The Big Green Bus Blog!

We're baaaack!

2007-09-07T01:07:00.001-04:00

We arrived safely in Hanover last Thursday. We're happy to be back- so happy in fact, that we haven't gotten around to posting the remaining blogs. Come back soon and look for blogs on Cleveland, DC, and Boston! Pictures are also slowly being updated.

Thanks to everyone for making the BGB Summer 2007 Tour a success!

New York Big City

2007-08-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

I was told in kindergarten that if I was ever to set myself on fire, or in the unlikely case that I might just find myself to be on fire, I should stop, drop, and roll. In kindergarten the possibility that I might ever be engulfed in flames was a frighteningly morbid prospect to be learning a three-step maneuver for, but even then it seemed far-fetched. However, since the Big Green Bus graced page 60 in Newsweek, it seems as though the bus, and every person on it, has been set ablaze with social interest and a status of insta-recognition in the places that we go. Thanks Newsweek for being the leaky zippo lighter to our small strike anywhere match of a mission. And although I’d like to think that my kindergarten education is the basis for every simple decision that I make, stopping isn’t an option. We refuse to drop. And the only rolling that we do is on to the next city. Sorry Mrs. D, these wheels on fire rolled out of D.C. and straight on into New York on Sunday.

A bus-size parking spot in a prime location!

We spent our afternoon in the big mealy apple of New York City parked outside of 49 East Houston Street. We were visiting an organization called Times Up and checking out their program that promotes people to bike around the city rather than drive. The bus was also open to the street and more than a few curious locals took a second out of their busy day to hop on board and engage in a friendly little chat about our journey. You may be skeptical as to whether these people were actually New Yorkers after having read the last sentence. The enthusiastic adjective ‘friendly’ when ascribed to New York is as suspicious as razor-filled candy on Halloween. But these people were the real deal, each of them was thin and wearing black with a trace of ‘I’m better than thou’ etched into their faces.

"What is this bus doing here?"

Later, Frances, Kate, and I ventured a few blocks over to Babycakes, a vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc bakery. There we met Joel Bravo, a Dartmouth ’02 and employee of the alternative pastry shop and tried some of the baked goods, which proved to be surprisingly delicious. Also surprising was that I recognized Joel from an article I had read in Paper Magazine a year back. He was in a band called Bravo Silva, and one of Paper Magazine’s beautiful people of 2006. Joel is currently in a band called Sex With An Angel.

When evening draped itself over the city we found ourselves relaxing in the lovely apartment of four big green bus alums. Mikey Saladik, Vivien Savath, Steph Lawrence, and Forest Hanson, all rode on the BGB ’06 summer tour and are Dartmouth ‘06s. More friends joined us and we had a lovely warm evening full of kickball, soccer, youtube videos, and cuddle puddles (in that order). When we awoke in the morning it was about time to go, and we all lamented having to leave the city so soon. One doughnut and two glasses of whole milk later we were back on the road, peering out the windows and promising the graffiti that we’d call, e-mail, keep in touch, and see it soon.

-Hayley

Fried cheese curds are delicious

2007-08-23T00:57:00.000-04:00

and will make your stomach hurt. Especially when followed by fried mozzarella sticks and beer batter French fries. But as Brent says, you gotta try it while in Milwaukee. He also says this about beer. Which would explain why we bought 8 different kinds of local brews for the 6 of us (and no, the local store did not let us mix and match the 6-packs). Which also explains why Milwaukee, despite being perhaps the only place it rained for a significant amount of time this trip, was one of the best stops yet.

Still exhausted from the trying long drive across Wyoming, South Dakota, and Iowa, we were delighted to find that Brent had arranged a perfect mix of planned Bus events and do-nothing-but-relax time for our stay in Wisconsin. We started the visit off with a grease-up at Villa Roma, where reporters from several local TV stations joined us to film the greasy job (check out the media page on our website for some of the coverage). They even got a view of veggie-power at its not-so-finest when we were forced to replace our fancy Rosedale filters. Our filters, it turned out, were still fighting the water we’d picked up back in Montana and had decided that they’d had enough. But never fear, greasers like us know what to do and always have a back-up (or rather, Lucas knows what to do and the rest of us know when to follow his lead). Out came the chase car filter and the plastic bucket for a great visual for the cameras. Later we even ended up reverting back to the old stand-in: pillowcases! It all works.

Back to the Milwaukee story. After leaving Villa Roma and our moment in the spotlight, we headed down to Pier Wisconsin for a gig at Discovery World. Though the rain kept many visitors away, we had a great time exploring the awesome kids museum and listening to the music coming from the Irish fest next door (also the source of my fried cheese-induced heart burn). Happy and tired, we went back to Brent’s lovely house for Villa Roma pizza dinner. But the fun wasn’t over yet! Oh no… Next stop: the Brewers game! Fourth row seats, beer, and roasted nuts made me so happy I barely watched the game. I just know that the Brewer mascot went down the slide over and over again (yes, they won). The game was followed up by a stop to eat custard. Not just one type of custard, but every kind on the menu. Have you noticed a trend yet? Brent + Milwaukee= lots of great “this is the best ever” food. Mmmmm!

After a very hard days work (obviously) we spend the next two days playing. Brent invited us all up to his lake house in Green Bay, where we did nothing but read, sleep, grill, swim, water ski, wakeboard, jet ski, sauna, and watch movies. Fantastic! Thank you to Brent and his family for providing us with one of the most relaxing (and delicious) weekends of the summer!

Chicago!

2007-08-21T12:07:00.000-04:00

We departed early from Cedar Rapids, leaving Frances behind in exchange for leftovers from the night before, and headed for Chicago. We arrived in the city and headed straight for the Museum of Science and Industry to speak to museum patrons. For those who haven’t visited Chicago and seen this building, it was erected for the World’s Fair in 1893 and is quite the specimen of the city’s remarkable architecture. It’s grand underground halls host a submarine and coal mine, among many other interactive exhibits. While there we were joined by surprise guest Eric Larson ’10. After several hours talking to visitors, we headed to our home for the night – the apartment of Mike Vidmar ’03 about a lively restaurant in Chicago’s Greek quarter. It was great to chat with a recent Dartmouth alum and dine on a simple, yet comforting, meal of salsa chicken quesadillas fresh from Mike’s treasured Crock Pot.

After dinner, Mike half of the crew on a walking tour of the neighborhood to admire local architecture and visit the filming location for the next Batman film, complete with the Gotham City Police Department. While Mike and the gang were out on the town, Whit and Hayley sampled the movie collection with Kill Bill and after the rest of the crew returned home, we all fell asleep on the comfortable couch and air mattresses provided for us.

With no events planned until 7 in the evening, the day was ours to enjoy in Chicago. Merritt won the gold medal for the day by driving Hayley to the airport for her 8 am flight (ciao chica! We’ll see you in D.C.!) and then he and Kate hit the streets for an early morning run while the rest of us enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in. After a late breakfast, we all walked toward the lake to visit the Millennium Park, the Bean, and surrounding waterfront attractions (see photos). It was great to enjoy these sites as a group before splitting off to explore other sectors of the city. While walking the Magnificent Mile (Chicago’s premier shopping district), Kate, Whit and Merritt stopped off at the Apple Store to play with the iPhone and marvel at its user-friendly features. Take note gift givers – this is certainly the item of the year.

Later that evening we all met back at Mike’s apartment and drove to a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint to dine on some of Chicago’s specialty deep-dish pizza with some young alums and a bunch of ‘10s who were visiting a friend (who happened to work for Mike) in the city for the weekend. We all had a great time and loved having the chance to try some real Chicago pizza!

-Whitney

A mini-update

2007-08-21T10:04:00.000-04:00

Many apologies for the lack of recent posts. We are all doing well, and after getting 200 gallons (hello, jackpot!) of veggie oil this morning, we left Milwaukee and Brent's family and are headed for Cleveland. Stay tuned... we'll tell you all about it asap!

"Reunited and it feels so good..."

2007-08-16T09:24:00.000-04:00

After being picked up at the airport by Frances' sister (thanks Eleanor!) and hanging out with her family for a few hours, the chase car pulled into Vernon's driveway and I was swept into the loving embraces of Whitney (fresh off a bus ride from Minneapolis), Hayley and Frances. Oh, Reunions! Always a joyous event, and that was certainly the case that day, the fourteenth of August, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Yes, that’s correct: the one, the only Cedar Rapids, also known as the hometown of busser Frances Vernon.

After properly greeting one another and catching up on our lives apart, we piled into the car with Frances' parents for a delicious dinner at a Greek restaurant aptly named the Vernon Inn. Understandably exhausted after a long day of travel, Whitney tucked in for the night while Frances, Hayley and I rallied for an evening in Iowa City.

A Wednesday morning thunderstorm thwarted our (rather ambitious) plans for a run, so we compensated by sleeping in and eating a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit. Sigh. Life can be tough on the bus sometimes. The chase car then headed over to the local farmer's market where it was met by the bus, carrying Lucas, Esther and Merritt! We spent the afternoon drinking lemonade, talking about alternative energy, and showing off the bus. I had an interesting encounter with an old farmer who wanted to know my name so that he could report me to the Cedar Rapids police, because "it would be so funny to read in the paper that you were in jail." Hmm.

He had a good point though, and one that we've encountered several places along our journey: because we don't buy our fuel from gas stations, we aren't paying road tax. Back in good ol'New Hampshire we tried to do this, but the state had no way to process our money. In Raleigh, NC, we met with legislatures who were in the middle of figuring this issue out as a WVO user had just been fined several thousand dollars and was getting lots of media attention. As our country starts to change the way that we get energy, whatever method that might be, our government and infrastructure will have to change as well. Clearly, switching to alternative energy sources is a long and complicated process - but the sooner we start talking and thinking about these issues, the better.

Ok, enough of that, back to our day in Iowa. After the farmer's market we all headed back to the Vernon's for a delicious potluck block party. It was a great chance to have some longer conversations about the bus and also to eat some ridiculously good food. We managed to get quite a crowd of friends to come along for our grease run. We hit the jackpot - 75 gallons! Merritt enjoyed showing off his muscles, and we all like having so much company.

The next morning we were up bright and early with another delicious breakfast. After saying goodbye to Frances until D.C., we were on the road again....

Many thanks to Monica, Bill, Natalie, and Eleanor Vernon for hosting our wonderful stay in Cedar Rapids!

-kate

Busser-fact-o-the-day: The Vernon sisters are so accomplished and well known in Cedar Rapids that, for a period of time, they were actually banned from being written about in the local newspaper in order to give other people a chance.

We Dug Wall Drug

2007-08-15T04:08:00.000-04:00

Yep, we stopped at Wall Drug while in South Dakota. How could we not?

Truckin' across the baaaadlands

2007-08-14T23:53:00.000-04:00

More shots as we travel from Casper, WY to the Badlands of South Dakota.

Wow, it's really flat here.

still flat. But with trains! (Lucas is excited)

The bus obligingly poses in front of Mt. Rushmore

Though we failed to get a shot of the bus in the badlands, we took lots of photos of ourselves on the brief stops on our long, long drive. Other noteable happenings during this section included a stop in a beautiful campground at Horsethief Lake (where Merritt cooked gourmet rice and beans while Lucas ate tuna out of a bag and everyone went skinny dipping), being passed by lots of bikes on their way back from Sturges, and a brief panicky moment where we were all on the outside of a large green moving vehicle that decided to shut its doors on us.

Grand Teton Photo Shoot

2007-08-13T23:17:00.000-04:00

Amazing views plus the bus... (and Merritt's stylin' haircut)

Note to self (and readers of this blog): Spend more time in this park sometime in the future.

“WE GOT CLOUDS ON OUR YellowSTONE(S)”

2007-08-11T12:16:00.000-04:00

Hayley: You know, sometimes there are just those days when you gotta suck it up and go with the flow, roll with the punches…
Frances: Are those like the days when you have to pump 50+ gallons of watery veg out of the bus tanks by hand?
Hayley: I think that’s what I was getting at.
Frances: You know what I say on days like that?
Hayley: What?
Frances: Shucks man. Just Shucks.

‘Shucks’ is the less verbally offensive 5-letter-word that Frances and I have been using when expressing our minor frustrations with life, the universe, and everything (the answer to our frustrations was not 42 however).
Explain, you say.
Tell me more, you plead.
…You know we can’t say no when you look at us that way.

Frances: So we accidentally pumped a whole bunch of water the other day, which isn’t exactly good for our engine. In fact it kinda sucks.
Hayley: Feeding a diesel engine water is the equivalent of feeding a human being sand, and then kicking him in the junk.
Frances: Right, so somehow we had to get it out. And that somehow was by putting on our grease clothes on and getting dirty for a good 6 hours. And when I say ‘good’ I really mean ‘great.’
Hayley: We were essentially holding our bus’ hair as it coughed, hiccupped, and upchucked like a prom queen at an afterparty. Now I remember getting dirty and carrying 2 gallon buckets of veg-vom, 3 if you include the gallon that was smeared all over my body, sure. That was pretty rad. But riddle me this, why was Lucas under the Bus with a hose in his mouth?
Frances: So you remember the dead animal in our tank?
Hayley: I told Kate not to club that baby seal.
Frances: No, it’s a critter that got in there before we even left Hanover. Well it was plugging up the passageway that was allowing us to drain the tank, so Lucas being the manliest man man that he is, was blowing bubbles into the tank to move the critter and allow the veggie juice to flow.

Despite the fact that Lucas may have been mildly veggie-hazing himself, everyone was pretty chipper. We decided to take a break in the afternoon (aawwww noooo mom, let me play in the veg just a little more! Please, I like the way it smells like butt!) and check out the falls on the other side of the park.

Frances: Thank goodness Ranger Merritt was there at the falls with us, otherwise we may not have been observant enough to see the (not so) incredibly rare Yellowstone beast, the Awkward American Tourist (watch out they bite). After the ‘oohs’ and ‘aaaahs’ we made dinner and finished un-vegging.
Hayley: A bison ate my left arm. Actually that’s not true. It was Frances.
Frances: You had sauce on your arm. I didn’t want it to go to waste. That’s right, I’m calling you saucy.

After we finished eating dinner it had already gotten dark so we called it a ‘shucks’ kind of day (but in a good way) and tucked ourselves into bed. With Fran’s and my chatter at a temporary cease-fire, Lucas says that he could hear a wolf pack howling somewhere in the park. Blissfully unaware and serenely passed out, our theme song colored our dreams a dull shade of bling-bling-platinum. (Cue ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna ft. Jay-Z).

-Hayley & Frances

Despite what Hippies claim, engines don't run on water

2007-08-10T18:54:00.000-04:00

Frances, Esther, Erin and I woke up early this morning to go on a morning hike to Avalanche Lake. The name of the lake sounded much more dangerous than it actually was. We hiked two miles through cedar groves and pine forests, traveling alongside a stream flowing blue glacial water. When we arrived at the lake, I understood why people love the park. On three sides of the lake were mountains, each with bare rock faces and little streams flowing down the sides of the cliffs. Esther thought the area looked like something straight out of the movie "The Land Before Time." I realized that I was wearing my swimming trunks, so I decided to go for a morning dip. The water was SO COLD! The lake was very shallow, and the bottom was all silt, so it took about ten minutes of trudging through the muck to get to a spot deep enough to go for a dip. By the time I got out of the lake, my feet were numb. On our hike back down to the car, Esther got into a "fight with a bear," and scratched up her hands and legs pretty badly.
When we got back to the bus, we packed up camp and headed back to Kalispell. The bus vegged up, and the chase car dropped off Erin. We were all sad to see her leave, because fresh faces are always welcome on the bus. After saying goodbye to Erin and her family, we began our 360 mile drive to Bozeman – only to break down half an hour into our trip!! The bus was losing power, so we stopped at a small local gas station. Lucas and I spent the next two and a half hours in the parking lot examining the engine. Lucas worked on the bus and explained the problems to me while I nodded my head and pretended to understand. The "veg run" that we made earlier in the day turned out to be more of a water run. The tanks were contaminated with water!! We drained the water out of the front veg tank and cleaned out the fuel lines, but some engine troubles remained during our 6 hour drive.
We arrived at Sam Naney's house in Bozeman at 11:00. A crowd was over at his house, and they wanted us to hang out with them, but we were pretty tired. Sam, his buddies, and our gang all hung out on the bus for a while, but then it died down and we crashed.

-Merritt

The Courageous Busers in Glacier National Park

2007-08-09T18:33:00.000-04:00

Today we went RAFTING!!!! We did some other stuff involving scary drives, beautiful views, and mountain goats, but the highlight was definitely floating down a river in Glacier National Park. I’d made it a personal goal to find us a place to go rafting when we were in Colorado several weeks ago, but had been unable to find to find any adventures that met my criteria (pretty much had to be free). However, my dreams came true when Erin’s family offered to take us in their boat on the Flathead River. Merritt, Lucas, and I joined the Windauers and their dog Holly at the park gate to prepare for the epic journey. HUGE waves, gnarly holes, towering rocks, and giant fish* threatened to flip us as we navigated down the river. Bernie gave each of us a turn at the oars (a fool-hearty move? Perhaps, but we are courageous busers and are not swayed by danger). I fought off giant waves at the bow in order to keep everyone dry while Lucas showed off his steering ability (“Only one rock ahead? Don’t worry guys, I’ll get us stuck on it”). After several hours of showing the river what we’re made of and nearly losing Merritt to the class 10 rapids** we arrived back at the gate, wet and very happy. After packing up the boat and saying goodbye to the Windauers (except for Erin, who we kidnapped for the night), we headed back to the Apgar village for huckleberry ice cream and a delicious dinner by Chef Hayley. An awesome day- we’ll have to come back some time and spend more time here.

*not true
**really, really not true.

Much thanks to the Windauers for hosting us, taking us rafting, and for letting us take their daughters for the day. Erin and Heidi, if you want to join us as new crewmembers, there’s still room!

-esther

Merritt and Lucas show off their manliness by jumping off tall bridges

Pretty

Merritt, Lucas, and Erin stare off into the smoky Lake McDonald

fact-o-the-day: Odors attract bears. However, several national parks are testing biodiesel trucks and have not founds sniffing bears to be a problem. We also concluded that veggie oil is not a bear attractor. (Though we still encourage you to be careful with anything that leaves a scent while in bear country).

Drive me to the moon

2007-08-08T18:18:00.000-04:00

Me: Wow, only a few weeks left huh.
Lucas: Yep.
Me: That’s not much time is it?
Lucas: Nope.
Me: And we have, what, the length of the United States left?
Lucas: Uh-huh.
Me: That’s like, a crap-ton of driving.
Lucas: Oh yeah.

For those unaccustomed to my units of measurement, a ‘crap-ton’ (which is much closer to a ‘whole-bleeping-hell-of-a-lot’ than to ‘quite-a-bit’) is about 4,000 miles. Probably more. So considering this, and the fact that we’ve put a heavy restraining order on all-night drives , the next two weeks will be filled with days on the road and nights wherever we can find food, a place to sleep, and if we’re lucky (which we generally are) the familiar face of a friend.

On our last day in Seattle we faced the idea of running into our ex-flame, the 10-12 hour all night drive (despite the court order she keeps on calling). It had been our original plan to drive across Washington, Idaho, and straight into Glacier National Park in Montana all in one go. But as Whitney and Kate both packed to leave, the 5 lone bussers looked at each other and said ‘no way Jose’. Jose pouted in the corner and we made last minute plans in Spokane and Kalispell, rearranging our schedule and breaking up the drive quite nicely.

From Seattle we drove to Spokane, where we stopped and spoke to a few locals interested in our project, and were appallingly late for the dinner that had been prepared for us at Mike Maccini ‘08’s house. After the 5 of us demolished his ‘dinner for 10’, and inhaled dessert, we lounged and scattered for bed. In the morning Mike made us a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and huckleberry (a reoccurring theme later in the day) jam, further proving his undeniable kitchen prowess. Lucas, can we switch roommates? I think that I might appreciate Mike more than you.

After saying goodbye to Mike we set off for Kalispell, Montana, or as Frances calls it, “Cow’s Bell Montana? What?” Lucas, Esther, And Merritt drove the (now) ever-so-spacious bus, as Frances and I took off in the chase car to do errands before following along. What was a pretty, but uneventful drive for the three riding the bus, proved to be a bit more action-packed for us chase car kids. After a wrong turn in Idaho, and some screwy directions, Fran and I found ourselves careening through cow country and climbing a switch-backed mountain on a dirt road looking for a town that wasn’t even on the map. Side note: did you know that you can make just about anything with huckleberry? According to the numerous billboards we passed, huckleberry is great in barbeque sauce, ice cream, syrup, jam, and soap!

After finding Murray (the town that’s not on the map) and asking for directions inside of the Bedroom Goldmine Bar (where there were more tractors parked than cars) Frances and I got back on track and made good time up to Kalispell. The other three were waiting for us there gnawing on some ribs in Erin Windouer ‘08’s house. Erin is a firefighter. Erin is tremendously cool. That night a few people headed off to a local bar, I don’t know what happened there because I was sleeping and dreaming of giant huckleberries. Heaps of them.

On the road: Jack Kerouac eat my veggie dust

-Hayley

take a dip-and-roll

2007-08-06T12:42:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning, post-awesome party, was a little bit of a late start for most of the crew. After waking up, a handful of eager helpers headed back to Evo for a little morning clean up. Hayley and Whitney headed to the zoo with Dartmouth friend Nora Johnson '08, while Kate and I headed downtown to the visit the market. As afternoon rolled around a group of us got to spend an amazing few of hours on Lake Sammamish-THANK YOU Titcomb Family!! The lake visit consisted of meeting new friends, wakeboarding, reading magazines, sleeping, swimming, and Xthen Titcomb's notorious nacho creations. We spent the rest of the evening catching up on much needed sleep. Thanks Seattle for such an awesome time. We hope to be back soon.

-Frances

THE Big Green Bus Party.

2007-08-05T18:08:00.000-04:00

Have you ever woken up knowing that the day ahead was destined to be great? That every action, breath taken, and word spoken is fatefully predetermined not only to be graceful but impactful (a day that you can make up words like ‘impactful’ and get away with it) as well? Surprisingly, not every Big Green bus morning is like this, but on this particular day the planets aligned and The Big Green Bus embraced it’s inner superstar.

For breakfast, Elliott (BGB ’06) escorted us to The Market where the sea of people parted for our divine presence. Actually, to be completely honest, the sea didn’t so much part as it did try to drown us (some people just can’t seem to fathom greatness such as ours) as we ducked dove and darted toward the vendor selling adorably small hot doughnuts. After our cute pastry consumption and some egregious pointing at the tourists who were in turn egregiously pointing at the fish vendors who were eating up the attention of the crowd (I’d much rather a doughnut) we went our separate ways to adventure elsewheres.

Our crew of eco-argonauts reconvened in the afternoon to attend ‘The Big Green Bus Party’ that the ever-suave Elliott May had spent weeks preparing for us. It was described to us as a chill fun event that we couldn’t help but be majorly stoked for. Sickies. In other words we were ready for an awesome time, but the expectations we had formed from the surf-speech laden blurb were entirely exceeded.

At 5pm the gates to the Evo (A skate-ski-board-apparel-Seattle-retailer) parking lot opened where the band ‘A Handful of Lovin’ played in front of our bus, Sierra Nevada beer was provided alongside BBQ food and (of course!) Clif Bar samples. The entire BGB Crew and party staff wore Big Green Bus Party Shirts (80% Bamboo!) and Jackets provided by FiveUltimate who had a Disc-Dunktank next to the bus.

On the road we had obviously been treated like JV celebrities before, but this party shed the bus of the Jonathan Taylor Thomas exterior and revealed our true inner Justin Timberlake. The transformation from JTT to JT emanated from our Big Green Lovin’ Machine well into the night as the band stopped and the DJ began to spin inside beckoning partygoers to the dance floor. The bus was lit up and packed with people until the party ended sometime past midnight. After having talked to people all night, with a fair share of goodtimes dancing and laughing inner dispersed like a good pancake mix, we rolled back to Elliott’s and ended the night with some tunes, beer, and friends. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Rockin' out at Evo

-Hayley

Thanks to Evo, Sierra Nevada, Clif Bar, and FiveUltimate.
Very special thanks to Elliott May (Rockstar Extrordinaire).

Oysters – Mmmm

2007-08-03T18:51:00.000-04:00

Today we sadly left Colleen and her family because we had to travel to Seattle. I drove the chase car with Esther and Kate. It was our job to drop by a New Seasons grocery store where Colleen had secured a sponsorship for free food. It took a while to find the grocery store, and I believe Esther got fed up with my driving. She convinced me that I REALLY wanted to eat my sandwich, and that I didn't actually want to drive. Anyways, we found the grocery store and bought cereal, vegetables, peanut butter, and bread.
The estimated Bus travel time was three hours, but Esther, being the geography major that she is, managed to extend the drive to a total of seven hours. For some reason she and Kate assumed that traveling along the coast wouldn't take any longer than the highway, and I wasn't awake to talk any sense into them. Thus, I awoke in the car in the middle of a forest in Washington. I must admit, it was a beautiful drive – except for the clear-cut sections. I was getting very hungry, and as we passed through the small fishing town of South Bend I pointed out a small restaurant serving fresh oysters. A man was smoking the oysters in a smoker outside and basting them with white wine and barbecue sauce. I ordered a half-dozen smoked oysters with garlic bread, and Esther ordered an oyster sandwich. The oysters were so good! I'm usually not an oyster fan, but these fresh smoked oysters were the culinary highlight of the entire trip. Esther, after assuring the bus crew that we would make it to our event in Seattle on time, decided to ask the restaurant owner how far we were from the city. He estimated the drive to be about three hours. We were planning on arriving at our event at 5:00, and it was already 2:45! We drove along the coast a bit farther, and then hopped on the highway, only to get stuck in traffic.
Instead of going to the event, we decided that it would be best to pick up Frances at the airport. She was scheduled to arrive from San Francisco at 6:00. However, we were delayed for a half-hour because the bikes were on top of the roof of the car – preventing us from going into the parking garage. We finally managed to fit both bikes in the back seat of the car, and I tried my best to cover the greasy chains and gears with plastic bags. After picking up Frances, we drove to Elliott's house in Seattle, but, Esther being the fantastic geography major that she is, managed to get us lost in downtown Seattle. We finally arrived at Elliott's around 8:00, only three hours late!
After meeting Elliott and his friends and roommates, we went to a gorgeous lookout over the city of Seattle. Elliott suggested that we all get dinner at "Dick's," so we drove to the hamburger joint and got $2 hamburgers. Many of us agreed that Dick's outdid In-N-Out Burger. However I am sure that Chris would disagree.
After Dick's, we went back to Elliott's house and played pong! It was the first game of pong that I had played since the end of school! Lucas and I held the table for three games, but lost when both sides were down to half a cup. The party slowly died down, and we all went to sleep.

-merritt

Portland: This is Radio Free BGB

2007-08-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

Our fan base (hi Mom and Dad) has noticed and complained that the blogs are falling further and further behind. So in an effort to remedy this situation, it was agreed that Portland should be blogged in one entry. A mighty challenge given the number of events we had in that city. But never fear, your hardly loquacious, not-even-close-to-an-English-major blogger stepped up to the plate. Here goes:

“We’ve been looking forward to your visit all summer,” Colleen’s mom told us when we arrived at the Wearn household in Portland late Tuesday evening. “Me too,” my stomach agreed as I chowed down on the feast of Mexican lasagna spread before us. A delicious breakfast spread the next morning (and the following two mornings) confirmed my tummy’s inner monologue. After the bussers were sufficiently fueled up, (with food, not veggie oil), we headed to the McCall waterfront for first of our many Portland events. A fairly uneventful morning, but we were pleased to meet many of Colleen’s friends and father’s coworkers. The afternoon saw the bus parked in front of OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), where we met lots of very curious kids and parents. Many thanks to OMSI not only for providing us with a great parking spot, but also for the passes to BodyWorld3, which we oohed, aawed, and eewed at after we finished presenting.

Another day, another great breakfast later, we were back on the streets, spreading the word about sustainability and alternative energy. A chance meeting in the neighborhood lead to a invitation to come visit the Nike headquarters and be guests on the company’s in-house radio program: KAOS: Radio Free Nike. While the rest of the crew sat around eating doughnuts, Whitney chatted up Nike’s sustainability team on the air. Following the show, we got a tour and learned about some the company’s responsible fabrics and products. We then got to see some of those products and buy them at the employee store (I like to think making purchases as practicing what we preach, though that may be a stretch). More learning ensued at the Portland Office of Sustainable Development as our guide Mike showed us around their Gold LEED certified building. Next stop was a farmer’s market, where we again parked the bus and tabled. To end the day, we joined a group of Portlanders with alternative fuel vehicles for a parade around the downtown. The parade ended on Marshall Street, where we showed our bus off to the crowds out for First Thursday (a monthly street and gallery art exhibition).

Thus ended two days of fun in Portland. To the Wearn family: Thank you very much for your gracious hosting. Your porch is definitely vying for the top spot on my “best places to sleep while driving a big green bus around the country” list. To Colleen (who left us to start her job in Hanover): We miss you already. Good luck!

Hayley and the curious crowds at OMSI

Radio Free Whitney

-esther

fact-o-the-day: Nike's new brand, "Considered", aims to create sustainable products. All Nike footwear is created with a Sustainability Index to move toward eliminating waste and toxic substances.

The road to the Northwest...

2007-08-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

On Monday morning we continued on to the next mini-region of our journey: the Northwest. While the beautiful states of Oregon and Washington will hold the excitement of discovery for many bus crew members, heading north is a bit of a homecoming for Whitney and Esther (who will feel at least a bit closer to Alaska) and Colleen (whose home we're headed for in Portland, OR). Regardless of our respective homelands, the thick coniferous forests and cooler temperatures are a welcome change for everyone.

Around 8am we departed the Bay Area after a grateful goodbye to our young alum hosts and headed north. Our first stop on the two-day drive to Portland was in San Rafael to visit EcoTimber and show off our fine wood floor to the staff there. In talking with them we learned that while the resources required to ship sustainable harvested wood from places like Brazil are high, these forests receive stronger local protection than neighboring preserve areas because of their economic productivity and importance. This new knowledge made us thankful of our ability to ask some tough questions about such environmental issues. For more information about EcoTimber and their products and practices, visit http://www.ecotimber.com/.

Next we visited the Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen, CA where they treated us to a home-cooked lunch on the terrace accompanied by several bottles of the local wine. Unfortunately Hayley and Kate were not able to partake in the drinking, while Merritt was able to sneak a few sips from his mother's glass. (Merritt's mom, fondly known as Mama Jenkins, hopped on the bus in San Francisco to spend a few days with us traveling up to Portland, OR). One thing that sets the Benziger winery apart is their commitment to maintain the health of the land and the biodynamic practices that aid in this. During our tour we visited their insectory, compost piles, recycling ponds, and caves that provide natural cooling for the wine barrels and came to appreciate how their product is distinguished from other organic wine products. Check out http://www.benziger.com/ and the June cover story of Wine Spectator for more on Benziger.

The lovely and biodynamic Benziger Winery in Sonoma, CA

After a full afternoon and evening of driving, Monday finally ended with an impromptu dinner at Applebee's and luxurious stay at a roadside inn in Ashland, OR thanks to the generosity of Mama Jenkins, who is riding along with the bus from San Francisco to Portland. Even though it wasn't in Philly, she was still able to give us a home on the road - thanks Joanne!

On Tuesday morning Colleen, Merritt, Joanne, and Whit all rose early to explore the quaint streets of Ashland before hitting the road again. Along our drive through Oregon, we also stopped at the Rogue Creamery in Medford to taste some world-renowned blue cheeses (and perhaps wish that we had bought some Benziger wine to go with). From there, Colleen took the chase car and sped ahead to her home in Portland to prepare for the arrival of the bus while the rest of the crew stayed behind to search for grease. Restaurant after restaurant had nothing suitable to offer, especially as we become more picky after some bad fuel experiences. 12 restaurants down, we finally hit jackpot with a 120-gallon haul from Wendy's. Though loaded up, we stopped to check out our first legitimate biofuels station - SeQuential Biofuels, an Oregon based biofuel provider. Not only do they provide biodiesel, diesel, unleaded and ethanol fuels for their customers, many of their stations rely heavily on solar power and also employ living roofs and bioswels to improve local water and soil quality. Their website is very informative about the benefits of biofuels and the specific products they offer: http://www.sqbiofuels.com/index.htm.

Arriving in Portland, Colleen's family greeted us and had a delicious homemake lasagna waiting to fill our stomachs for the busy days ahead - another great example of how warm, healthy food can keep us kickin'.

-whitney

The Bus explores a SeQuential biofuel station

Facts-of-the-day: Our visit with EcoTimber helped to shed some light on sustainable building and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (L.E.E.D.) certifiations. While a product like bamboo offers high yields per resource inputs and lower sale prices, hardwood aften lasts five times as long and is thus a more sustainable product. A sustainably harvested woodfloor is one component of building design that earns points towards L.E.E.D. certification. Homeowners and businesses alike strive to achieve L.E.E.D. certification through meeting standards in five areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Patagonia, a corporate leader in environmental responsibility and stewardship, recently built a new distribution center in Reno, NV that meets L.E.E.D standards and the following link contains a video about their project and environmentally friendly building specifications. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr9WU4-NAc4

Ghetto-ade, fortune cookies and free dinner!

2007-07-29T13:30:00.000-04:00

Sunday: our last day in San Francisco, and it certainly came too soon. The bus crew was roused bright and early at the certifiably insane hour of 4:30 am to head across the Golden Gate Bridge (alas, in the fog, so no spectacular views). Don’t fret just yet, though - we were dragged out of bed for a good cause: manning the water station of mile 7 of the San Francisco marathon. The Bus Crew was put to work pouring hundreds upon hundreds of mini cups filled with a gatorade – like substance also known by the names of Cytomax, and “Ghetto-ade.” We were joined by a great group of bikers who kept us entertained all morning. Before we knew it we were hit with the first wave of runners, clipping along at a pace that was faster than most of our sprinting speed. Apparently, running that fast doesn’t correspond with being a nice person, as we were chastised by some angry racers who vocally disapproved of our beverage dispensing methods. After a steep learning curve we were all pros and handed out cup after cup to the grateful and inspiring runners. Our cries of “electrolytes!” and “cytomax!” soon morphed into “lecterlytes?” "sattlites" "christmaslights" "psychomax" and“spiderplex!” but the runners seemed to understand. By 9 am or so we had hydrated the last stragglers and made our way back over the bridge to the finish line.

The afternoon provided bussers with some much-appreciated free time to hang out and explore San Francisco. Half the crew checked out the local brewery where Colleen’s cousin worked and then explored downtown San Francisco. A stop in Chinatown proved fruitful as the bussers returned to the apartment with a bag of homemade fortune cookies. Nearby, Lucas and Esther met up and compared buses with Ethan Burke from BioTour, another bus on a sustainble mission. The rest of the bus crew passed the afternoon visiting museums, walking in the park, and taking in the wonderful oddities of the city such as roller dancing and the people on Haight Street (the home of the hippie revolution).

As evening rolled around the bus headed out once more for a dinner provided by some more folks on a similar journey – the Udall Scholars. We were spared being tardy by catching a ride with the most crazy taxi ride ever, which was quite similar to an amusement park roller coaster ride. Everyone enjoyed the delicious dinner and interesting conversation. It was great to compare stories about life on the bus, which is certainly a unique experience. Udall - it was great to meet you and best of luck on the final stretch of your journey!

-kate

links-o-the-day: Check out our bus friends! http://www.biotour.org and http://udall10.udall.gov/

Your inner flower child says:

2007-07-28T04:00:00.000-04:00

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

People like Crank (’06, BGB1&2), Aekta (’05, BGB1), and Hoffman (’05, BGB1), who were kind enough to open their home to us this weekend in addition to planning an alumni picnic in the park. With the bus parked grass-side we spoke to curious passers-by as well as Dartmouth alums from ’66 to ’06. But no bums, which made me a little sad. I was expecting a few hip hobos to swing by and talk to/personally inform me about electric acid kool aid. But my mood is fickle, and my mild disappointment soon disappeared. when so many of the BGB1 alums arrived at the park. I was so pleased that I forgot to sulk. Not only were we able to exchange ideas with the original Bus Crew, but us newbies also got to show off the sweet alterations that we've made on the bus (cough cough we're awesome).
It was agreed upon after much discussion however, that in a super death-dome melee, BGB1 would beat both BGB2 and this year’s BGB3 by a bone-breaking landslide. I’m not quite sure how the discussion came to this point, but the final decision was undeniable. BGB1 is Fierce (notice the capitalization of the 'F').

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

After an afternoon filled with sandwiches, disks tossed every which way, and more than one too many of those delicious brownie bites in my tummy, the crew parted ways for the remainder of the day. Nate, Kate, and I visited the de Young museum and explored the paths surrounding it. We strolled through the Aids memorial park and lay in the grass making flower chains that we then wore while walking down Haight Street back to the apartment. And no, we did not have to travel in Mr. Peabody's way-back time machine to achieve this…we just had to live on a bus for a while.

All across the Nation such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation with a new explanation
People in motion people in motion

The rest of the gang beat us home after dropping the aforementioned bus off at Vista Point and taking a look-see at Fisherman’s Wharf. Once home, they quickly flaired-up and ran out…also before we returned home. Their destination? Why a flash-mob dance party that we had heard about through the grapevine of course! The entire group (a tall leprechaun Lucas, spandex pimp Merritt, scuba Esther, hottie mchottpants Colleen, and disco princess Whitney all dressed their part) met up at this impromptu chi gam, sans the raging hormones, stripper poles, and suffocating axe-fumes of course, where we danced to some bollywood tunes until our bodies could rock no more.

The Merrittbot. Go, go Merrittbot.

For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

Our night did not end there! We were tired after appeasing the glorious gods of dance, but there was more love to spread. Our next destination was a party in the lovely grown-up-home of Susan Gordon, Natalie Allen, Libby Hadzima, and Aya Caldwell, where we found alums and friends in ever corner of the SF apartment. The Dartmouth redux lasted well into the night as we hugged, told stories, and spent time together that seemed so comfortably and wonderfully out-of-context.

Hi San Francisco. I have a crush on you.

If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a lovin’ Dartmouth there

-Hayley

One Farewell, To a Cool, Cool Bus

2007-07-27T23:46:00.000-04:00

I write today with a tear in my eye and a catch in my throat. My time on the bus – altogether too short – has come to a close. I find myself nostalgic, sentimental, and pained to be leaving my ten compadres, our big green bus, and the little blue chase car. Tomorrow morning will find me in a car at daybreak, setting out against the horizon for a family vacation. Going from 11 people on a bus in big cities to 7 people on an island without electricity and running water, culture shock is the understatement of the year. I don’t want to wax too poetic, so I’ll sum up my bus time in a sentence – great friends, beautiful scenery, and a summer to remember.

My last full day on the bus was a good one. We started the morning at another awesome company, one of our sponsors, Clif Bar. Their headquarters were reminiscent of Google’s, and we had a great time learning about their five pillars (business, brand, planet, people, and community), their environmental initiatives, and a bus project similar to ours that they have run in the past. We stocked up again on delicious Clif Bars, making sure to grab Luna Bars for the girls and Builder Bars for the boys.

Our second stop was at the Chrissy Field Center in Golden Gate Park, where we talked to an awesome group of campers from elementary and middle schools. We promised to name some names in the blog, but since we can’t fit them all, we’ll just say that from Alex to Quinn they were all fantastic, and that we know Jacky is spelled with a “y” and one of the kids named Chris spells it Cris. We had a really fun time and loved their enthusiasm!

The night ended at the apartment of Bus alums Crank, Aekta, and Hoff, where we watched School of Rock, walked around the Haight, and played a spirited game of Celebrity. A great way to cap off my summer with the bus. I’ll miss you all dearly, and can’t wait to reconvene in the fall!

- chris

The group kicks back for some games with bus alums Crank and Aekta!

Fact-o-the-day: Clif Bar as a company has recently taken huge strides to reduce their waste by eliminating shrink wrap from their packaging, and minimizing non-recycled materials. They even make handbags out of unused wrappers!

NATE RAINES

2007-07-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

Loose on the streets of San Francisco. Guard your hearts, Simpson-ladies.

Gooooooooogle

2007-07-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

We awoke to our second morning on the beautiful Californian coast in Andrew Molera State Park to continue our drive up Route 1 toward the San Francisco bay. After a few low-key hours on the road listening to Jack Johnson and taking turns with the two bus copies of Harry Potter #7, we arrived in Mountain View, CA. As we awaited our main event of the day with Google, we perused REI and a pet store while taking advantage of the city wide wireless internet to catch up on logistics planning, etc.

Later that afternoon on the Google campus, Charles Baron ’05 (who works on the climate team with company’s philanthropic arm, Google.org) greeted us for our afternoon of activities. In addition to working toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change, Google.org also strived to combat issues of global public health, economic development and poverty. Craig ‘Crank’ Rubens ’05, Andrew Hoffman ’05 (both formers Big Green Bussers), Charlie Guthrie ’07 and Chimpo Cahill ’07 all joined us for our tour as well and provided a welcome Dartmouth reunion for our time in the Bay Area. After showing the bus to a few members of the Google.org team, we headed over to join up with transportation specialist Ward Thomas to tour the company’s evolving hybrid plug-in vehicle program and solar panel facility. There we learned that Google owns five plug-in hybrids vehicles for company use – 10% of the total such vehicles available in the world. Additionally, they're striving to meet carbon neutrality by the end of 2007 through renewable energy generation, carbon offsetting, and improving energy efficiency.

Finally, we met with Jon Murchinson ’91 - one of Google’s senior communication managers – who gave us a tour of the company’s corporate campus before leading us to the cafeteria for a great dinner. After abandoning Nate to send Chimpo and Charlie off to the Marshall Islands, we piled into the bus to drive north to Berkeley where we camped out in Nat Smith’s backyard (Dartmouth class of 2009) though he and his family weren’t home. A quiet neighborhood and beautiful view of the city lights were all we needed to end the day.

- whitney

The BGB crew goes crazy for Google!

Fact-of-the-day: Each year, Google.com spends one percent of it’s total corporate profits toward philanthropic endeavors. To combat climate change issues, they are partnering with RechargeIT, CalCars, and the Electric Power Research Institute – among many others – to develop hybrid and renewable technologies. For more information, visit http://www.google.org/.

Happy Birthday Green Bean!

2007-07-25T23:25:00.000-04:00

July 25, 2007 = one of the best birthdays ever. A morning run in San Simeon State Park followed by the gorgeous drive up Big Sur kicked off Colleen’s 23rd birthday. Lucas—the ever-vigilant driver—spotted elephant seals off the coast, so we stopped to ogle at the blubbery 5,000-pound male seals (with trunks!) that spend the summer in Big Sur molting and fighting to establish alpha male status. We then set up camp at Andrew Molera State Park for an afternoon of chilling on the beach, reading Harry Potter, and exploring waterfalls, galleries, and spectacular vistas along the Big Sur coastline.

In honor of Colleen’s obsession with snacking, Nate and Merritt prepared hors d’oeuvres throughout the day—with a rousing round of Happy Birthday sung each time! The master chefs served delicacies such as goat cheese and sundried tomato spread, melon and prosciutto (with driftwood skewers), and a dinner finale of fresh salad, gado gado, and no-bake cheesecake! As we hung around the campsite chatting and laughing, it was decided that the BGB gang has found its groove, Colleen loves the amazing crew that gave her this best-ever birthday, and we should follow Nate in praising the glory of public land.

- colleen

Brent enjoys a day at the beach.

Fact-o-the-day: The Northern Elephant Seal is an extraordinary marine mammal. It spends 8 to 10 months a year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5000 feet deep for periods of 15 minutes to 2 hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting and rest. The Piedras Blancas rookery, on the California Central Coast, is home to about 15,000 animals. (www.elephantseal.org)

Pretttttttyyy

2007-07-24T18:19:00.000-04:00

A morning grease stop/media event at a local McDonal’s in Santa Barbara turned into grease-snobbery, as the bus crew deemed the WVO dumpster – complete with plastic bags of old Egg McMuffins – unfit for BGB use. Splitting off from the bus, the car went to Kinkos and the hardware store to finish some tasks, while the bus went elsewhere to search for veggie oil! A brief stop at In-N-Out Burger again for lunch (they give their veggie to a local grease-car-guy) satiated the bus crew before they pushed onward and upward to a T-Bell and MickeyD’s for a good fuel stop. With bus and crew both greased up, we hit the road en route to Big Sur.

Everyone enjoyed a beautiful day of driving before stopping in San Simeon Park and Washburn campground, a bit south of Big Sur itself. We grabbed a campsite and Whitney cooked up some delicious chicken-in-a-can curry with rice that we all devoured. After dinner, a quick hike down to the beach for a beautiful sunset with the whole group. As it got colder, we bundled up, threw on our comfy Clif Bar beanies, and had a nice small fire in our hobo-style trashcan fireplace. We discussed logistics, read our books, and had a lovely night’s sleep in the crisp NorCal air. During the night, Esther sealed her place as the #1 BGB bird puncher. Well done.

- chris

The beautiful NorCal coast.

Hayley frolics in a gorgeous sunset.

Moron-o-the-day: Merritt Jenkins. Whipping people with kelp, burning himself repeatedly and intentionally on the fire, and just generally being dumb. Keep up the good work!

In-N-Out of Santa Barbara

2007-07-23T21:34:00.000-04:00

Our final morning in Encinitas began early as we prepared for a long journey to Santa Barbara (our bus + morning L.A. traffic + seaside distractions = a full day’s drive) . We said goodbye and thank you to the Kennedys and as has become typical on early morning drives, Lucas drove while the rest of the crew slept. We made a quick detour to Malibu to drop off dear Kate for a visit with a friend, and then continued to travel north on beautiful Route 1 along the coast. Although the air was cool, the waves tempted the bussers to stop for a quick run into be waves before continuing on. With a growing afternoon hunger in our stomachs and Chris yelling “Barf want burgerrrrrr!!” from the bunks, we began our search for an In-n-Out Burger. There, Esther, Merritt, Lucas and Chris all lost their In-n-Out innocence for only $4 per person – we love California!

Our first official event in days was to take place at University of California, Santa Barbara with 60 high school students participating in the Research Mentorship Program. We rejoined the chase car carrying Frances and Colleen and cleaned the bus, set up our displays and divided into groups to educate the youngsters. Unfortunately, their plans changed and they were only able to spend one minute outside before moving on. This was slightly disappointing, but it meant that we get to save our rested A-game for another day. After a hour of random bus work including a run to Kinko’s and finally installing the quarter-rounds on our EcoTimber wood floor, we headed into the hills to stay with Carly Silverman, Dartmouth class of 2010, and her family for the night. There we were treated to a wonderful barbeque dinner and great conversation before we settled down to watch The Italian Job. A perfect end to an awesome day – thanks Silvermans!

- whitney

Merritt digs into a double-double, animal-style.

Fact-o-the-day: For those who have never had the pleasure of an In-n-Out dining experience, you’ll be happy to know that all fries are cut from potatoes in-house and their meat is also fresh, never frozen. We also discovered the joys of the secret menu thanks to Hayley’s expertise in the area and agreed that ‘Animal Style’ is the way to go with any burger.

Sunny California

2007-07-22T23:08:00.000-04:00

After departing Las Vegas, we drove through the night to Hayley’s home in Encinitas, CA, just outside of San Diego. The cool air coming off of the ocean was a welcome sensation after spending the past week in 90 – 110 degree heat. After a group nap, Hayley’s family treated us to burgers and shakes at the 101 Diner in downtown Encinitas. Our first day in California would not have been complete without a stop at the local fruit stand to stock up on perfectly ripe cantaloupe, plums, berries and avocado. That night, Chris led Brent, Colleen, Merritt, and Kate into San Diego to watch the Padres defeat the Phillies in a close 1-0 pitchers’ duel.

Friday morning began with a plethora of breakfast choices, and I think the whole crew agreed that something as simple as cereal and cold milk never tasted so good. Next up was the long awaited trip to the beach – the Pacific Ocean, finally! – and attempts by all to get up on two feet on the Kennedy family surf boards. A few hours of playing and reading on the beach proved to be just the R&R that we all needed. Over a delicious trout dinner, Hayley’s parents Audrey and Bill (who are both former professional cyclists) kept Whitney captivated with their stories and updates on the Tour de France 2007 and paved the way for a following over the next two weeks.

Saturday morning started slow, watching the first time trial of the Tour de France and walking to Barnes and Noble to acquire some new reading material for Nate and Kate – the seventh and final installment of Harry Potter! The rest of the group hit up the thrift stores in downtown Encinitas where Esther and Merritt made some amazing finds. The day ended with a neighborhood potluck in the Kennedy’s cul-de-sac where we enjoyed some great home cooked dishes and showed off the bus to kids and parents alike.

On Sunday morning Colleen, Frances and Brent took the chase car and forged ahead to Los Angeles where they planned to spend the next night and day with various friends and family. The ladies will rejoin us on Monday in Santa Barbara, but we’ll be without Brent until we roll into his home state of Wisconsin in three weeks – farewell and take care friend! The rest of the crew spent their final full day in this sunny paradise with more thrift shopping, finishing Harry Potter, a final stint at the beach and lunch at the local burrito joint Juanita’s. We returned home to the Kennedy’s for a TV dinner around the first Pyrenees stage of the tour to watch Contador take the stage from the leader Rasmussen in the final 200 meters. We haven’t had such edge-of-your-seat excitement in recent memory and the crew’s attention over the next few days will likely be divided between following the race and plowing through Harry Potter.

- whitney

Girls and their boards!
The whole group at the beach!

What Happens In Vegas, Gets Blogged About

2007-07-18T23:41:00.000-04:00

Las Vegas, Nevada has been called many things – Sin City, The City That Never Sleeps, The City of Lights, The Birthplace of Culture, The City of Brotherly Love, The Big Apple, etc. etc. etc. This jack-of-all trades city is many things, but there’s one thing it isn’t – cold. 110 degrees during the day, 90 at night, and I haven’t sweated this much since my last Econ final.

We rolled into Las Vegas after leaving Zion National Park – with a quick stop in nearby Hurricane, UT for a daytime viewing of the newest Harry Potter (for a few of the girls) and Transformers (the best movie ever made). After hearing that our original plan to visit the Grand Canyon wasn’t going to pan out, we called ahead and reserved rooms at The Sahara, a desert-themed Vegas-mainstay hotel on The Strip. Braving heat waves hot enough to melt the sole off of Lucas’ sandals while driving (true story), we rolled into LV with only a couple desperation stops for water and ice cream.

Las Vegas was described by Brent as the best city in the world for about 4 hours, and then pretty awful after that. We had a good time for a little longer than that, but the assessment was largely correct. We were awed, amazed, and a bit put-off at times by the extravagance of the city, although we made sure to take in all the hotels and their grandeur. The fountains at the Bellagio - set in time to God Bless America – helped ring in the first birthday of the summer! Happy birthday Frances!

The night and next day were passed in numerous ways – shopping, riding roller coasters, touring the various hotels and casinos, watching pirates do battle at Treasure Island, slipping a couple quarters into slot machines, and enjoying the famous Vegas buffets. Frances, Lucas, and Esther stopped at a nearby elementary school and presented the bus to every single kid in the school! They rejoined the rest of the crew rejuvenated and ecstatic about a successful event.

A sushi dinner for Frances’ birthday finished our Vegas stay, along with the presentation of cake, a pink cowboy hat and matching boa, a badge proclaiming “Francis” the sheriff of Las Vegas, and a “We Live On A Bus” t-shirt to top it all off. We once again packed onto the bus, and headed for cooler weather and fewer bright lights.

- chris

Merritt, Nate, and Brent fit right in at The Sahara!

The group out for Frances' birthday dinner at Ra Sushi!

Fact-o-the-day: Las Vegas is planning to build a new city center that will be LEED certified. Read more about LEED certification here: http://www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/leed.asp

Into the Park: Adventures in Zion

2007-07-17T01:37:00.000-04:00

The bus travels on in the land of the red rocks…

Monday and Tuesday proved just how awesome Zion really is. After a quick morning of presenting at the Canyon Community Center (along with yoga for Kate, Frances, and Esther), we returned to the campground to prepare for the day’s adventure: hiking the Narrows. At noon we set out through the canyon, joined by Ranger John (Colleen’s newly-found friend from the day before). Steep cliffs of sandstone surrounded us as we zipped past European tourists ("Bonjour" "Merritto baila con su cabeza"). As the walls narrowed, a river replaced the paved path. In we waded, happy to be in the cool water and shaded from the sun. Brent rejoiced when he found pools to swim in along the way (if its not clear by now, Brent really, really likes water). The crew joined him in his revelry, splashing and floating along. 5 hours later, we arrived back at the campground, happy, wet, and tired. To finish off a great day, we went to dinner in Springdale and enjoyed delicious fish, “forbidden rice” (I’m not sure why its called that, but I’ll be disappointed if I’m forbidden from eating again) and solar oven-cooked brownies. Many thanks to Stacy and Lyman for the meal and for showing us their beautiful sustainably-designed house.

Before continuing on our journey, part of the crew did one last hike. Taking advantage of the cool early morning air, the hikers headed to Angel’s Landing to catch the sunrise. Overcoming sheer cliffs and fear of heights, they climbed up and up and up to a view of the canyon spread below. Reports are that it was gorgeous. The rest of us slept in.

Tune in again soon as our (mis)adventures continue into the dessert…

-esther

The Bus crew poses in their sweet Ibex gear

In the Narrows with Ranger John

A shout-out to the park: The National Park Service’s commitment to sustainable practices was truly on display at Zion. A couple of our favorites included the shuttle system and the very “green” Zion Visitors Center. In 2000, a shuttle system of 30 propane-powered buses replaced the 5000 cars that would otherwise drive through the park. Zion’s Visitor Center made use of efficient materials, direction, thermal mass, native plant landscaping, and several other “green” design principles to create a sustainable building that not only reflects the beauty of the surrounding landscape, but also saves over $14,000 and 310,000lbs of carbon every year! Check out the park’s website for more on what they are doing, as well as tips on “greening” your own environment. http://www.nps.gov/zion/naturescience/green-park.htm

Fact-o-the-day: In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.

High On Mountains

2007-07-16T15:01:00.000-04:00

An astute observation: the farther west we travel, the happier I am. The Bus Crew and the Chase car kids had a reunion in a Bryce Canyon parking lot worthy of slow motion, an open field, and an abundance of butterflies, as I had a more private reunion of my own with the browns, reds, and dry heat of the desert (insert deep sigh here). After reveling for a good 30 minutes at the fact that, for the first time ever, Brent was the stinkiest bus member of the bus, we set up shop outside of the Bryce General Store. It was a slow day for talking, but a good day for long hikes. The group split up into 3 respective groups and took in the unreal scenery. We reconvened for a family meeting in the evening over some polygamy porters. We saw 3 bambis and a jackalope….other than that I’m not quite sure what was said.
Fin!

- hayley

Bryce!

2007-07-15T14:26:00.000-04:00

Brent, Colleen, Frances, Hayley, Merritt, and Nate woke up at 5AM this morning to catch the sunrise over the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon. We were rewarded with a few minutes of spectacular dawn light, which we exploited to publicize ourselves:

We then struck out for Zion National Park. After driving in through a tunnel carved parallel to the side of a canyon, we split up, with some folks presenting to the public in the morning while others took a hike up through the Emerald Pools. We thought Emerald Pools might be series of beautiful, aquamarine swimming holes to provide an escape from the desert heat; sadly, the name was coined because they are green with thick algae. In the afternoon, we switched, with the presenting group going and exploring the weeping rock and the algae group presenting at Zion Lodge. Weeping rock was named for the water that seeps out of it, which we learned fell on the plateau above a milennia ago and has been percolating through the sandstone

The real story of today, though, was Lucas coming into his own as a man--nay, as a stud. He got hit on ruthlessly all afternoon, at times attracting a veritable bevy of ladies with his wholesome good looks and quiet charm. Bravo, sir.

- nate

Frances calls forth the morning in Bryce.

Floodgates status of the day: questionable.

Together Again!

2007-07-14T13:15:00.000-04:00

Finally! The bus is in fine form (running better than ever), the crew is reunited, and everyone is in good spirits! Hooray!

Tales From The Other Side 3: The Chase Car’s Day Off In Moab and Arches!

2007-07-13T23:14:00.000-04:00

On our last day away from home (We Live On A Bus!) the Chase Car Crew popped into Moab for some quick logistics work, an oil change for Sam, and iced coffees! On the recommendation of Chris’ friend Connor, the group took a back trail to a watery paradise, a crashing waterfall in a deep sandstone canyon with great cliff jumping. Brent was in hog heaven, and the crew enjoyed a few hours jumping, swimming, catching snakes, and taking pictures. After walking out, the group headed to Arches National Park where Brent instructed the crew for optimal photogenicity (it’s a word). Running from arch to beautiful arch, Colleen, Frances, Chris, and Brent made the most of their 3 hours in the park before hitting the road toward Bryce. Great news from the BUS! They’re on the road and headed to meet us tomorrow! The crew will be reunited! Huzzah!

- chris

Swimming hole in Moab!

Tales from The Other Side 2: The Chase Car Does Telluride and Mesa Verde!

2007-07-13T13:11:00.000-04:00

Our adventures in Telluride began with a stop along Main Street Telluride, where we had cleared parking with the town marshalls. Alas, due to a semi-bureaucratic system, the sidewalks in Telluride are run by a separate administrative office than the roads, and thus our table on the sidewalk was illegal. After about an hour and a half of tabling, we were nicely told by a man on a bike that we needed to move. We packed up and moved on to our next event – a demo at The Market, a grocery store in the nearby Mountain Village. A hot and tired crew put on our smiling faces for the event and talked to Telluridians about sustainable energy. A salad in our beautiful hotel room at the San Sophia Inn in town closed out the evening, and we passed out before sunset for a much needed night of sleep.

After a rainy day in Telluride and a long drive to Mesa Verde National Park, the Chase Car Crew weathered a nighttime thunderstorm in tents on Wednesday night. Thursday morning brought a new (and hot) day, and after a morning tour of Cliff Palace the group headed to the Farview Terrace to present the car. Tour groups, French families, Wisconsonians, and ex-hippies enjoyed looking at the car, hearing about our mission, and staying as far away from the now-smelly crew as possible. Tessy from the park was unbelievably helpful at helping us set up our day! We shared a bit of advice about running a project like the bus with Tessy before hitting the road again. Thanks Tessy!

- chris

Sam shows off some scenery

The crew poses at cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde

Tales from The Other Side 1: The Chase Car Sets Out!

2007-07-12T23:59:00.000-04:00

When we last wrote, the bus wasn’t working and the chase car had toodled off for events and adventures on its own, tearfully leaving the bus and crew behind. The car, however, wasn’t without mechanical uncertainty of its own. In the words of Brent:

One of the great adventures of converting a vehicle yourself is you can never be entirely sure how it is going to work. There is always the potential for problems that are unforeseen. For instance if your diesel filter becomes plugged, it can cause a failure in the diesel pump. No problem in a duel fuel system right? Just switch to veg, problem solved. Well, one would think so, but the problem with the unforeseen is that it is almost always just that, unforeseen.

Brent, Frances, Collen, and Chris left Denver at three in the morning. Running just on veggie oil the engine took a small amount of prompting (a rolling start) to get the fuel warm enough for driving. The eight hour drive was starting well, Chris was driving, Brent was telling bad jokes, Frances was practicing her contortionist routine for Cirque de Soliel, and Colleen was asleep. We were winding up mountain roads, enjoying the views allowed by the 1000+ foot cliff faces when we experienced our first encounter with the unforeseen. The car stalled. It might have been the veg was still running a little cold, maybe an air-bubble had formed in the fuel line, hard to know. The reality was, there we were, stranded on the side of a mountain at seven in the morning. At least we were on an incline. After pushing the car around to face down the mountain Brent hopped into the driver seat, kissed his St. Christopher medal and disengaged the parking brake. After a strong push from the remaining three he began his role down the mountain, picking up speed immediately. In a matter of seconds the rest of the crew’s faces, hopeful but worried, had disappeared from the rearview mirror and the real fun began. It brought back memories of soap box derbies, pinewood races, and dropping pennies off the side of the Sears tower. The speed increased with every passing yard. Dropping into third slowed the car, but it still refused to start. Cars going uphill slowed warily as the Volkswagen with no lights and limited power-steering plummeted past. And then the miracle. A drop into third, no different from any of the previous produced a rev, then a roar, and we were back in business. To say that pulling back up the mountain to rejoin the crew, leaping and whooping at the sight of their returned Sam (the Chase Car’s new name), will be the highlight of my summer is an understatement by as many miles as it took to get her running again.

- brent

The chase car crew on a sunny mountain side!

spontaneous comBUStion

2007-07-12T19:34:00.000-04:00

When you (the reader) last heard from your heroes (us) we were in Boulder Colorado experiencing fine cuisine at The Kitchen, with every bite soaring closer to heaven than even Icarus could fathom. Now, six days later the crew is split due to a fuel pump failure in the bus. Four people, (Brent, Colleen, Frances and Chris) went on ahead to Telluride around 3 am on Tuesday morning in the chase car, leaving the remaining seven in Denver until the Bus could/ can be repaired.

Before we were separated however, we attended a few events with the chase car here in Denver. On Sunday, five of us visited reporters at the Capitol building, releasing the news that our bus had a bad case of the hiccups, and would be out of commission for a short period of time. From there we tabled with the little blue car (who we have renamed ‘Tiny Tim’) outside of Whole Foods, earning our food supply that will hopefully sustain us through the National Parks. To Brent and Merritt’s expected dismay, large steaks were not a main item on the shopping list.

On Monday, five crew members drove off to Boulder where they visited RMI, The Rocky Mountain Institute. RMI is an non-profit environmental think tank hired by corporations to consult them as to how they might make their company more green. The rest of the group went to the Denver Public Library where they happily (and quietly) embraced complete nerd-ness. Later the two halves met up in the growing green housing project Stapleton. Stapleton is a large planned community built entirely upon an old airfield, using recycled and green materials to accommodate a large number of families.

Since the Fellowship was broken on Tuesday, the crew left in Denver has had a very difficult time coping with the surroundings. Yes, we may be trampoline-jumping, art museum-visiting, cat-petting, and wine-drinking…but it’s just not the same without Frances, Chris, Brent, and Colleen. Sigh. I even cut Lucas' hair into a mohawk yesterday to try and distract me from my depression, but the curly red coif didn't fill the hole in my heart.

But tomorrow is a new day and a new part will be installed in our bus (don’t ask me which one though…) so with any semblance of luck, the Big Green Machine will be back on the road in no time.

Cross your fingers! (or your legs...I guess)

-Hayley

quote 'o the day: "I am a true Philistine."-Merritt

Stay Tuned

2007-07-11T13:02:00.000-04:00

Internet may be spotty as The Big Green Bus heads into the National Parks of the Southwest, but stay tuned for updates as soon as we get an opportunity! News about Denver, Telluride, and mechanical adventures coming soon!

p.s. A note to all our parents: Don't worry, we're fine. We just can't call because we left all our cell phone chargers on the bus, which is still in the shop. Will call home soon. Love, the Bus Crew.

Bye-Bye Boulder

2007-07-07T21:17:00.000-04:00

After an amazing night at The Kitchen and in Boulder last night, Saturday brought a more relaxing day for the bus crew. The day was passed walking around the beautiful town of Boulder, enjoying the Farmer’s Market, free samples, and wonderfully quirky hippies that the town had to offer. Fantastic purchases were made at American Apparel, sunglasses were found and bought, and Brent and Chris solidified their status as hippies by buying spinning poi at a juggling store.

The bus crew trades Kate for Colleen tonight. And ESTHER IS FINALLY HERE! Yay Mama Bear, welcome to the Bus! We'll be at full strength for the first time when Kate returns early next week! Off to Denver for the BGB!

- chris

Whitney and Chris grease up while new friend Dakin looks on.

Brent gets artsy with Chris' aviators.

Fact-o-the-day: Fuel injectors are really important for accelerating, apparently.

Boulder, Glorious Boulder

2007-07-06T23:07:00.000-04:00

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. –Benjamin Franklin

Boulder Colorado. Today I learned two things. The first is that there are bottles of beer that cost $40. The second is that they are worth every penny. But before we come to that lets explore boulder. A walk down Pearl Street, the main drag for tourists, reveals a city building on its mining past and embracing its present – a mecca for alternative lifestyles cohabitating with a party-hard, drink-harder 30k student body. The architecture reflects the days of mining gold, then silver, and finally coal that established Boulder, but the old brick buildings now house stores selling namaste embroidered hats and designer coffees.

The mall itself provides an endless array of street performers scattered between bronze statues of local fauna magnified to mythical sizes (we’re talking Neverending Story sized snails and frogs larger than Frances), and the usual college town mélange of students, parents, tourists, and the homeless. A perfect stop for the bus? We thought so.

The bus had been having some of its usual difficulties (not starting, stalling in traffic, rolling backwards down the highway, etc …) when we pulled into Boulder and stopped the meet the citizenry outside our excellent sponsor, The Kitchen (more on them later). Said citizenry turned out to be some of the most colorful we have met thus far. This includes the staff of the righteous (only left of course, very left) eco-mag, Elephant, the diesel psychic Gordon Banta who confirmed Lucas’s suspicions that something was wrong with the fuel injectors, the Wild Oats staff who restocked us on organic goods, and a long missed alum Lauren Maynard.

And then we had dinner. If you are in Boulder, do as the natives do – eat at the Kitchen. Though the owner Hugo went into great detail describing his efforts to obtain local organic foods and the responsibility of waste disposal in the food industry, he neglected to warn us about the incredible ability of his staff. To say the food was delicious is to say that C.S. Lewis was a Christian, it’s true, but it completely misses the point. The food was so wonderful it was indecent, almost erotic – to the point that I would be uncomfortable eating there with my parents. Every dish was unexpected, exciting, and incredibly new. And the beer, yes the beer. For those of us who could imbibe (and we did indeed imbibe) our wonderful waitress Lily guided us through a list of local and imported brews that rivaled a Napa cellar for variety and price. While many were sampled, the favorite was Deus Brut Des Flandres, a Belgium beer served and in flutes and more akin to champagne than beer. In the words of Chris “on the happiness scale, off of the graph.” To Hugo, Adam, both Kates, and the entire Kitchen staff, thank you from the bottoms of our hearts and our stomachs.

- brent

BGBers enjoying the wonderful atmosphere of The Kitchen.

Tip-o-the-day: Go to Boulder. Eat at The Kitchen.

Photogenic Bus

2007-07-06T13:14:00.001-04:00

Not too much to report from Colorado so far - a long drive, a day off, some frisbee, and some delicious homemade Pad Thai. Housed by Connor, Dakin, and Drew, we spent a nice evening in Colorado Springs, walked around the town in the morning, and then had more adventures in auto-mechanicary.

More importantly, Brent took the coolest picture of the trip thus far, which you see below. Awesome.

Sunrise, wind power, and The Big Green Bus in Colorado.

Fact-o-the-day: The majority of Texas' windmills are around 50 meters (164 ft.) tall. They are unreachable with bottle rockets from cars.

Boom! A BGB Fourth!

2007-07-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

“Happy Birthday America” shouts Brent “Sheeps” Butler joyously, donning a star-spangled top-hat and sidling into the driver’s seat. It’s morning on the bus, and it’s the Fourth of July.

After a restful night at a picnic area somewhere Deep in the Heart of Texas, we were ready to hit the road and knock out the majority of our drive to Colorado Springs. A quick search on the interwebs pulled up beautiful(?) Lubbock, TX as our evening destination, and we set sail. Some brief engine trouble in Early, TX made us Late, but we soon hit the road again, caffeinated and entertained by Brent’s observations of the kittens, goats, sheeps, and other Texan fauna that crossed our path during the drive.

There’s hardly ever a dull day on the bus, and Independence Day was no exception. From Chris spraying hot vegetable oil all over his leg to a quick chat with the Texas State Troopers – “No, we’re not a commercial vehicle! We’re a motor-home!” – the day was full of surprises. The girls spent much of the day making patriotic (and of course stylish) outfits out of WalMart bed-skirts, and the boys installed the BGB’s newest toy, a CB radio between the bus and the chase car. For the rest of the day jokes, observations, and directions could be heard crackling out between our two whips.

With Lucas “Cash Money” Schulz at the wheel, the Big Green Bus rolled into Lubbock around 8, just in time to get a primo spot for fireworks. Frances and Nate showed up with $40 of our own fireworks, and we enjoyed/survived a bunch of bottle rockets, fireballs, and exploding miniature tanks. Frances proved especially adept at providing near-death experiences, knocking over a launching tube, deciding she would fix it, and promptly kicking it over again – this time pointing directly at the bus. Tall grass and blind luck stopped any horizontal flight, but not before the crew squealed, scattered, and dove for cover. We soon switched gears for the much safer dinner on the roof, a delicious pasta cooked up by Whitney “Iron Chef Alaska” MacFadyen.

We brought cushions onto the roof and sat for a while, enjoying firework displays literally all around us – 360 degrees of store-bought fireworks set off by Texans waiting for the real deal. When the show did start, we “oohed” and “ahhed” and picked our favorites, while Brent made us look in the opposite direction for pictures. After the grand finale, the bussers entertained passersby with a few rousing songs about beautiful Amerka from the roof of the bus while we waited for traffic to clear out, and then we hit the road for a nighttime drive. Without question, a great Fourth of July. Happy Birthday America! Colorado here we come!

The BGB loves America! And fireworks!

Fact-o-the-day: Anything you say becomes funnier when said over a radio. Seriously, try it.

BGB News Story Of The Day: Check out our TV interview on ABC from Houston HERE!

Texas is...Pretty?

2007-07-03T23:09:00.001-04:00

When you’re living on the road, the first thing to go is your concept of time. I have no idea what day it is. I couldn’t even tell you when yesterday became today. But I do know that we are in Texas. Space and I are still on good terms, its just Time that I’ve had a serious falling out with recently. Hours on the bus can fly by, with every spare moment filled with a new running joke, witty banter, and some not-so-clever but equally amusing observations. But there are some minutes that drag like an angry paraplegic veteran on a makeshift skateboard. These minutes seem to have reproduced among themselves at an alarming rate in the past few days (especially considering their lack of appendages), which is why the Bus Crew was happy to get a day off from presenting yesterday. We ran errands from our hotel in Plano and checked quite a few tasks off of our ever-growing to-do list. I was deeply hurt when we were finally kicked out of the hotel lobby that we had lovingly called our home base for an afternoon (home is where the internet is, right?). Dear Homewood Suites, you did not live up to your name. My disappointment knows no bounds.

Though my emotional wound was still fresh, I found solace in watching Brent (a.k.a. mister tall and handsome I was captain of the swim team) Butler on his first try at grease duty. The job has been described before, but I will remind you that the task is as disgusting as it is simple. You stick a hose into a large bin festering grease, and try your best not to wretch for an extended period of time. Brent, being the near-perfect specimen of man that he is, obviously had to take grease duty to the ‘next level’ by sucking up the carcass of a blackbird from the grease bin of the chick-fil-a that we were parked behind. Brent, you truly are a God among men.

Brent Butler: Stoic

Before Brent could have another attempt at the golden hose, he and I took off to see the 7:00 showing of Ratatouille (Which was fantastic by the way. Bravo Pixar). As the rest of the bus began their drive to Houston, Brent and I giggled uncontrollably at animated rats, unaware that we had left both of our cell phones on the bus. Now I know you must be worried about the hero and heroine of this particular blog post at the moment, but I assure you the story will have a happy ending. (No Brent, not that type of happy ending. Put the mug away.)

Upon realizing that we had no way of communicating with the bus when we stepped outside of the theater, we were relieved to find the chase car parked in plain sight, waiting to deliver us to our next destination: The Love Field Airport! Brent described the airport concisely and accurately, “It’s like they built this place with the future in mind, and then completely ran out of money.” However the mass of concrete that is Love Field lived up to it’s name when Brent and I intercepted a one Miss Whitney MacFadyen at Gate 10 where we were reunited after her week long break of time off with 'the boyfriend' (ew whatever. who needs a boyfriend when you have the bus?). The love was in the air, and this love was real. Oh so real.

Meanwhile on the bus: I’m unclear on the facts, but from what I hear, most of the crew had changed into their grumpy-pants for the ride. And by that I mean they were crabby…not that we all have a designated article of clothing that we call our ‘grumpy-pants.’

The Chase Car Kids got into Houston (after a quick midnight Waffle House snack) around 3am and were re-united with the rest of the Crew who had checked into the luxurious Hilton Hotel (Provided by Waste Management! Oh la la!) only a half hour before.

Now where I’m confused is whether our reunion was at the end of this day or at the beginning of the next. Just to be thorough, I shall continue to tell this epic tale of love, deceit, cunning, and heartbreak, and finish where all good stories do, at the end. Ahem.

We awoke after what could technically be considered a nap at the Hilton, and piled into the bus to go to the Waste Management Headquarters for a breakfast meeting with the execs. Way up on the 37th floor we were led to a nice meeting room full of leather seats and croissant breakfast sandwiches. It was at this point that I realized the world of luxury that we had entered. As more people entered the room we noticed that all of the Waste Management employees and executives were wearing green. At first I thought that this, like the croissant breakfast sandwiches were an over the top, but entirely appreciated way of welcoming our bus. But I was wrong…as it turns out, every Tuesday at Waste Management headquarters is ‘green Tuesday’ (don’t get too excited, but I just deduced that it must be Tuesday today. Fantastic. Now if I only knew the date…). This weekly holiday is much like casual Friday, but with a more fresh springy feeling as opposed to an abundance of ‘Aloha weekend!’ Hawaiian shirts that make my eyes bleed. I like green Tuesday. I especially liked the woman who told me, with every ounce of sincerity that she could muster, that she buys green underwear specifically for green Tuesdays.

The meeting we had was informal and informative, and the time that we spent giving bus tours and interviews outside of the headquarters was equally as enjoyable. The attention that we get always amazes me, as does the receptiveness and genuine interest of the people we have the opportunity to meet and speak with.

We are now on the road to Austin. I’m writing this ridiculously long blog entry, envying the grazing cows we pass, Nate is driving (HOLD ON TO YOUR KEESTERS KIDS), the chase car is not-unsurprisingly nowhere to be seen, Brent was given the grumpy-pants within 5 minutes of waking up (apparently they do exist…apparently Brent does sometimes wake up), all while Frances and Kate are sewing star-spangled babydoll tops for tomorrow’s festivities. I just figured it out, today is Tuesday, July 3, and my tummy says that I’d like some dinner. I guess Time and I have reconciled our differences. I knew it’d come around.

The End (kinda…)

-Hayley

Holy Facial Hair Batman!

Fact 'o the Day: Chris Barth looks like a badgerman. A terrifying badgerman.

Don't Mess With The BGB In Texas!

2007-07-01T23:04:00.000-04:00

There are many glamorous things that come hand-in-hand with life on the Big Green Bus - meeting amazing alumni, seeing the country's most emblematic cities and parks, and going to really cool events. There are many not-so-glamorous events too - like sleepless nights, brutally hot weather inside a schoolbus, and endlessly long drives. Alas, for the BGB crew, we left the glamour in New Orleans and met its opposite during the drive to Texas. We survived the eleven straight hours on the road, however, rotating between sleeping, preparing educational materials, drinking energy drinks, spilling energy drinks, and driving. Hayley made sure that the couch was in good hands for most of the ride.

We rolled into Plano, Texas around 8am, parking in the lot of Central Market, a health-conscious grocery store with more types of granola than aisles. We set up our bus, complete with cool new labels, info-sheets, and games, and got ready for our afternoon presentation.

The event in Plano was one of our favorites thus far. After a long drive it was great to meet a lot of families with young kids, share our information, and meet the great people from the Sci-Tech Discovery Board. Plano also marks our first official event with a bouncy castle, a huge bonus. The bussers were all pleased with the turnout and enthusiasm of the people in Plano, and after narrowly escaping a drenching thunder storm, we headed inside for a delicious Texas BBQ and peach cobbler to round out a great day. Showers, runs, and a movie at the Homewood Suites in Plano quickly led to sleep for the exhausted crew!

- chris

The bus crew with Mama Bus in Plano!

Tip-o-the-day: Do your laundry or use your dishwasher during the evening/nighttime hours. There is more stress on the power grid during the day, and lessening this pressure by running appliances at night allows power companies to use only modern, more efficient plants.

Community Gumbo and The Green Project

2007-06-30T22:57:00.000-04:00

At 8 on Saturday morning Frances and Brent woke early for a radio interview with New Orlean WTUL, Community Gumbo. Feeling rested and not the least bit hung over, they spent over an hour with DJ Brian D. talking about the project and trying to switch their cell phones to silent. (Check the BGB website for audio and listen carefully for Frances’ ring tone just after the first commercial break). A disastrous attempt to drive home from the radio station ended somewhere outside the city limits where a compassionate police officer gave them directions and asked if they could please stop running stop signs while reading their map.

The Bus meanwhile headed to the art museum in City Park where it met up with reps from our sponsor Waste Management. The afternoon was spent at the Green Project, a massive home building recycling center where the crew helped prepare the upstairs loft for the recyclable fashion show. Garrett, Karen, and Anna were all awesome, and we were glad to help with such a good cause. It was there that we met Waste Manegment's P.R. rep who answered the age old question of what happens to news reporters when they retire (they move to New Orleans and are also never the least bit hung over). Before too long it was time to roll though, and after a fill up at Whole Foods and an emotional goodbye with the Tuplers we were back on the road headed to Plano Texas. Goodbye New Orleans, I for one, will make a point of seeing you again soon.

- brent

The Big Green Bus Crew at The Green Project!

Quote-o-the-day: [Frances to Police Officer] We’ve been looking for someone like you!!

N'Olens!

2007-06-29T22:53:00.000-04:00

Having never been to New Orleans myself, I was unsure what to expect of the Big Easy when we rolled in two nights ago. I think I can speak for the entire crew when I say by the end of the trip, we were in love. Post-Katrina the city is still rebuilding and it is coming back strong. Everyone we spoke to was optimistic and excited about the future of their city, and very eager to show it off. This was doubly true for our incredible hosts Richard ('84) and Michelle Tupler. The Tuplers not only opened their home for us but the whole of New Orleans as well. Between late night tours of the garden district, trips to the French quarter, and more food than even Merrit could eat the Tuplers made New Orleans our second home. To the Tuplers, Thank you! (Also, Psi-Upsilon, Psi-U forever, hey!) [The girls would also like to thank the Argotes, and Nate and Merrit would like to thank the Wards for being incredible hosts as well.]

Our first morning in New Orleans was spent working on the bus. Merrit and Nate re-bolted the interior and the exterior was fitted with sponsor banners and graphics. Overcome by the majesty of Brent's swim trunks sported in the Tupler's pool, Kate and Frances went in search of a Lily Pulitzer store while Hayley had an adventure in communication with the manager of a local Kinkos. The afternoon was spent across Lake Pontchartrain at the Mandeville Seafood Festival which was noteworthy for its lack of seafood and excess of Lynyrd Skynyrd cover bands. We did however park across from the Toyota "we can fit six sumo wrestlers in our quad cabs" truck tent. Assuming we had parked near them on purpose (maybe they felt guilty about helping the average truck owner burn more petroleum than a Nimitz class air-craft carrier) the Toyota folks made a point of shunning us and occasionally lobbing foam footballs in our direction. After a quick walk around the park where we were able to sample not one, but two! different types of gumbo (I am still confused how so little sea-food makes a fest) we decided to pack up and prepare for one of the most anticipated nights of the trip, Bourbon street.

The boys put on cologne, the girls did their hair. Merrit flexed in a mirror repeatedly and Frances slipped into a pair of heels slightly taller than Brent. Chris put on deodorant and Lucas put on a clean shirt. In short the bus crew looked good, real good. It was time to hit Burbon street, a series of bars, and clubs that make Vegas look like a Church retreat and Chi-Gam dance parties look like Sig-Ep. We pulled into Bourbon street with our intrepid guide Jen Argote '10 and were amazed by the lights, the noise, the mechanical bulls, the overflowing fountains of ...

[the following has been censored by the FCC due to extreme and graphic content. We are sorry for the inconvenience. –Tipper Gore]

... and though we never did find out how they gotten the cell-phone there in the first place, even Kate was happy to leave it behind. What a night.

- brent

A familiar view of Lucas.

Tip-o-the-day: Turn your car off instead of idling! It's one of the easiest ways to be environmentally aware!

Highway Magic

2007-06-27T22:04:00.000-04:00

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!

A Very Good Day

2007-06-26T23:58:00.000-04:00

On the seventh day, when the Lord lookethed down and saw that it was good, he was looking in the direction of Tom and Laura West’s on Lake Rabun. Lake Rabun, one of the beautiful lakes created by Georgia Power’s hydroelectric dam system, is nestled high in the mountains of Georgia, surrounded by forests of hemlock trees and flowering rhododendron. It was in this idyllic spot that the bussers enjoyed their first day off.

Tom took the crew watersking where even I’m-an-ocean-only-girl Kennedy learned to ski. After skiing, an exploration of waterfalls preceded Laura’s amazing watermelon gazpacho for lunch and Merrit’s attempt to catch a duck. The girls floated until nibbling brim drove them onto the dock while the guys (and Hayley) battle-tubed the afternoon away. For dinner Tom and Laura took the crew across the lake to Louis for pizza.

All in all an excellent day and a great break. Now, with the crew clean, refreshed, and rested, we are ready to head to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

- brent

Brent shows of his slalom skills.

Chris counters with some slalom "skills" of his own.

Nate goes for the jugular in an epic Battle-Tube Matchup.

Fact-o-the-day: The United States imports more oil from Canada and Mexico (individually) than it does from Saudi Arabia.

A Bad Day

2007-06-25T23:52:00.000-04:00

One of the joys of being an English major is learning everyone else’s story. Unfortunately, by gradation your head is so full of other peoples stories that sometimes they become confused, or even begin to merge with your own. Occasionally, you forget which stories have happened to you and which to Ishmeal, or Henry IV, or, must recently to the bus-ers, Dante. This latest confusion occurred last night. Pulling into our campsite around nine the bussers were met with overcast skies, sweltering heat, and hordes of invisible mosquitoes, fire ants, biting flies, and other bringers of pestilence and itching. It was while circling a dying bed of coals at five in the morning, a task I had been performing for hours while sweating and swatting that I realized the Big Green Bus had parked in the ninth circle of the inferno. Or, as we had been mislead by a well meaning local, beautiful James County Park.

After a sleepless night only mildly assuaged by cortisone cream and a cold breakfast of wait for it… Clif bars! the bussers packed up and strapped in for the long ride to Atlanta. We made it as far as the campground parking lot before something on the bus both large and essential to forward movement stopped doing whatever it was it was supposed to be doing. I would love to tell you what that was exactly but that would be like a giant squid explaining the Second Law of planetary motion through mime – amusing but not very effective. Like most parts of the bus forward of the drivers seat (the engine) Lucas is the only one who really knows what happens in the tangle of hoses and wires and pumps and filters and heaters and something that looks like a large aboriginal boy’s fist, so essential to our project. Like always though, the intrepid Lucas had the mysterious something fixed in a matter of hours and we all packed up again and prepared to leave for Atlanta. We made it to the exit of the park this time, a small improvement over the last, before a new mysterious something broke (maybe the aboriganl fist thingy? hard to say).

For the next four hours we flew along the highway at the staggering pace of 45 miles per hour, sometimes 46 going downhill with a tailwind. (This coincidently had nothing to do with the veggie system, just one of the bonuses of driving a ten year old bus.) As you can guess, spirits were low to murderous, it was still hot, we were being passed by senior citizens in electric wheelchairs, and a never-ending bike rally seemed possessed with keeping anyone from sleeping. It was at this time yours truly suggested the ultimate pick me up, a Kurt Russel movie marathon! Great success. After exhausting our hunger for 80’s adventure films we moved on to musicals and it was at this point we pulled into the truck repair shop in Greer South Carolina.

For the next few hours Lucas and the mechanic worked on the engine. They seemed to really hit it off as soon the mechanic was showing Lucas his tool-box, complete with not only every wrench an engineer could dream of, but a lid plastered with pin-ups of naked women next to prom photos of the mechanic’s fifteen year old daughter. The bussers meanwhile, having been warned to not touch anything in the shop and barred from outside by a terrific thunderstorm, huddled together to watch Hello Dolly on a small cracked laptop screen. It was while the men of the crew had formed a chorus line and were singing along with Barbra the joys of love in the springtime that the head mechanic, covered in oil and carrying a very large wrench, came on board to let us know the engine was fixed. Completely emasculated they slunk to bunks in back and were not seen again.

The rest of the night went much better. The bus fixed we sped through the storm and reached Tom and Laura West’s home on lake Rabun in Georgia. After a midnight feast we settled into beds (!) and drifted off to sleep dreaming of cans of golden Wesson Oil and self priming sewage pumps.

- brent

Nate pumps grease into the tank during one of our many stops for Waste Vegetable Oil

Fact-o-the-day: Red ant bites really, really hurt.

Whirlin' Waters & Frances on TV!

2007-06-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

Our last day in Charleston, SC featured a stop at Whirlin' Waters where we talked with families outside and raced down the waterslides (with Lucas and Brent emerging victorious). Our afternoon veggie oil fill up turned into an hour long repair job... thankfully Lucas was victorious again: Lucas: 1 BGB: 0

We then visited the beach for a few rounds of Marco Polo in the warm Atlantic Ocean before rushing home to watch Frances' interview on the 6 o'clock news Channel 5 (ABC, Charleston area). Our weekend in Charleston ended with burgers and salads compliments of the amazing cooking of Chris & Beth Kerrigan. Endless thank you's to the Kerrigans for arranging a weekend full of great conversations, successful media events, fabulous food, and beach time!

- colleen

Charleston, day numero duo

2007-06-23T23:35:00.000-04:00

The bus crew woke up this morning clean, comfortable, and well fed thanks to the incredible generosity of the Kerrigans, Colleen's aunt and uncle. You know that the beds are comfortable when only two bussers - Colleen and Frances - are able to motivate themselves for a morning run (ridiculously early morning workouts seem to be somewhat begrudgingly becoming a BGB 07 tradition...). By 10:30 we were on the road to the Mt. Pleasant Whole Foods, where we were able to talk to dozens of shoppers while stealing much-appreciated AC breaks in the produce section. We also got to display our beautiful new pamphlets (yay Hayley).

At noon we were on the road again and headed for the South Carolina Aquarium, although not without a u-turn in the chase car to retrieve an accidentally abandoned Nate. Half the group manned the bus, luring unsuspecting fish-seekers into learning about alternative energy, while the rest of us got to explore the aquarium.

Our day ended at James Island County Park for a Reggae festival. At Bonnaroo our bus was parked next to a cafe that blasted reggae music 24/7, so after 5 days of waking up to "Buffalo Soldier" at 6 am, none of us ever wanted to hear another island beat again. The concert turned out to be a perfect end to an already amazing day, however. We met a guy who has been running his cars on veggie oil for thirty years, and Nate and Merritt summoned their inner glamour queens to model for our online store (to be up and running VERY soon!)
- kate

Merritt bulking up: fitness is a key component of the bus.

Fact-o-the-day: Keeping your car tires properly inflated can save you $840 dollars and keep 250 lbs of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere each year.

Chucktown

2007-06-22T22:54:00.001-04:00

After spending a lovely night with nearby alumni in Raleigh, the bus crew met up at a local Arby's early this morning for a quick grease stop. After fixing a couple small pump-related snags, we filled the tank with WVO and headed down to Charleston, South Carolina.

Today was a relaxing day that consisted of a long drive, a quick photo opportunity, and a beautiful day off at the beach. After swimming, Frisbee-ing, and sunbathing to our hearts' content, we headed back to Colleen's Uncle's house. The group divided and conquered, with some talking to the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, some playing basketball in the front driveway, and a few more watching the sunset from the roof-deck. An absolutely scrumptious dinner followed, and we capped off the night with video games and some much needed laundry. Catch us tomorrow in Charleston: Whole Foods from 10-12, the Charleston Aquarium from 1-3, and the James Island Reggae Festival from 5-9!

- chris

The crew plus a Charleston friend

Tip-o-the-day: Install double-pane windows instead of single panes to increase insulation, lower heating costs, and help lower your carbon impact!

Boot and Raleigh

2007-06-21T22:37:00.000-04:00

We woke up early this morning to drive from Richmond to Raleigh, N.C. to meet with alums and members of the state legislature. We’d like to send a shout out to Senator Bob Atwater, Representative Lucy Allen, and Dartmouth Alums Betsy Booth, Zach Chang, and Sally Davis for helping to organize this event. Unfortunately, because of an emergency meeting of Congress, we were unable to present to the members of the house environmental committee, but we were able to meet outside instead. Senator Atwater opened with a speech on what North Carolina should do to support biodiesel and other renewable energy, saying that they have the agricultural heritage and leadership role in the south that puts them in an ideal position to set the standard for biofuel use. We hope that, through his and others’ efforts, North Carolina will indeed become leaders in renewable fuels. We also met with Senator Stan Bingham, who has achieved notoriety of late for protesting the disproportionately high road tax put on his biodiesel car and for cussing on NPR.

Afterwards, we went over to the NC Division of Water Quality Environmental Science Section and watched Nate and Merritt nerd out pretty hard over some preserved fish and bugs. We also learned a lot about what North Carolina does to monitor and maintain water quality throughout the state. Nate got hot and bothered again over the impressive data set on stream biota and toxicology for the past 25 years. Actually, it’s pretty unbelievable, they know the stream macroinvertebrate communities well enough that they can say with 88% accuracy what insects should be in what streams, without having reference sites.

The group was then treated to a delicious barbecue dinner by alums. Kate and Hayley got in touch with their inner hippie, running in to dinner wreathed in garlands of flowers and singing, “We found a meadow! And flowers! And bunnies!” Everyone had a great time with the alums, with conversation topics ranging from the Dartmouth trustee election to mountain lions to local art (hi Hayley!).

- nate

Resident engineer Lucas explains the inner workings of the engine to Senator Atwater

Fact of the Day: By June 1, 2008, all North Carolina school buses will be required to run on at least B20 fuel (a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel fuel).

Do Be Green

2007-06-21T00:24:00.000-04:00

Our most productive day since leaving Hanover! We spent the morning running errands - a group to the supermarket, some working on logistics, a few cleaning the chase car, and a couple finally getting us wireless for the bus. The Hampton Inn's internet proved priceless, and the free breakfast filled us up nicely. After tying up loose ends, we headed off to the Innsbrook After Hours concert by the Doobie Brothers, our main event for the day.

Lured in by free Clif Bars, lots of people came and chatted with us during a great concert by Little Feat and the Doobie Bros. We touched base with one of the founders of KleenGo, a renewable energy company based in Richmond, and got to meet some great Dartmouth alums for the first time during our trek. Bussers rotated between dispersing information under the tent and on the bus, doing carpentry behind the bus, and watching the concert from the roof! Alumna Julie Cillo helped us organize a great event, and along with Jason and Hannah made it a very fun evening. Thanks Julie! In the breaks, Merritt finished the second sofa, Brent talked politics, and much frisbee was played. A night on the bus, and then an early morning drive to Raleigh where we'll be meeting with legislators!

- chris

Together at last, the Big Green Bus and Little Blue Car show the practical applications of renewable fuels. And a couple bikes to top it off!

Tip-o-the-day: Adjusting your thermostat 2 degrees warmer in the summer and 2 degrees cooler in the winter can save $100 every year on heating cost.

Richmond

2007-06-19T23:20:00.001-04:00

A grumpy group is roused by Colleen “Green Bean” Wearn for a lovely run/hike up to Hen Wallow Falls, a 2.2 mile trip up a steep but beautiful trail. Alternating between running and panting, 8 of us make it to a scenic falls where we cool our feet and discuss the horrors of giardia. We head back to the bus, in mint condition thanks to the work of Lucas, and hit the road after a quick technical consult on The Little Blue Car. A quick stop in Salem, VA leads to our first Chinese Buffet veggie oil, and Chris and Frances bestow unto the bus crew gifts of a U.S. map, a scented candle, Little Debbie Peanut Butter Bars, a Pirate Coloring Book and crayons, and candy necklaces. Huzzah for Dollar Tree!

We push on to Richmond, VA for a much appreciated stay at Hampton Inn and a fancy dinner of pizza! Showers + Beds + Pizza = happy BGB! Thanks Hampton Inn!

- chris

On the road again, Colleen handles Logistics, Lucas drives the bus, and the rest of the crew works on education outreach programming.

Term-o-the-day: “Climate Refugees” – Almost 25 million people have already been displaced by climate-induced disasters, such as rising sea levels in the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea

Great Smokies

2007-06-19T01:15:00.000-04:00

An early morning turns into an early afternoon as Bussers clean, pack, and organize the bus and the chase car. We score some great gear – a hammock, a pop up shade tent, a table, and a few camping chairs – left by early departers at nearby campsites. Money in the bank. We also score tons of great veggie-oil from the Bonnaroo venders! Nate and Merritt make a morning of it, gathering 120 gallons of primo grease before noon, five gallons at a time. Greasy, sweaty, and dusty, we head off to Cosby Campground in the Great Smokies.

The Big Green Bus rolls into the Great Smokies in the early evening, people go for runs and enjoy the newly found beautiful wilderness. The Little Blue Car arrives later on, after a directions mix-up, and everyone sits down for a relaxing and fun conversation around a crackling fire. The highlight of the night is a bear sighting up the hill from the campsite. Brent “The Queen of France” Butler entertains all with bear-enthusiasm, Merritt “Go-Round” Jenkins expresses desire to fight a bear, and all but Colleen “Hard Guy” Wearn choose to sleep inside the bus or car. A mid-night attempt by Brent, Merritt and Colleen to convince bus-sleepers of a bear attack is quickly called out, and Lucas claims the bears, both real and fake, for his team.

- chris

Lucas points the bus towards the Great Smokies and greener pastures.

Team-update-of-the-day: Hayley’s team as of mid-day on Monday: One dancing hippie, One half-dressed ninja, One broken down El Camino, and One Family Dollar store.

New Bus Friends

2007-06-18T01:57:00.000-04:00

Our last full day at Bonnaroo was a busy one, with sets by Pete Yorn, Bob Weir, Wolfmother, The Decemberists, Wilco, Feist, and The White Stripes continuing to amaze the crew. The bus is clean and ready to roll, and the whole group is joined by an all-star cast of green friends - the NOLS guys, Kareem and Andy from NRDC, Nash from Biotrekker, Jill and Gooch from PlanetRoo - on the roof of the bus for a bird’s eye view of the Widespread Panic show, an impromptu reggae dance party, and an epic light-stick war.

A great time is had, particularly with our NOLS neighbors Andy, Jordan, Wiley, and Sunny, and we swap games - most notably the Team Game which will continue to entertain and annoy us throughout the summer. Contacts are made with fellow veggie-bus lovers the Moishe Mobile, and plans are made to reunite with new friends throughout the summer. We go to bed tired, content, and ready to hit the road for good on Monday. Many thanks to Nick, Jill, and Gooch for all their help at Bonnaroo, and we wish all new amigos successful summer adventures!

- chris

A blurry shot of our roof-top assembly.

Website-o-the-day: The NOLS bus blog! http://nols.blogs.com

Spread The Word

2007-06-16T23:04:00.000-04:00

Wow. Bonnaroo never fails to please, and Saturday is the best example thus far. Bussers split their time between Regina Spektor, Ziggy Marley, Franz Ferdinand, Spoon, Ben Harper, and Keller Williams in the afternoon, re-convening at the bus for a delicious dinner. Joined by a few friends from Dartmouth, the crew talked energy, sustainability, and renewable fuels all day with the green-conscious population of Bonnaroo, meeting members of similar projects, prospective car-converters, and hippies of varying levels of clothing. Chance and Roxy talked to us about starting a similar bus project at the University of Louisiana and were excited to meet member of “the actual” Big Green Bus!

In the evening, a great show by The Police (with Bussers in the front row!) leads into a fantastically sweaty GirlTalk dance party (with Bussers in the front row!), and the night is capped off by a solid set from the Flaming Lips on Which Stage. Another good day of spreading the Big Green Gospel!

- chris

Colleen and Chris dish out Green Info in PlanetRoo!

Fact-o-the-day: Bonnaroo’s PlanetRoo features the Solar Stage, an entertainment stage entirely powered by solar energy. The stage hosts musicians, environmental panelists, dancers, and variety acts well into the night using only the power of the Sun!

The Bus Arrives!

2007-06-16T02:24:00.000-04:00

After finalizing paperwork and putting the finishing touches on the bus, Lucas, Whitney, Frances, and Brent set out from Hanover early Thursday afternoon, trucking straight through the night and all the way into the evening on Friday. They pick up Merritt, a chair, some stools, and a couch in Cherry Hill on the way, and all June members of the crew are on the road. After a day of shows by the Cold War Kids, Hot Chip, Lily Allen, The Black Keys, and Manu Chao, the chase car crew is ecstatic to see the bus roll into Bonnaroo around 8pm!

Happy reunions are had, Brent expresses his love for Reggae music, and the bus is proudly shown off to the citizens of Bonnaroo. A Tool concert, a quick stop at Aesop Rock, and then dancing at the hilariously awkward Silent Disco round out the evening for the newly reunited Bus Crew. Two full days of concerts, displaying the bus, and mechanical tinkering await!

- chris

The bussers hit Bonnaroo’s Silent Disco. Nice face, Hayley!

Fact-o-the-day: Clean Vibes is helping to make Bonnaroo Music Festival a Leave No Trace festival by assisting the clean-up effort. Last year, they recycled 56% of the almost 500 tons of waste generated by Bonnaroo, and hope to reach at least 60% this year.

On The Road!

2007-06-14T00:07:00.000-04:00

The chase car hits the road! With the Big Green Bus temporarily grounded in A-lot due to New Hampshire hating fun, the chase car took off on Tuesday stuffed to the gills, with Chris, Colleen, Kate, Nate, and Hayley on their way to Bonnaroo. A quick stop at Chris’ house in Cherry Hill, NJ provided much needed nourishment in the form of cheesesteaks and water ice (eat local!) and the crew pushed on through the night. With a bonus hour due to a change from Eastern to Central time, the Little Blue Car rolled into Manchester, TN and Bonnaroo music festival around noon today!

The car parked in the “Green Pod”, a campground at Bonnaroo specifically dedicated to green campers, and the five of us piled out of our clown car grateful to not have to drive for 4 days. The BGB joined the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) bus, Biotrekker, and a few other great organizations as the central features of the Green Pod, spreading knowledge and experience to anyone interested in learning. The group split for the day, with Chris, Colleen, and Nate volunteering as Green Ambassadors for Bonnaroo’s “PlanetRoo”, Hayley working with the Natural Resource Defense Council, and Kate helping out Biotrekker. A delicious dinner of burritos and a good night of sleep under the stars round out our first night of the summer!

- chris

Big Green Bussers work with other PlanetRoo volunteers to create lovely signs for Bonnaroo’s green center.

Fact-o-the-day: For the first time in the festival’s history, Bonnaroo has switched to using biodiesel to run all of their non-music stage generators for the duration of the festival. Keep up the good work!

2007-04-28T18:24:00.000-04:00