Highway Magic

Today by the numbers:
- 547 miles
- 16 hours in transit
- 40 gallons of donated veggie oil
- 3 stops for grease
- 2 impromptu TV interviews
- 8 exhausted bussers

Our longest drive since the first trek down to Bonnaroo saw us hitting the road at 9am from beautiful Clayton, Georgia en route to Bay St. Louis, which despite its name is actually located along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Not too much to report, really – lots of driving, sleeping, listening to music, greasing, and the usual helping Frances with her spelling. Brent only got lost in the chase car three times, a new record!

The most exciting part of the day occurred late afternoon, while I was driving. As a large white delivery truck pulled up next to us, the driver tried to communicate a cell-phone number to me. After much trouble, we finally got his number, called him, and were ecstatic to hear that he had 40 gallons of veggie oil that he was overjoyed to give us! We pulled off at the next exit, met Tony, gave him some Newman’s Own salsa and Clif Bars for his kindness, and learned of his recently started biodiesel company, Cibus Biodiesel. The fun didn’t stop there, however, and after going on our way, we received another call from Tony, informing us that he had not only set up a grease stop for us in Montgomery, Alabama, but had called the two local television stations! We ended up doing interviews with both (one of which had the amazing call sign of WAKA) before heading south to Mississippi. Thanks Tony, and good luck with your endeavors!

The drive continued long into the night, and after a little directional help from some friendly citizens of Bay St. Louis (who were mysteriously and puzzlingly washing their car at 1:30 in the morning) we found our way to St. Rose’s Outreach and Recovery, in time to roll into bed and catch a quick nap before our 7am breakfast!

- chris


Kate looks out from the top of the BGB!

Fact-o-the-day: The Big Green Bus triple filters our vegetable oil before it reaches our engine, with filters of 70 microns, 35 microns, and 10 microns. That's quality!