines and fuel lines all hooked up. It’s all a bit above my head, but Sen’s been reading the instructions religiously (see the picture at left for proof). The kits are actually pretty straightforward and easy to install, according to him. They’re just a bit time-consuming.

Seneca (with the help of his brother) spent most of yesterday late into the night getting things mounted and holes drilled. He says if all goes well we could have our first veggie-fueled test drive by tonight! I’m pretty excited but I don’t wanna rush them of course. We were hoping to get it done by this weekend but it looks like we may not be able to take a trip until later because we have new wheels and tires to install first, and the tires are on the way.

Here is the veggie oil tank that fits just perfectly under the rear seat. This will hold filtered veggie oil. We have a filtering system and a few gallons of filtered oil already. You can see the two holes on the right for the hoses, one goes to the engine & one is for a return hose. When we use the veggie oil we’ll have to flush it from the engine (hence the return hose) and run on diesel or bio-diesel for a bit to be sure that no veggie oil is left in the engine or lines to solidify. Luckily the kit comes with an alarm in case we try to shut down without flushing the system.

Juneau chews on his stick and “supervises” Seneca while he’s working under the bus. Here he is running hoses for coolant which will help heat up the veggie oil so it’s viscous enough to use. There’s a heating element in the tank and one on the fuel filter, and all the hoses are insulated to keep it warm. After the components are all installed, we have some gages to mount on the dash and then I think she’ll be good to go! Now we’re going to start collecting grease a lot more seriously & consistently, we’ve got a couple local restaurants that have been giving us grease but we need as many sources as possible since there are 2 greasecars in the family.

Well, that’s what we’ve been up to for the last couple of days. We ordered new tires and already got some new wheels so that’s the next step in the restoration. Once those are installed we’ll definitely be ready for a road trip! Now, if only we could get those concert tickets we’ve been wanting…

I just realized I haven’t even put a picture of the bus up yet! I guess I got too distracted looking for bio-fuel related links (see, I added some new ones!) and forgot about her. (Yes, the bus is a she, because of her small diesel engine she clearly has no balls and goes slow).

Anyway, here is a pic of her in Yellowstone, it’s a good BEFORE picture, and I’m sure I’ll have several more DURING and AFTER pictures to come as we go through the conversion process. We’ve been busy and haven’t made much progress lately, but have just been doing some research and planning.