Our Volksvegan Adventure

Long time no update! Where do we begin? The volksvegan recently had some major work done on her (again!) after we broke down in Grant’s Pass, Oregon on our way up to the barter faire in October. Luckily, we found a shop there to work on her while we rented a minivan for the faire. It wasn’t quite the same without our beloved van, but we still had a great time and sold lots of t-shirts, soaps, and jewelry at our booth. Seneca put in new glow plugs and clutch parts recently, so she’s running like a champ once again. We also had the injector pump rebuilt with synthetic seals so that biodiesel won’t be able to cause any more problems or clog the injection system.

After putting so much time and money into the volksvegan, we aren’t sure if we want to continue running such an experimental fuel. So for the time being, we’re sticking to biodiesel rather than wvo. It’s sad that this technology hasn’t been perfected enough to make it viable yet, but the engine is just too finicky (and expensive) to make it worth it for us to continue using grease. We’re now looking into ordering biodiesel from a local collective, and eventually making our own biodiesel from waste veggie oil!

And now for the big news: we are the proud new owners of another Volkswagen! We recently got a 2009 Jetta TDI named Loretta the Jetta! We had been looking for something to replace our little Ford Escort that had been racking up miles, and wanted another car that could run on biodiesel that was more efficient for short trips and everyday driving. After doing some research, we found that the most efficient diesel vehicle on the market was the VW Jetta TDI. Unfortunately, they are very difficult to find and waiting lists are common (I guess that’s a sign that they’re great cars) and the used ones were often more expensive than the new ones. But, with the help of my parents (thanks mom & dad!), Loretta was found in nearby Ukiah, and came home with us.

Loretta is spiffy, quiet, and boasts VW’s new “clean diesel” technology, which reduces 95% of all sooty emissions. The fact that Jetta TDIs can get up to 50 mpg and that a tax break was offered on the new diesels due to their efficiency and clean technology made Loretta impossible to resist. And even better, the ’09 Jetta TDI was awarded the Green Car of the Year award by Green Car Journal. She’s our dream car, and we love driving her on the curvy coastal roads of Mendocino.

Now that we have Loretta, we hope to save our ol’ volksvegan from racking up too many miles. We’ll mostly be using the volksvegan for trips when we need to haul large, heavy things (like when we move into a new place just up the road later this month) and when we go camping and to local festivals. There are certainly plenty of festivals around here where our little home away from home will come in handy! For everything else, we’re happy to have Loretta, and especially stoked about the great mileage she gets. So far we’ve been averaging in the high 30s in-town and the mid-40s on the highway. Look for Loretta zooming gracefully down Highway One!

We recently took the volksvegan on a small journey a little over an hour away to Earthdance a very eco-conscious music and peace festival near Laytonville. Pictured here is our camp. As you can see, we put our handy dandy canopy to good use. It attaches to the side of the van and gives us much needed shade. It was a hot and dusty weekend, but we had a great time and saw some awesome live music. We were also surprised at how green and veg-friendly the festival as a whole and all the vendors were. It was definitely worth supporting this event, which is synched up with others around the world in an international prayer for peace.

On the horizon is the Okanogan Family Faire in northern Washington, October 17-19. Since we’re now a lot farther away, it will be quite a long trip. We’re working on getting the volksvegan ready for the long trip. The clutch has been giving us issues, apparently because it is leaking fluid. Seneca has replaced the clutch master cylinder but we found out it’s still leaking, so now we’re going to try replacing the slave cylinder, even though it was replaced last year in Salt Lake. He also installed new glow plugs, which had burned out, making the bus difficult to start. We’ll be giving her a bath and hopefully troubleshooting various small issues before loading up our gear and making the trip up north. We can’t wait to go to the faire, which will be our only barter faire of the season, although we seemed to have swapped the barter faires of the northwest with the heady music festivals of northern California. Either way, the volksvegan makes the ultimate road trip and camping mobile, and despite her age, she’s still getting us to these fun events. See you in Tonasket for Okanogan Family Faire!

Well, we’ve moved again. This time it wasn’t far. We are now in Mendocino Village, about 10 miles south of Fort Bragg. Mendocino is where we wanted to move when we first visited the area, so we’re really happy where we’re at now. The town is historical and really cute, and we’re right up the hill from town, just a short walk or bike ride away. While we no longer have redwoods on the property where we live, we do have an ocean view, plenty of sunshine, and lots of room for an organic garden!

The volksvegan has taken us on a few small adventures this summer. We went to Sierra Nevada World Music festival for a day, and Reggae Rising for a day. It sure is nice to be able to roll into a festival, pop the top and have a cozy home base to camp in. We haven’t taken the bus on any long road trips this summer though, because she needs a bit of work. The glow plugs have burned out again (grrr!) and the muffler still needs to be replaced with a heavier duty one that won’t fall apart. We’re hoping to have her fixed in time for Okanogan Family Faire in October, where the bus makes a great camping spot as well as a vending booth (thanks to our canopy that attaches to the side), and we also plan to go to Earthdance a little closer to home.

We finally found a grease source nearby! A sushi restaurant in Fort Bragg has agreed to let us collect their waste veggie oil. Now we need to get a new barrel and test out our filtration system. We are very excited about this, because it has been difficult to find restaurants that didn’t already give their used oil to a greaser! California has a lot more veg-oil powered cars than Idaho. That’s a good thing, but it makes used oil harder to find. With the price of diesel and bio-diesel lately though, jugs of virgin veggie oil from Costco might be cheaper!

We are also dreaming about Volksvegan II, a second bio-powered VW we hope to get. We’d like to sell our small gas car and get a newer VW Jetta TDI. We use the small car to run errands that are too far to ride or walk, and to visit our community garden plot and friends in Fort Bragg. Jetta TDIs get great gas mileage since diesel engines are more efficient, and they’re bio-diesel ready. There is a bio-diesel collective about an hour from us that delivers large quantities, so with two Volksvegans we might use enough to warrant having it delivered.

We love our new home. The Mendocino coast is full of like-minded and eco-conscious people. I see Priuses everywhere, organic gardening is popular, and there are many great local environmental organizations. We’ve been going to a drum circle on the beach every Friday, making new friends, growing organic food in the community garden, and spending lots of time outdoors in the redwoods and on the beaches. I’ve found a tree-hugger’s paradise. So despite my urge to travel in the volksvegan, I don’t think we’ll be going too far for a while.

We made it to Boise just in time for Thanksgiving, although we had to rent a car because the volksvegan was still in the shop. We made tofurky and delicious morel mushroom gravy to add to the feast that Sen’s mom prepared. We stayed in Boise waiting for word from the VW shop in SLC before continuing our journey.

Today, after being assured that the bus would be finished, we headed to SLC to pick ‘er up. We got a call on the way saying that after installing the new head, they had found that the alternator wasn’t charging! They ordered an alternator but when we arrived, they said it broke on the mechanic when he went to install it. As if we could use any more bad luck. Since we replaced the alternator in July, we were able to get a new one under our warranty, and dropped it off at the shop. It should be done early in the morning.

While in Boise we did some research and thinking, and decided that we will head to Mendocino county, California, to look for our new home. We visited a lot of amazing places on our trip, but we’re definitely drawn to the Golden State! We chose this area for many reasons (the beautiful coastline being one of them), but a main one was the fact that it was the first (and only) county in the US to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs). So most of the food in the area is local and organic, just the way we like it! We will be checking out the area and hopefully finding a place to rent in the next couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for our house search!

Well, we’ll be back on the road again tomorrow if all goes well! We picked up the bus yesterday afternoon from Doug’s Bugs, where a new head gasket and head block were installed, our injectors were cleaned, and various other parts were replaced to get the engine working as good as new. The bill hurt, but hopefully it will keep ‘er rolling for a long time. The heads weren’t cracked, but there were a few small cracks in the head block that held them, and also where the glow plugs were. So we decided to replace it now instead of having to replace it (and pay for the labor to get it out again) later.

We’ve been playing a lot of disc golf (which often involves fetching discs from the water) and hanging out with friends in Boise while the bus was in the shop. We stocked up at the Co-op, and today we’re cleaning out the bus, doing laundry, and re-packing and re-organizing the bus in preparation to leave tomorrow.

We’re heading to southern Washington to climb Mt. Adams. It is in the same range as Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Ranier, so there should be a great view of all three from the top. It’s quite a climb, much of it on ice, but Seneca made the same trip last year about this time, and we now have new trekking poles to help us hike up.

After Mt. Adams we’ll head down the coast, visiting communities, friends, and family along the way. We’re most interested in Oregon and northern California, but we may come back up to Montana and Washington for a few barter faires this fall. It’s getting late in the year already, so we’re hoping to decide on a new place to settle on this leg of the trip. Stay tuned, we’re not quite sure what we’re in for!

We’re very excited to finally be back in the road after weeks of waiting in Boise for our beloved bus to be back in action. Anchor’s Away!

There hasn’t been much to report because we are still stuck in Boise. We took the bus in to a radiator shop here and they found that our radiator was pretty clogged up. So a new core was ordered, the radiator is being fixed and re-mounted, and the system is being flushed. It took a while because they had to order parts. Unfortunately they also found that exhaust has been getting into the coolant system, which likely means we’ll need a new head gasket and possibly may even have a cracked head! So, when we pick up the bus from the radiator shop tomorrow, we’re taking it right over to a VW expert to get a new head gasket installed and check the heads. Heads are REALLY expensive to replace, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that they are all ok. Overheating and coolant getting into the engine can definitely cause problems, so we’re hoping everything checks out and we won’t leave the shop totally broke.

While we’ve been waiting on our beloved bus, we’ve been doing some work for our parents (gotta save up some money for when the bill comes on the bus), hanging out in McCall, seeing friends in Boise, and playing disc golf. Seneca started playing disc golf before we left Moscow, and now he’s started to teach me how to play. It’s fun, but I suck at anything that involves aiming. There is a nice course at Ann Morrison Park here in Boise that we’ve been enjoying. We’re just passing the time until our bus is healthy again…

At least with a new radiator core and a flushed cooling system, we shouldn’t have to worry about overheating quite as much. Keep your fingers crossed that the heads are fine and it won’t take too much longer! We’re hoping if all goes well that she’ll be rolling before next week. We plan to head to Mt. Adams once it’s done, and then to Portland and Eugene. We may hit up a few barter faires this fall as well, depending on where our journey takes us. While it’s been nice spending time with family and friends, we’re certainly anxious to get back on the road!

Well, I’ve got a bit of catching up to do recounting our adventures in Canada! After spending some time in Banff and the surrounding area, we decided to do a 5-day backpacking trip in Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park. As I mentioned previously, we hiked 2 days in, spent one day doing day hikes in the area, and hiked 2 days out. Hiking is the only way to get into this remote alpine wonderland, and the trek was well worth it!

Our hike started at Sunshine, a ski resort near Banff. We didn’t want to pay $50 to be shuttled from the parking lot to the ski village (plus they didn’t allow dogs on the shuttle) so we hiked the 5.7 km uphill to Sunshine Village, the trailhead leading into Mt. Assiniboine. From there it was a fairly flat and easy hike through beautiful and open alpine meadows. The area was full of ground squirrels (which Juneau loved to chase, unfortunately) and low-growing plants spotted with islands of little trees. And of course, it was all surrounded by huge mountains. We passed Citadel Pass and hiked down into Porcupine Camp for the first night after about 19 km of hiking.

From Porcupine we hiked uphill to the Valley of the Rocks, which was obviously full of huge boulders and surrounded by rocky cliffs. There we passed a group of women who had just gotten within 15 feet of a big grizzly bear, and warned us to make noise. So we proceeded carefully (and loudly) but didn’t get to see the bear. By the time we arrived at Lake Magog campground we were really tired, and it took a while to find a spot because the campground was really crowded. We were quite surprised how many people made the trek into Assiniboine, although we certainly couldn’t blame them, the mountains and lakes in the park were amazing!

The third day of our trip we got a break from our heavy packs and did two day hikes. Our first hike took us past Sunburst, Cerulean, and Elizabeth Lakes and up a mountain called The Nublet. It was a steep and rocky climb, but the view from the top was well worth it. We could see four lakes surrounding Mt. Assiniboine from the top, and other hikers had created a big peace sign with a tower out of rocks at the summit. It was really windy at the top, so after a snack and adding some rocks to the peace sign, we headed down for lunch. In the evening we hiked to Wonder Pass viewpoint. From there we could see the back side of Assiniboine and the surrounding mountains, and it was a gorgeous view.

On our hike out, we decided not to go to Porcupine again because the hike down to it and back up was steep, so we set up a makeshift camp near Citadel Pass. The pass was still a steep hike though, and boy were we exhausted! The ground was rather lumpy near the pass and we had a hard time finding a good spot to camp. It was so bumpy that I had trouble sleeping, and it was a cold night as well. The next morning we had a pretty easy hike out though, and we did a side trip to Fatigue Pass (even though I thought the name sounded very intimidating).

On the hike down the ski resort to the parking lot, we saw a big bull moose standing under the gondola line! We were far above him on the road, but we got a good view and he certainly had a nice rack. Other than the ground squirrels and a couple of deer, he was the only wildlife we spotted on our Assiniboine trip.

After Mt. Assiniboine, we said goodbye to Art in Banff and headed north to see more National Parks. We stopped at the beautiful glacier-fed Peyto Lake and Crowfoot Glacier on the drive from Banff to Jasper National Park, and then we arrived at the amazing Columbia Icefield. This icefield sits on top of a huge group of mountains and feeds multiple glaciers. It’s a 3-way continental divide, flowing to the Pacific, Atlantic, and the Arctic oceans. We got to see Athabasca Glacier and hike on it for a little bit. Sadly, due to global warming, the icefield and glaciers are receding and melting at faster and faster rates. We were impressed that the signs placed by Parks Canada actually made mention of global warming and how we could reduce its impact. As Art would say, Canadians aren’t afraid to tell it like it is.

We then headed into Jasper National Park. We were running low on diesel, but our gas gauge said we had plenty to make it to the town of Jasper. But it was wrong, and we learned the hard way that the gas gauge is apparently on crack. We ended up running out of fuel near a campground about 50 km from Jasper. We walked up into the campground to see if anyone could help us. The people there just told us to call a taxi, which we found out was going to cost $80 each way. So we thought we’d see if we could siphon some diesel from someone. We looked around the campground for another diesel and found one guy with a diesel truck. I knocked on the trailer door and asked if he’d be willing to help us out. He seemed hesitant and asked a million questions before finally agreeing to meet us down at the bus so we could see if we could siphon some diesel from his truck.

We went back to the bus and got a hose (from our grease pump system) and a container for siphoning. The guy who promised to help us was taking forever, so we walked back up to the campground to get him. He was on the phone and acted weird when we walked up. Finally he came down to the bus and we tried to siphon some fuel. Our first attempt didn’t work so we got another hose. It started to work but we couldn’t get enough suction. The guy kept saying it wouldn’t work and didn’t seem like he wanted us to keep trying, even though we offered to pay for the diesel we took and only needed a couple gallons. He drove over to a tow truck down the road instead and came back saying the tow truck driver would be willing to take us into town to get diesel. Seneca went with the tow truck driver while I stayed with the bus and Juneau.

A little while later, a cop car pulled up to the bus. I thought maybe he was there to help us out, but the he let Seneca out of the back of the cop car! We found out the guy who had helped us had been calling the cops from the campground phone. The cop said he’d gotten a report of “suspicious activity” and had to check us out. He ran our driver’s licenses and talked to us for a bit, and of course realized we weren’t suspicious characters, just hippies who needed help.

Seneca ended up getting a ride into town in the back of the cop car and got diesel fuel. It took him forever to get back, and when he finally arrived back at the bus, he pulled up in a taxi with a hippie couple that had been hitchhiking across Canada! They wanted to go to Nelson, and since we were heading that way, Seneca had offered them a ride. Katie and Tom looked like Rainbow Family types and were really nice, so when Sen had run into them at the gas station they immediately hit it off. So the journey continued with an even more crowded bus.

We drove to a campground for the night and the next day headed up to the town of Jasper where we filled up (grease has been hard to come by in Canada so we’ve been mostly running on diesel). We drove up to the north part of the park to see Pocahontas, an old abandoned mining town. We walked around the town’s ruins and then headed south again. We stopped to see Athabasca and Sunwampta falls, both of which were beautiful falls in limestone canyons that had been carved over time. We camped for the night north of Lake Louise.

In the morning we made a big breakfast in the campground cook shelter and headed south once more. We traveled west from Banff National Park into Yoho National Park. (Yes, there are a lot of National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, and we had to get our money’s worth for buying the parks pass!) In Yoho we stopped at Takkakkaw Falls, the second tallest waterfalls in Canada. They were really impressive, spilling off of a massive cliff and spraying us as we hiked up beneath them. We continued the journey through Glacier and Mount Revelstroke National Parks, stopping at a few spots along the way to hike in old growth cedar and hemlock rainforests. We kept going south and got into Nelson just before midnight.

Nelson seems like an awesome little town. It’s known for being a hippie town where many draft dodgers from the US came to escape the Vietnam War. We fit right in! Organic food seemed to be the norm, and one of the first things we saw driving in was a huge co-op (which we were sure to hit up the next morning). We walked around for a bit and decided to hang out in a bar that had live music. We were delighted to find out that all the beers on tap were local AND organic! Katie and Tom displayed their uncanny ability to get by with no money by befriending a couple of people and getting free beer. After some yummy beer, we parted ways with Katie and Tom for the night.

We had a hard time leaving Nelson. There were organic coffee shops, a raw vegan cafes, yoga centers, and natural food stores everywhere and I haven’t seen so many dreadlocked people since the Rainbow Gathering. But we wanted to get down to Glacier in Montana while our friend John had some time off, so we said goodbye to our hitchhiking friends, stocked up at the co-op, spent the last of our Canadian currency on a raw, organic, and vegan lunch, and headed out of town and back across the border.

Once again the border crossing was a piece of cake (although they did ask for passports this time) and since we’d been running late from overheating problems and waiting for a ferry, we camped just south of the border and headed toward Glacier this morning.

We’ve been having a bit of trouble with our cooling system while in Canada, and after the bus nearly overheated a few times in the past few days, we found a leak in our reserve coolant tank. We replaced the main one, but now the reserve one has a hole! Seneca patched it up and we’ve been watching our fluid levels carefully, adding coolant every day. We also found out that using two different types of coolant could have led to a build up of sludge in the coolant system, which is contributing to the problem. So we plan to get the coolant system flushed as soon as we can, and replace the reserve coolant reservoir. Hopefully that will be the end of the overheating problems!

It’s hard to believe our visit to Canada is over. It was great to spend time somewhere different, and just being in another country (one not run by the Bush administration), felt good. We loved the vibe in Canada and made some great friends, so we’d love to return, perhaps in the winter when those Canadian Rockies are covered in fresh powder! Of course, the journey will go on – next up, we’re heading back through Idaho for a family gathering and to visit friends before heading to the west coast.

The volksvegan adventure really begins! We left Boise Friday evening and headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument, where we camped for the night. In the morning we went into the park, which is a black moon-like desert created by ancient lava flows. It’s an eerie and yet beautiful landscape, and we did a bit of morning hiking and cave exploring. Then we headed east to Yellowstone National Park.

We visited Yellowstone last summer, but wanted to drive through again and see some things we’d missed. The park is just beautiful, although in July it’s full of tourists. We saw many animals on our drive through, and babies of each species too! We saw elk and deer, lots of bison (the babies are so cute and playful) and even a mama grizzly and her two cubs! You can see photos of our adventures and the wildlife we saw on my flickr page. Driving through Yellowstone was wonderful, and of course we stopped to see Old Faithful, which sprayed high and splashed all over us (everyone around us ran, but we loved the shower, and the water was cold).

As we continued our drive through the park, we noticed that the battery light stayed on when we started the bus. Later on, we lost power and needed a jump start to get going. We ended up camping at Canyon Village campground (thanks to them finding us a spot because we’d broken down) and in the morning we went to a shop that was right near the campground. Apparently the alternator is not charging the battery, and the battery was dead so we replaced it there. Not quite knowing what was wrong, we decided to head to Bozeman, Montana.

Our friend Joe lives in Bozeman, and thankfully we could stay with him and figure out yet another bus problem. We drove into Bozeman with no alternator (so we couldn’t stop the car, and we didn’t use anything electrical) but we made it! On the way out of Yellowstone we saw the grizzlies and enjoyed the scenery from the bus, and when we arrived in Bozeman, Joe showed us around a little. He lives right near the Co-op, which is awesome, complete with a juice bar and little grassy area for dogs. We’ve been walking around and even found a bar Joe’s friend works at to get grease. Sen is working on diagnosing the electrical/alternator problem and will be getting a new alternator put in while we’re here. Stay tuned…

If all goes well, we’ll be doing a backpacking trip around Bozeman with Joe, and then heading up to Glacier National Park to visit our good friend John who works there. Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy solution to our bus problems. It’s been one problem after another with this bus, but we’re remaining optimistic for now. I’ll upload pictures as soon as I can!

We made it to Portland, but barely. Apparently the coolant leak we had on the way to Boise wasn’t just the hose, the coolant reservoir was leaking as well! We got about 60 miles out of Boise towards Portland on Friday and the bus started overheating. So we pulled over in some dinky little town outside of Ontario, Oregon to work on it. The only thing we could really do was patch up the leak with some JB Weld stuff. Well, that stuff sucks for coolant reservoirs.

We stopped again in Baker City and got a different type of patching stuff. It held a little better, but we basically had to stop every hour or two to add coolant and check (and often re-do) the patch job. We finally arrived at my cousin’s house after 2 am. Thankfully the bus made it though!

Saturday was my cousin Joan’s wedding. Joan & Jake had a beautiful wedding (the happy couple is shown here). While I was on babysitting duty for her adorable two year old before the wedding, Seneca was tracking down a new coolant reservoir for the bus. Luckily the first place he found had one, although they don’t make the exact one we needed anymore (that seems to be common for the diesels, since they only made them for a few years). So he went to go get the part, and in the process missed the ceremony! The reception was a lot of fun and it was great to see all my family. Seneca hadn’t seen most of my family for a few years, so everyone was excited to see him and marveled at how long his hair had become (it is longer than mine now).

Sunday was spent running around town (thanks to my cousin’s awesome wife Bridgette – thanks!) finding hose fittings to get the different sized hoses attached to the new reservoir. Seneca then installed the new one and she ran great after that. It sure is nice having such a handyman around, and he has definitely gotten to know the bus very well after working on her so much. We got to test out his fixes on the way to Roots Brewery in Portland. They are Oregon’s first Certified Organic brewery and it was AWESOME! They even had plenty of vegan options and the beer we had was a heather ale from a 3,000 year old recipe!

Monday we got ready to head back to Boise and decided to camp around Mt. Hood. The bus did well on the trip as we headed out of Portland (after stopping at the wonderful Paradox Cafe in Portland for yummy vegan grub of course). Once we got to the Mt. Hood wilderness area, we started looking for a perfect place to camp (campgrounds, we don’t need to stinkin’ campgrounds!). We’d pull off onto every little dirt road we saw until we found one that led up a ridge to a secluded area. When we got out, we could see the top of Mt. Hood right from our campsite. It was an awesome spot, although it looked like some not-so-cool people had camped there before, because there were bullet shells and broken bottles everywhere. After a hike we cleaned up the campsite and camped for the night.

Today we drove from Mt. Hood back to Boise. The bus did get a little hot a few times (we found out that the engine runs hotter on grease, so we had to switch to diesel on big hills to keep it from overheating) but she ran great and we had no problem getting back. This week we hope to get some work done on the bus (install the new glow plugs we bought and track down the air leak that keeps her from starting up well every time) as well as give her a good bath – which we still haven’t done on the exterior! We’ll also plan our next stops and then hang out with old friends at my friend’s wedding reception on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll be heading out for Montana and then Canada by early next week. Unless of course we change our minds and decide to go somewhere else…

We plan to leave on our ultimate volksvegan adventure two weeks from now. It’s time to move fast! This week is my last week of work, and I’ve been getting ready for the big yard sale this Saturday.

Seneca has been working on the bus of course. Today he is installing the auxillery battery (it fits perfectly under the driver’s seat). It will run the stereo, super-bright headlights, and anything plugged into the cigarette lighter socket (like my laptop!) so we don’t have to take power away from the main battery. Just a little added reliability is nice. Eventually we could get a solar panel that charges the batteries as well. If we had the money for that sort of thing…

We are also figuring out a more portable option for filtering grease on the road, and decided to get a new pump that can be powered by the bus (instead of having to plug it in) and it’s much smaller and more powerful. We’ll use the filters in casings that we have now, but Sen ordered one for the end that goes down to 1 micron. The picture shows Sen pumping grease into the tank with our new system. Clean grease is very important, especially now that our baby got a new engine.

And in other news, I recently bought a domain name for this blog, volksvegan.org. It’ll take a bit to set it up, but I’ll let you know when to update your bookmarks! I’m off to get ready and plan this trip!