Today we woke up to a 43-degree Teton morning. The sun had just risen (according to Meegan) and we were all up at 7 thanks to someone’s (not sure who’s) musical alarm. It was time to go get some fuel. Phil Cameron, the Executive Director of the Yellowstone and Teton Clean Energy Coalition and Alicia Cox, the Programming Director had made some calls to help us find veg. They had shown us the documentary Fuel (Which is AMAZING) and were psyched to help us out. And we were psyched to keep using waste oil! We met up with Phil and Alicia at 8 am and started our hunt. I went with Phil to check out the first place. Mind you, it was still colder than August has any right to be, so the veg was still quite solid. And the first 55 that we crackle tested had too much water in it. But when we came to the next place, it was a gold-mine of cubees. They were very clean, and we’d changed all our filters the day before (not a fun process, but much easier because of our sliding racks) so it pumped very fast. And then things got even better.  Winslow Bent, the owner of Legacy Classic Trucks brought a freshly restored Dodge Power Wagon over. It was immaculately rebuilt with a 4-cylinder Cummins engine and that runs biodiesel. It was quite a machine. He showed us his shop, where he had an old GMC tow truck that they were restoring and putting a diesel engine in. All of the trucks in their shop (except for their Corvette-powered racing/rock-crawling Power Wagon) get 25 to 30 miles per gallon because of their diesel engines. Winslow was particularly excited about a new restoration he was about to begin: He is turning a 1950s GMC truck into an electric vehicle. He said it will get 150 miles to a charge and have lots of torque. Great for cruising around town, and much better than the gas guzzling engine it used to have.

Dodge Power Wagon restored by Legacy Classic Trucks. Sweet!

After picking up about 40 gallons in cubees, we went to another place in Jackson that Phil arranged for us. It was a warehouse for ski equipment run by a man named Evan Roy. Evan runs his Ford 7.3L F-350 on waste oil, so he had a lot stocked up. Phil called Evan and he said we could take almost an entire pallet of cubees. It was quite an operation: we had at least 20 cubees covering the ground around the bus. While we were pumping, a few of us took a quick swim in a nearby creek. It was small but strong! Meegan’s bellyflop ended up carrying her a hundred feet downstream in the freezing cold water. It felt great to swim off the camping (and veg. pumping) grime. It was about one hundred gallons, which filled our running tank, but our V-bottom still could take a hundred gallons. Good thing Phil had one more site on the list.

This should get us to Chicago! Thanks Evan!

He took me to check it out…and sure enough, it was the jackpot. Eight 275-gallon totes full of settled oil. Perfect! They belonged to a small biodiesel company, and the owner said we could have as much as we wanted! We topped off our tank, then pumped the four 15-gallon drums of biodiesel into our diesel tank so that we could take 60 more gallons of veg. All told, we had 570 gallons of fuel on the bus! Multiply that by ~7, you’ll get the miles we can go, as well as the approximate weight of the fuel we’re carrying. It weighs more than my entire VW Golf! After graciously thanking Phil and Alicia, we set off for Mount Rushmore. Five hundred miles is nothing for our newfound fuel. We drove for several Bravehearts (according to Devo’s driving log), and then some. The ‘14s discussed some big ideas for future plans (Top Secret!) We got to Mount Rushmore after midnight, which was a bummer because the lights shut off at eleven. After assuring a Park Ranger that we were not affiliated with Greenpeace, he said it would be fine for us to park in a National Forest turnout. We were all able to find floor/couch/bed space and we settled down for the night. Sunrise at Mount Rushmore in the morning!

-Erik

Our day started with a full cooked breakfast at Grant Village Campground in Yellowstone. Two of Meegan’s friends were visiting from Bozeman and they’d brought the world of gourmet camping with them – our fire-charred bacon was trumped by fresh pancakes! It was also a notable morning as we did laundry. Some of us even showered. Though $2 for 6 minutes seemed a little excessive.. way too many minutes!

From the campsite we all piled back onto the Bus for a drive down south. But not until being told off for over-occupying our campsite by the rangers – they saw ’13 Students. 1 veggie-powered bus. 12,000 miles.  All for a greener tomorrow.’ on the side of the Bus and assumed that all 13 of us were squeezed in the one campsite! But we were actually down to 7 bussers for our stay in Yellowstone.

We drove out of the park through the south entrance, taking us straight into Grand Teton National Park. What a spectacular place. Me and Meegs had our noses glued to the window, and were so jealous of Joey, who was biking from Yellowstone down to Jackson (67 miles, after a 110 miles the day before going around the Yellowstone caldera drive!) We went through thick forest, open meadows and river valleys, spotting bison, elk and snowy peaks. Those Tetons sure are grand.

So beautiful

Along our way we pulled into the Jackson Lake Lodge, a beautiful old world park lodge. After talking to kitchen staff, the front-desk girls and recycling staff we found a good 30 gallons of grease in a drum out back. The crackle test we do to test for water showed a tiny bit of water in the oil but we’re desperate for fuel so we decided to pump anyway – into our V-bottomed tank where the water may have a chance to settle out of the oil. Pumping then turned into a two-hour endeavor when we realized that pretty much every filter we have needed changing! Lumps of grease, fat and puddles of oil later.. we were on our way down to the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose, WY!

There we met up with Alicia Cox and Phil Cameron from the Yellowstone-Teton Clean Energy Coalition. They had been awesome enough to invite us down to the area for an event, and worked with the National Park Service to get us a spot to park the Bus at their incredible new centre. We had a really successful event, with everyone from the Superintendent of Grand Teton National Park to a family from Boston who’d read about us when we went through there in June! It was also fantastic to meet a number of people from other local conservation organizations, including the Murie Centre and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. I love it when people already recruited to the cause come onto the Bus as conversation goes that extra level. I thought we were going to be challenged more this summer, and meeting with other people working in the same field is a great way to bring more challenging questions onto the Bus!

This was one of my favorite events ever as it didn’t finish when we closed up the Bus. We then went on inside to the state of the art visitor centre to watch Fuel in their new auditorium. I got to say a few words at the beginning to introduce the Bus which was fun! It’s amazing how much easier public speaking is when you’ve spent all summer talking to hundreds of people you don’t know.

Anyway, Fuel. I don’t even know where to begin. This film blew my mind in so many ways. First off was the opening graphics which stated ‘Change your fuel. Change the world.’ That was the BGB slogan for many years and none of us had any idea the Bus hadn’t come up with it! Then Josh Tickell was introduced, author of ‘From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank’, the defining piece of literature on using waste vegetable oil as fuel. He cruised around the country for more than two years in the ‘Veggie Van’ promoting alternative fuels. Eerily familiar. The film then goes on to touch on almost every aspect of the alternative energy debate – from national security and human health to agriculture and hurricanes… to a complete set of solutions. It’s emotional, striking, devastating and inspiring, all at the same time. Many of us were in tears at the end of the movie, and completely flabbergasted by the fact none of us had seen it before!

I cannot encourage all of you enough to watch this movie. You’ll struggle after to not change the way you think and feel at the fuel pump. And luckily, you can watch it online for free! Spread the love.

- Morgs

PS: And when you’re done watching Fuel (or before!), make sure to sign this petition against the Keystone XL pipeline. As you’ll see, we don’t need filthy oil. And when the people lead, their leaders will follow.

Yellowstone National Park.  Cool place.

The crew and I were tourists today.  With the exception of Joey, who set out early on an epic round-the-park century bike ride, we rose at the leisurely hour of 10 AM and fired up the bus to go exploring.  From our campsite in Grant Village we set off clockwise around the park’s main loop, first retracing our steps back toward Old Faithful.  We spent a few hours exploring the natural geothermal features including geysers and hot springs.  As one who knows next to nothing about geology I can say I was thoroughly mystified and entertained.

Contemplating pretty colors

woooooosh

From there we continued northward, stopping at a picnic area on the side of an open plain for lunch.  We were advised by one of Meegan’s friends to check out Firehole River Canyon, so we readied ourselves and continued onward.  The river itself was traced by a scenic one-way three mile auto loop that was bench cut into the side of the canyon.  It was well worth the detour – we were met by spectacular waterfalls and cliffs.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Next up was Artist Paintpots, one of the quirkier features we found.  It is a collection of hot springs whose geothermal vents are tinted different colors by varying mineral compositions.  The bubbling pools of water were seemingly alive, and the panoramic view afforded by a short climb up a boardwalk showcased a full pallet of colors.

At Erik’s behest we investigated the famous Mud Volcano.  When this feature was discovered by explorers in the nineteenth century it was a steep peak that was actively belching mud in place of magma.  Its activity was so fierce that it blew itself apart within a few years.  What remains is a series of hot springs that are filled with sludge in place of water.  It was very neat to see, but not so kind on the nose – the area reeked of sulfur, a gaseous element whose presence is indicative of geothermal activity.

glug glug glug

Our final stop before returning home was the famous Yellowstone Falls.  Since we were short on sunlight we did not have time to hike to the bottom, but the parking lot treated us to some pretty spectacular views of the steep waterfall and river below.

While we were exploring the park from the comfort of our veggie-powered bus, I found myself struggling with the ease of the experience.  On one hand, thanks to the park’s ample auto access we were able to spend time at a number of interesting sites within a single day.  Yet on the other hand I found myself almost removed from the experience while behind the wheel of the bus.

I was irked by how easy it was to access the thrills of the park – as an avid mountain biker I believe in “earning my turns” on fun downhill runs by suffering through the tough climbs that precede them.  That extra effort serves to make the final reward that much more enjoyable.  Yet at Yellowstone all one needed to have a Yellowstone experience was a clear schedule and a tank of fuel.  I suppose this easy access has the positive effect of exposing nature to a demographic that would otherwise be either unable or unwilling to seek it out.  Yet at the same time I see this contributing to the aggressive commercialism that is rampant throughout the park (and especially its surrounding towns).  Old Faithful, Yellowstone’s most famous geyser, was ringed with a boardwalk and bleachers.  A ritzy hotel complete with stores and gift shops sat just beyond them.

I immensely enjoyed Yellowstone, but I feel strongly that the Yellowstone experience that I had is not what the National Park Service should be promoting.  I cannot help but compare Yellowstone to the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado – sure you can drive to the Dunes’ visitors center and explore the museum and gift shop, but the core of the experience comes from what happens once you leave your car and set off across the sandy wilderness.  It is an experience so profound and surreal it I can only describe it as religious.  I’m sure if we had had more time to explore Yellowstone I would be singing a different tune right now, but I returned to our campsite tonight feeling that I had just been given the guided tour of the National Park Service’s perfectly manicured Yellowstone Theme Park.

/naturesnob

Matt

It’s a cruel sun that rises over a truck rest stop, and we stirred to the incessant rumbling of diesels. We hit the road with Yellowstone in our sights, but our lack of veg was a persistent concern; our greatest fear is to run out of our precious golden fuel, though running on our B86 blend (B86 means 86% biodiesel) is hardly the travesty running on fossil fuels is. We spent the day covering miles across Idaho and scouting for grease. Most of the towns we’ve seen in the area are as dry on grease as they are on rain, and it’s slim pickings for the Big Green Bus. A stop in Twin Falls, Idaho for some groceries and more veg hunting proved worthwhile, if only barely. We managed to scavenge 20 gallons from Taco John and another 20 from a Mongolian restaurant that appeared to have closed down. It was just enough to displace what we had in the filters, and the extra miles only slightly outweighed the grime we would have to clean out later.

Another brief break at a truck rest stop got us another 50 gallons and we had enough to get us through Yellowstone and hopefully last until our somewhat impromptu visit to Jackson, WY. Once at West Yellowstone, MT, we stopped in the touristy town for a look around. No veg and the turquoise that caught my eye for gifts was way too pricey. We headed in to the park and decided to push through to Grant Campsite. We pulled into the Old Faithful lodge in the day’s dying light. The geyser wasn’t due to erupt for another hour so we decided to get some rest at our campsite and return in the morning. Some amazing quesadillas on our campfire topped off a good day, and we’re all so excited to explore Yellowstone!! Oh, 2 people have been eaten by grizzlies in Yellowstone already this summer. Let’s hope they don’t like veg….

-Jules

I woke up from my lower bunk in the double bunk hammock tree (Caleb couldn’t find any other trees..) and we set to cleaning up the Bus for a few days of driving east. We made a final feast on our fire, including me making a bacon sandwich. That’s a bacon sarnie in my book, which everyone apparently finds super weird, but was stupendously British and delicious. We’ve made some great food on that fire pit the past few days, from the best quesadillas Matt’s ever had (twice..) to Sarah actually following a recipe and making creamy pasta. Amazing but apparently not so good for Jules’s new diet plan.

Caleb's butt was rather close to my face...

We said goodbye to Alex, Caleb, Trevor, Alexis and Crater Lake, and skedaddled north towards Bend, Oregon. We stopped in the first small town we saw, as even though Trevor had brought us three cubees from his dad’s restaurant we were still running very low on veg. We found a 55 gallon drum at the second restaurant we tried, and got pumping. We always create quite a spectacle with the Bus, filters out and pumping veg, and we got to meet a nice couple from Wisconsin who came over to check us out. They actually run four veg cars at home! Two trucks and two sedans, and he has quite the set up for veg filtration. He boils all his veg over a wood fire to remove water, burning wood instead of fossil fuels to keep the energy balance of his fuel intact. He then filters down to a micron, finally putting the oil through a centrifuge before putting it in his tanks. With all this equipment he’s kept it all legit and is actually a licensed fuel vendor for the state of Wisconsin! He pays road tax on his fuel, but running grease still costs him next to nothing. Nice people!

We later stopped in Bend to look for grease but had no luck. While the boys were scouting around Meegs and me went for a wander, stumbling across Lulu’s Organics, an adorable little eco-store. They’ve only been open six weeks, but are running good trade selling everything from Playback t-shirts to Sprout watches. Playback t-shirts are what our Bus t-shirts are – the polyester they contain is sourced from post-consumer reycled plastic. As they call it, t-shirts come in ‘soda bottle green’ or ‘beer bottle brown.’ We got talking to the owner of Lulu’s about the Bus and he kindly offered me 20% off of a pair of Planet Flops – flip flops made from natural rubber. My old flops have huge holes in the bottom so it was great to get my feet off the street in a new pair that have no fossil fuels in them!

From Bend we kept on bussin’, all 131 miles to the next town in Oregon, where we had more luck finding veg. We pumped a dumpster at a truck stop, happily showing the Bus to the manager to show him what good use his kitchen grease was going to! We then made friends with a Peterbilt driver, Carl, from Arkansas. He told us all about how proud he is of his green truck – he describes it as ‘eating its own exhaust’. He gets six and a half or seven miles per gallon – that’s the same as the Bus and he’s towing eighty thousand pounds of chicken! He laments how much idling trucks often do, and has even experimented with biodiesel in his truck. He’d seen vegetable oil systems before but had never seen grease pumped and filtered so was great to show him our whole show. He even had a sit down in our driver’s seat – he used to drive buses just like ours so felt right at home!

We passed through the Idaho border in the dark and everyone started falling asleep. Matt kept on driving till a truck stop somewhere in Idaho, I’m still not quite sure where. Me, Erik and Meegs all woke up on arrival and were tempted to just grab the wheel and keep going! A truck stop is not a great place to sleep. You’re right on the side of the highway and there are huge lights beaming down. Worst of all trucks are idling left and right. We eventually fell asleep to the sound of fossil fuels needlessly burning…and sure were happy to get back on the road in the morning.

- Morgs

Howdy!

Sarah again, writing to you from Crater Lake, Oregon, just one of the many national park stops on our way home to Hanover. So I have to say, despite not really being much of a camping person, I have found all these national parks absolutely spectacular and something I’m not sure I would do on my own. But being in these places of pristine beauty I can’t help but think, thank goodness for environmental preservationalists like Theodore Roosevelt, who was responsible for creating programs to protect parks like Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park, and John Muir, for preservation of Crater Lake, in particular, but also for establishing the Sierra Club for future conservation of natural wonders. Thanks to their precedent for admiration and protection of nature, we can continue to enjoy the parks as they are meant to be, without fear of destruction or human exploitation.

The bus in front of the lake

So day two of exploring Crater Lake was just as epic as day one, despite sleeping in until 10 o’clock then being held up for another hour eating a luxurious breakfast of bacon and eggs over the campfire. (Fun fact, in addition to national parks, on this trip I have also discovered my affinity for campfires and campfire dinners). After getting everyone rallied together we took a nice, brisk hike on Garfield trail, which had fabulous views of the lake from up on the rim. Once reaching the top and eating our packed lunches (in reusable containers of course!), we took some epic photos, and marveled over how blue the lake was for the millionth time.

Catching view of the lake from a top the Garfield hike path

After our hike down, we decided to hit the water again for a swim since the main feature of Crater Lake is the lake. It was cold like the day before but refreshing after two hikes up dusty trails. We had several visitors to our picnic by the rocks, particularly one audacious chipmunk that kept going after our cheese, as well as several crayfish (none of which went after the cheese though). As the breeze started blowing, we decided it was time to head back to camp to start a warm fire and cook up another tasty meal.

Back at camp we had a plethora of options to choose from for our next feast. I made myself a cheese, pepper and chicken sausage quesadilla and shared some Annie’s with the rest of the crew.

And as we were finishing up dinner we had some Dartmouth visitors stop in! Caleb, Alex and Trevor, 14’s, and friend Alexis, were also visiting Crater Lake and decided to spend the night at our camp. Christmas came early for the bus, as they brought 3 cubies of vegetable oil with them, which was a delightful surprise! After a quick crackle test in the campfire we pumped in the veg then proceeded onto a very merry evening of cooking, sitting around the campfire and chatting then gradually nodding off under the brilliant shade of the stars. With that image in mind, I think I’ll sign off.

-S.hakes

da ba dee da ba die da ba dee da ba dieayayayayay

“IT’S SO BLUE!” Today we swam in the bluest water I have ever seen.  Crater lake is a 2000 ft deep lake that, until it blew and collapsed in on itself, was a 12000 ft volcano. Now, because of its depth and temperature (averaging 38 degrees), Crater Lake is a startling electric blue. After a leisurely sleep (Jules and I let everyone sleep to 11…impressive, I know), we rolled out of Mazama campground for our first view of the lake. From outside of the hatches, Morgs and I gleefully screamed about the stunning beauty of the lake. Surrounding the lake a steep slope lead from the rim of the crater down to the ice-cold lake. We stopped at the Crater Lake lodge to look for veg (sadly there was none) then headed to the opposite side of the lake to the one trail leading down to the water. At the bottom we took a leap of faith, diving into the crystal clear water (I figure it couldn’t be any colder than the Connecticut river three days after it thawed…).

Bright colors

It was a giddy feeling like none I have ever experienced before. As I swam, the water in front of me captivated me, my hands paddling through water that was out of an animated film. It didn’t look real. I thought that surely the water was only that blue from above it and that once in it, it would look like a normal lake. I could have swam forever, just watching the water I moved by my body, its color more bright than anything I had every seen. When I was able to tear my eyes away from the lake, I treaded water a gazed in awe of the panorama view of mountains surrounding the lake. The beauty put all of us in a state that can only be described as the giggles. Like the Redwoods where I felt transported into Honey I Shrunk the Kids, here the Big Green Bus entered the world a children’s coloring book. The latest Crayola color, Crater Lake blue. Now, about the temperature…upon initial entry, it wasn’t as cold as expected, and then you stop swimming and start treading water…and your toes freeze. The water on top is quite lovely, but when I swam down underwater, I could make it about 5 seconds before the cold water had me gasping for breath.

The swim of a lifetime

We ate our Nutella sandwiches and watched a storm sweep across the far side of the lake. Morgan prayed that her sleeping bag and hammock were not getting soaked, but no one had any urge to leave to lake and check. After many hours and a few crazy dives by Jules we headed back up to the bus and to the campsite for quesadilla deliciousness. I went to bed very excited about the imminent arrival of three of my best friends (my dopiest friends as well) the next day and dreamed of beautiful Crater Lake.

Lunch by the lake

It may be out of the way (6 hours from Portland, the closest city), but its one of natures wonders that I hope all BGB readers one day experience.

Love,

Meegan

After a few excellent days amidst the Redwoods, the time came for the Bus to head north to Oregon.  Today was a bit of a milestone for the 2011 BGB tour – today marked our final day on the Pacific coast.  After a quick breakfast we readied ourselves and set off north towards Crater Lake, although before turning inland we treated ourselves to one last look at the ocean.  I pulled the Bus over next to a sandy beach in Crescent City that we had passed the day before.

It’s hard to not reflect on the road so far – we’ve covered many thousands of miles, and there have been many group and personal firsts and achievements wrapped up along the way.  This trip has offered me the opportunity to learn and grow in more ways that I could have imagined.  It has also offered me the opportunity to get beyond the northeast and explore America.  Reaching the Pacific ocean was a milestone for me, and now that we’re turning away from it I can’t help but feel simultaneously relieved and sad.  On one hand I’m one step closer to home.  The other hand isn’t as easy for the New Yorker in me to admit, and that is that I have come to like California.

We’ve run across some pretty cool stuff out here on the west coast, especially on the tech side of things.  Some personal highlights were visiting SunPower, Google, and Tesla.  In addition to continually raising the technical bar, companies like these show that progressive and green thinking doesn’t need to come at the expense of good business and profitability.  Our visits to their headquarters in Silicon Valley have bolstered my confidence in our technical industries and frankly have made me even more eager to finish my degrees and get out into the workforce as an electrical engineer.

In the meantime a few more months in Hanover certainly won’t be bad.  That’s all I’ve got for now, more to come soon as we continue heading east.

Matt

Meegs says goodbye to the Pacific

The Bus goes where no bus has gone before!

"Mind your head...why the long faces?" (*insert British accent here)

And boy oh boy did we see some big trees. Holy wowzahs. We woke up this morning in the Del Norte Redwoods State Park. We once again had arrived in the dark and did not know what to expect in the morning. After a stop by the ranger station and the post office in nearby Crescent City (to overnight Devo his passport, he’s going to Canada!) we made our way to Stout Grove. Jules literally slalomed a series of very tall and wide trees, made a 24-point turn, and was super duper pleased with my choice of roads. But his snarky comments dried up when he saw the trees I had lead us to.

I photo documented the 24 point turn

Suddenly we were little children again. The trees dwarfed us and we were on the greatest playground in the world. I felt like Grawp (Hagrid’s giant brother) or Shrek might stroll up to me momentarily. Joey thought he was going to get to ride a unicorn. We hugged tree after tree, ran for hundreds of feet across the one’s that had already fallen down, wriggled through rotted out ones, did handstands on roots (okay, maybe that was just Jules and I). Hide and go seek (best hiding spot went to yours truly), tag, high jumps, they were all possible in Stout Grove.

Ready or not, here I come!

The big kid playground

Honey I shrunk Jules

As if the day wasn’t good enough we swam in the clearest stream ever. It was the perfect temperature, I fell in fully clothed, and there was a footpath that crossed over it to do pull ups on: it was perfect.

Morgs and I loving life

The biggest tree we saw, was 9.5 Erik wingspans (6 ft times 9.5 Eriks divided by Pi…about 18 ft diameter). We couldn’t all fit around it as we hugged it. It took me 25 steps to run around. It was so so so cool.

Treehuggers. It may be cheesy, but it had to be done.

When the sun started to lower we headed back to the bus (the drivers weren’t too keen on repeating the epic drive in the dark. We cooked a feast of Boca burgers and Annie’s and I used the Annie’s water to make hot chocolate (had an interesting but very delectable pasta-y aftertaste). Joey made a big fire. We’ll leave it at that.

<3 the Bus

All in all it was a very big day.

- Meegs

Oh, yes. Time to go the Redwood Forest! BUT, we have to clean the amazing house that the Kamai family was so gracious to offer us for our Bay Area stay.

Somehow the frigid winds tearing at the hills of Corte Madera abated for the time being and the weather was perfect for cleaning and driving. We spent the morning redistributing our belongings since we are now only SEVEN BUSSERS and packing snacks for a week in the wilderness. We were all excited to see that every piece of recycling we had ended up in the proper bin, and the recycling containers was five times more full than the ordinary trash; it was a good demonstration of how much of our waste is actually recyclable.

After a quick stop to let Nick off for vacation with his family, we were finally on our way to the Redwoods. It was a beautiful, if somewhat twisty, road and everything went swimmingly…. Well, aside from the fact that it took us 8 hours instead of 6. C’est la vie. Meeting a few fun characters at stops along the way helped pass the time. I regret not picking up the girl we passed wearing only a golden bikini, but alas she had a topless man in tow. Meegan and I had a run in with a giant, vicious looking dog as we were helping back the bus out of a wrong turn, but he turned out to just be scared of our headlamps and let us be on our way. The camp site is perfect and we’re still full from our stop at In-N-Out Burger, a mandatory stop considering the number of our friends that had raved about the place. The bus looks great, we’re cozy in our campground, and spirits are high. We can’t wait to see giant trees!

OH!! Loaded Boards has agreed to help us out! They make longboards out of bamboo, an awesome choice in terms of sustainability because of how easy and fast it is to grow. We have bamboo countertops for the same reason! We are so excited to get a board or two from Loaded and are really happy to share the word on bamboo and get people longboarding instead of driving!

- Jules