Day Nine, Saturday, March 18 (Rudolf Diesel’s Birthday) Philadelphia, PA / Belmar, NJ / Coney Island, NY

The first thing in the morning, we found out that this was Rudolf Diesel’s birthday. So, Rebekah, Charlie and I decided to take advantage of this amazing coincidence and dedicate our journey to Mr. Diesel by finishing our cross-country trek a day early.

Most people don’t know this, but Rudolf Diesel originally designed his engine to run on plant (peanut) oil – not petroleum. It was befitting that we finish our 3,300-mile journey, running on nothing but plant oil, on Diesel’s birthday.

At Reedman – Told Chevrolet outside of Philadelphia, I was interviewed on The Bald Guy and Linda Radio Show, which is broadcast from Golden, CO to several Western markets. The Bald Guy has supported our quest right from the start. After the interview, we took the most direct course to the coast. This took us to the beautiful beach community of Belmar, New Jersey.

For weeks, PR expert Carole Bartholomeaux (www.b-pr.com) has worked diligently to have media coverage of our event. Truth told, we did this journey to bring media and public attention to alternative fuels like vegetable oil and E85 Ethanol. Yet, when we finished our journey, Charlie, Rebeka, Paul (our camera guy) and I stood on the beach alone, with no media attention.

How could the media overlook such an important event? We just drove 3,300 miles on American-made cooking oil and corn-brewed Ethanol (or as we affectionately call it, “fry grease and moonshine”). To us, this was historic. Where were the cameras? Where were the reporters?

Just as all hope was lost, a man and woman came up and hugged us. They saw the P-100 and E85 signs on our trucks and commented, “We think what you are doing is incredible. Thank you. This country needs to use more alternative fuels.”

More people gathered. Similar accolades were bestowed upon us. Similar support was shared. Soon, we had a small gathering of people of all types wanting to know how a 6,000-pound pickup truck could run on cooking oil, and how a luxury SUV could run on Ethanol.

Then, it occurred to me. People want alternative fuels. So, if small grass-roots gatherings happen wherever we take our trucks, we’re going to continue with this mission. Hopefully, the media will catch on, but in the mean time, we’ll talk with anyone interested in our quest.

Later that evening, we drove to Coney Island, NY.

There, our coast-to-coast trip ended as we dipped the front tires of both trucks into the Atlantic Ocean. Happy Birthday Rudolf Diesel! Thank you nuVision Financial. Thank you General Motors.

Day Eight – Friday, March 17 - Baltimore, Maryland to Philadelphia, PA

This was an amazing day.

We had our morning reception at Koons Chevrolet in White Marsh, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. There, we found out that nearly 250,000 current and retired GM workers live in the area. A reason for this is that Allison Transmission/GM Powertrain has a huge plant right behind the dealership.

After a couple of phone calls, we were asked to tour the plant, which is where transmissions for medium duty trucks are being built. This includes the transmission in our Duramax-powered, P-100 Chevy dulley. It had returned home.




This plant is amazingly clean and modern. Employees are enthusiastic and proud, and after the tour, we were happy to give some of them the run down on our P-100 and E85 Ethanol-powered GM vehicles.

Charlie Anderson captivated this audience, which comprised of some of the world’s greatest engineers. I could not have been more proud when seeing this wrench turner from the Ozarks, by way of Alaska, mesmerizing these mechanical geniuses. I wasn’t just proud of Charlie, I was also proud of GM.

This brings up a very good point: Imagine, GM (the world’s largest corporation) having the insight and flexibility to support this project and to arrange for us to meet with their dealers, plant managers and employees to talk about alternative fuels.

You have to hand it to them; they broke the stereotype of big companies by nurturing Charlie’s engineering brilliance with regard to plant fuels, and by supported my grass-roots campaign to get people thinking more about alternative fuels, including P-100 and ethanol. GM even went so far as to support this campaign by broadcasting our progress daily on their internal TV network. Who would have imagined that such a large company would encourage what used to be considered alternative thinking? The times they are a changing.

After our tour, we were interviewed by local TV station before heading to Philadelphia.



Charlie Anderson and Rebekah Schecter (the beautiful and incredibly talented driver of our E85 Ethanol Tahoe) showing their patriotism in Maryland.


Tom doing his TV thing in for his Adventure Highway TV series and for GM's "Drive Time" internal tv broadcasts.

Day Seven - Thursday, March 16 - Columbus, OH to Baltimore, Maryland

We almost lost the P-100 Silverado today. Not to snow, ice or even fire, but to lust and temptation.

The proficient sales crew at Maxton Chevrolet in Columbus, OH did the unspeakable. They offered to sell me a Corvette Z06 at invoice. Invoice!!!



For more than a moment, my thoughts of the American farmer and the environment waned. Plant oil vs. horsepower. A righteous cause vs. unmatched, breakneck speed. I’m taking the Vette!!! Yeah, I’m gonna fly down the highway. I’m going to set the streets on fire with speed and style, and I’m going to look darn cool doing it. Give me the Vette!!! Give me the speed!!!

Wait a minute. (Charlie slaps me back to reality.) That’s just the Red Bull talking. All right, all right. I’ll stick with the Silverado for now. (But, that Corvette is going to be mine someday.)

Charlie and I were joined at Maxton by Ray Holan (far right) the brilliant author of Sliding Home - A Complete Guide to Driving Your Diesel on Straight Vegatable Oil. Ray drove down from Cleveland, where he installs Golden Fuel Systems (formerly Greasel) equipment and supports the local alternative fuel community. I highly recommend reading his book, which is available through www.goldenfuelsystems.com.

The weather was in the mid-40s for our drive toward the East Coast. What really stuck out was the incredible beauty of Maryland. Rolling hills created spectacular views of provincial towns. Old buildings and churches regularly caught our attention, as did the incredibly beautiful bridges and waterways. But, what really stood out was the unending series of farms. Farms growing corn spread from outside of St. Louis to the East Coast. Massive amounts of crops that could be sustaining our need for fuel.

What an exciting thought – American-grown, renewable fuel. Fuel with far fewer emissions than petroleum-based diesel. My truck now had over 3,000 miles of care-free driving, all on plant fuel. As we made it into Baltimore, I reflected about how important it was for us to be highlighting fuel that was “grown” in America, supporting the farms that we were passing on this journey.

Photo From Maxton

Tom taping daily report for "Drive Time" TV on the GM television network.

Fueling near St. Louis

Fueling near St. Louis

St. Louis to Columbus, OH

Day Six – Wednesday, March 15 - St. Louis Missouri to Columbus, Ohio

On our way into St. Louis, we found two containers behind neighboring restaurants that had over 500 gallons of clean, used cooking oil in them. (At $3.00/gallon for diesel fuel, that represented over $1,500 in fuel!) Charlie couldn’t contain himself.

Within 30 minutes, not only did we fill our Transfer Flow auxiliary tank (98 gallons), we were able to refill all of the containers we saved that once had virgin soybean oil in them that we bought from Costco. All in all, we gathered about 150 gallons (or $450) of fuel. And, we left behind 350 gallons for the next P-100 burner (or “waste” oil collector). Unbelievable!

We told this tale to the fine staff of Lou Fusz Chevrolet, who hosted us the next morning for coffee and conversation. Like me, these guys were blown away.

Later, our drive took us from St. Louis on Interstate 70, through Indianapolis and into Columbus, OH. We drove through hundreds of mile of corn fields that could be producing E85 Ethanol for our FlexFuel Chevy Tahoe and corn oil for our P-100 Duramax-Diesel Silverado.

Average air temp: 50

Average MPG: 14.8

Springfield, Missouri

Day Five – Tuesday, March 14 - Springfield Missouri to St. Louis Missouri

We were schedule to appear on the Channel 3 morning news show. However, tornados ripped through the area the night before and all available news crews were covering weather-related stories. Of course, we felt that was more important.

With so much devastation, we had to help with the relief effort.

So, we drove our Chevy trucks over to Harbor Freight and loaded them up with axes, shovels, tarps, saws and anything we could find that relief workers could take into the storm-affected areas.

KTTS Radio 94.7 had organized a donation collection center with Compassion Alliance, so we dropped off our equipment with them.

Morning radio host Julie Vanvig (Andy & Julie Show), greeted us with great appreciation. She is a wonderful woman, who was working hard to help the relief effort. Julie interviewed me “on-air” and thanked us very sincerely for our help.

Later that morning, we met dozens of people at Reliable Chevrolet in Springfield, where the ABC affiliate (Channel 33) produced a news segment about our use of P-100 and E85 ethanol fuels.

The Springfield News Leader Newspaper also covered our visit by interviewing us for a newspaper article.

All media attention aside, Charlie Anderson and I were grateful to be able to use our big trucks to help in the relief effort.

Both trucks ran perfectly in 50 degree temperature, both during the relief effort and during our drive later that day to St. Louis.

Photos from Adventure Highway's "Go Green" Tour

Oklahoma City to Springfield, Missouri

Day Four – Monday, March 13 - Oklahoma City to Springfield Missouri


A cold and windy morning greeted us as we left our hotel toward a reception at Smicklas Chevrolet in Oklahoma City.

The wind was blowing smoke from the Texas fires into town, reminding us of the ordeal we encountered the previous night. Sadly, CNN was reporting that the lives of several other travelers had been lost. What a tragedy!

The crew at Smicklas was very accommodating, placing our P-100 Chevy Silverado and E85 Ethanol Tahoe front-and-center in their display lot. Their sales staff listened intently as Charlie Anderson of Golden Fuel Systems (formerly “Greasel”) and I explained how P-100 (“cooking oil”) and E85 ethanol fueled our trucks. Who would have thought that “fry grease and moonshine” would be alternative fuels.

For more information about P-100, check our Charlie’s website at www.goldenfuelsystems.com.

The Oklahoman Newspaper covered our arrival by writing an article about us and alternative fuels. Plus, Silvia Bizio of La Repubblica L’Espresso, an Italian Newspaper interviewed me for her publication. (I guess our journey has now become international news.)

On our drive from Oklahoma City to Springfield, Missouri, the average air temperature was 43 degrees and we averaged 14.8 miles per gallon in our Duramax Silverado (burning P-100).

This drive was pleasant an uneventful for us. However, the Weather Channel on XM Radio was reporting severe tornados around Springfield. We were headed toward more dangerous conditions that could end our journey?

Gilbert, Arizona

These pictures were shot on a very rainy day in Phoenix--our first day of rain in 143 days!--Saturday, March 11th, 2006.
 
The blond man is Steve Berman, Mayor of Gilbert, AZ (Gilbert is a former farming community that is now the "Silicon Valley" of Arizona and one of the three fastest growing communities in the USA) who came out to support us and FFA (Future Farmers of America).
 
You may also access video by going to gmtv.feedroom.com that will load today’s Drive Time Show.  Click on Drive Time and then on Wednesday; our segment is about two minutes into the show.
 

Day Three – Sunday, March 12 - Albuquerque to Oklahoma City

Our band of nomads woke up to 23-degree temps in sunny, but snowy, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The mountains that we battled through the day before, as well as those east of us, were also covered with snow, making it an incredibly scenic morning.

At our stop at Reliable Chevrolet, we were interviewed by KOB/KASA – the local Fox Affiliate.

As we started to drive east on Interstate 40, we were relieved that the weather conditions had improved and anticipated an uneventful drive. We were wrong!

Wild fires had erupted in Northern Texas and we were headed right toward them. Nearing Amarillo, we could see huge clouds of white smoke. Then, east of town, we were diverted off the 40, which had been closed because of a fatal traffic pile-up, caused by dense smoke from the fires.

After consulting with a Texas Ranger and reviewing the navigation system in our Chevy Tahoe, we charted a bypass around the closed section of hwy 40. This took us north to eastbound State Highway 60 and then to Highway 152.

There, we encountered the most dangerous and horrifying part of our trip.

The Lake McClellan National Grasslands were ablaze all around us. We were nearly surrounded by one of the worst fires that Northern Texas has ever endured. Ranches were in flames just southwest of us, and the fire was closing in on us.

At one time I radioed Charlie Anderson who was following me in the Tahoe. “Are you at all nervous about how close the flames are?” I asked.

Charlie’s response: “Well, you know, at least your fuel won’t explode.”

With flames within ¼ mile of us, and strong 50+ mph winds pushing the fire ever closer, I was more concern than Charlie let on. I knew we had to push ahead quickly to outrun the flames that threaten not only our journey, but our very lives.

When we finally outran the flames, we were engulfed by thick smoke and ash. We still weren’t out of danger. Ash overwhelmed our windshield wipers. It was dark and terrifying.

Nearing Wheeler and the intersection of Interstate 40, our vision cleared only to reveal a 5-mile backup of westbound traffic being diverted off the highway. The highway patrol wasn’t going to allow anyone to endure the flames we narrowly outran.

Later we were informed that the flames had taken the lives of at least 4 people. And, traffic accidents caused by the smoke caused the death of at least 8 people and innumerable livestock.

Our prayers go out to the families of Northern Texas who are affected by this tragedy.

More tomorrow ...

Updated for Adventure Highway/GM "Live Green Tour"

3/10 Day One – Huntington Beach to Phoenix

The Adventure Highway/GM “Live Green Tour” began at 7am over the Pacific Ocean on the Huntington Beach Pier. About 100 people gathered to wish us well, as cold 40-mph winds blew over the raging sea.

At our launch, I was especially thankful to see Bob Kern of General Motors. Bob is a great mentor of mine. He mobilized GM in record speed to help us get a deal on a 2007 Dual-Fuel E-85 Ethanol Tahoe as a support vehicle. Bob also worked tirelessly with others at GM to provide dealership support for us on our trip.

My trusted crew consisted of Rebekah Schecter on logistics, Paul Deng on video camera and Charlie Anderson of Golden Fuel Systems (formerly Greasel, Inc.) onboard to supervise operations of the P-100 (100% plant fuel) system. Carole Bartholomeaux, my unbelievably hard-working publicist also flew in from Phoenix to drive with us on our first leg to Arizona. (Ask her to do her dolphin impersonation sometime when you don’t have any valuable glassware nearby.)

Crew in place and spectators on hand, Dave Barthmus of General Motors unsealed our first container of P-100. Kerry Lewis of nuVision Financial then flipped the switch to begin pumping our 100% plant oil fuel into our tank.

(We had purchased 20 containers – about 90 gallons - of Kirkland/Cargill soybean oil from Costco the night before. The morning of our sendoff, we pumped about 40 gallons into our fuel tank. This was the only fuel in our truck. We had absolutely no petroleum diesel in the truck.)

After leaving the pier, our procession ran up Main Street and Beach Boulevard to nuVision Financial Credit Union’s main branch on Edinger. There, Albert Eisel of nuVision hosted a great reception for us. (Albert and Kerry of nuVision deserves a lot of credit for getting this campaign underway. Without their help, we wouldn’t have this Blog, or the support we needed to undertake this epic journey.)

At about 11:30 am (PST) we departed Huntington Beach. At about 7:30 pm (PST) we arrived in Phoenix.

Weather Conditions: About 50 degrees and cloudy.
Average mpg (per onboard GM computer): 14.5mpg
Engine Performance: Great. No problems.







3/11 Day Two – Phoenix to Albuquerque

Before leaving town, we take an hour to gather 100 gallons of FREE FUEL behind a Japanese restaurant right near the Highway 17. With diesel costing over $2.50/gallon at the pumps, this represents over $250.00 in free fuel.

But, will it work???

We are tested severely as we leave town. First, we are deluged with hard rain. Then, not more than an hour outside of town, we are slammed by heavy snow and freezing (31 degree) temperatures. Literally, this was one of the harshest storms of the season, and we were caught right in the middle of it.

Dozens of cars, buses and semis were sliding off the road. Rescue vehicles were everywhere and conditions were getting worse.

We were welcomed to Flagstaff by several feet of snow and a severe winter storm. Thank goodness we had four-wheel drive on both our Silverado dually (running on P-100) and our Dual Fuel Chevy Tahoe (which runs on E85 Ethanol and Gasoline). Otherwise, we would not have made it.

At Flagstaff’s Cracker Barrel Restaurant, patrons initiated conversations about our rigs. What the heck is P-100? Why does that truck smell like a barbeque? We were happy to engage them in a discussion about the benefits of alternative fuels.

After spending an hour eating dinner and talking with the locals, our trucks started right up. This was a relief; because I had heard that trucks running on 100% plant (or vegetable) oils have a hard time starting in cold temps. This is true; however, our Silverado has premium Golden Fuel Systems (www.goldenfuelsystems.com)equipment, including heaters in its fuel tank, fuel filters and fuel lines. This kept our fuel warm (and thin) enough to start our Duramax engine without a problem.

Back on the road (now Highway 40 eastbound) we headed for Albuquerque, New Mexico. This trip would prove to be very dangerous!

The mountain pass between Flagstaff and Albuquerque was hit by a huge snowstorm. For hundreds of miles, we were driving on snow and ice. Vehicles and trailers were colliding into each other and crashing off the side of the highway. Semis were jackknifing and even livestock trailers were rolling over. At one point, horses were running in the highway median after their trailer had flipped over.

Again, the four-wheel drive capabilities of our amazing trucks literally saved our necks and we barely limped into Albuquerque at about midnight, after nearly 12 hours of battling the harsh driving conditions.

The trucks ran incredibly well. In the worst conditions, they came through.

Weather Conditions: 23 degrees.
Average mpg: Computer reading 14.5 mpg
Engine Performance: Great. No problems whatsoever.

Tom Holm

Welcome to the Adventure Highway "Go Green Tour" blog. My name is Tom Holm and I first wish to thank nuVision Financial for providing this forum to discuss our epic journey across America.

During this trip, we will drive from on the Huntington Beach, CA pier to on the Coney Island, NY pier. Nothing too special about that, except we will be using P-100(100% cooking oil) to fuel our massive Chevrolet dually 4x4 with a Duramax Diesel engine. Imagine, driving over 3,000 miles on clean burning, renewable fuel, made from crops grown in America. (By the way, this fuel is edible.)

We will also be driving a 2007 Chevrolet "FlexFuel" Tahoe using E85 Ethanol and gasoline to show the versatilty of this vehicle. GM has over 1.5 million FlexFuel vehicles on the road right now, and they plan on building nearly 1/2 million additional E85 FlexFuel vehicles each year. That is a huge committment from GM to help research alternative fuels and I commend them for it.

Please join us on the Huntington Beach pier tomorrow @ 7am to help us launch this amazing tour. (There are rumors that celebrities and local dignitaries will be on hand.) Or, stop by nuVision Financial's main branch (7812 Edinger Ave. Huntington Beach) from 10am - noon for a send-off celebration.

nuVision Financial is showing great support for the community of Huntington Beach, as well as for our beautiful country by thowing this celebration. Please join us.

After leaving Huntington Beach, we will make stops in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Springfield, MO, St. Louis, MO, Columbus, OH, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, New York City (Coney Island), Indianapolis (at the SEMA Spring Expo) and then as many as 40 cities in 2006. You can check out www.adventurehighway.com or this blog for updates.

Thanks, and I'll talk to you from our next stop along the Adventure Highway