Pics from Road Trip 3000 Miles

Steamboat, to Breckenridge to Telluride to Flagstaff to Reno to Joshua Tree to LA to Big Sur to San Fran to Salt Lake City to Steamboat. 2,200 miles was burning straight vegetable oil. In that section of 2200 miles I used a quarter tank of diesel. Since my truck has to start then warm up and shut down on diesel. Oil can't be left in the injectors if the truck cools down.

I like this one best, cool!!!

Nice trip and pics! What was the "purpose" of the trip? How much did you spend on the veggie oil fuel? Where was the rattler, did he cause you any problems?

What, no Bridal Veil falls? I cannot wait to get back on the road! If I can make out there to hunt this year I'll look you up. Nice pics.

There is the ocean again! I can see the swells are still rolling through.

Yeah. One really misses the ocean.

Thanks for the pics topnotch.

cory said:

Nice trip and pics! What was the "purpose" of the trip? How much did you spend on the veggie oil fuel? Where was the rattler, did he cause you any problems?

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The purpose was just to go on a trip and burn veggi oil. I headed towards Phoenix because there is a good mechanic there that knows how to work on the particular system I have on my truck made by Biofuels Technologies. I actually had to burn diesel all the way to phoenix which is 13 or so hours south of Steamboat. Took about a tank and a half to get down there. Once I saw the mechanic I was running on veggi. Long story short I bought a used system for my truck and there were more things wrong with it than the seller told me. I also picked up four 16ft whitewater rafts while in phoenix and three expedition size coolers while in Flagstaff. Needless to say I had a packed truck on the way back. We actually picked up every hitch hiker we could on the way down when we had room....it amounted to three hitchhikers. One in southern CO and two while on the res in AZ. Pretty cool. But once we got the stuff in the truck we had to store a cooler in the back seat which took up the whole thing and one raft on the roof.

I get used vegi oil for free from restraunts here in steamboat. We brought 150 gallons with us on the road. I cleaned it in a centrifuge here and carried it in my 51 gal aux tank in the bed of my truck and two 55 gal drums also in back, then transferred oil from the drums into the tank when needed with a pump. All in all though the gear to clean the oil and the gear for my truck has run me somewhere around 3,000 dollars so I still have some miles to log to offset the cost.

The rattler was in Joshua tree on the side of the road. We pulled over to check it out and it was trying to get a way the whole time with a few strikes thrown in. I'd say we were more of a bother to it, trying to get a good photo, than it was to us.

The photo with all the barrels and totes of grease is in Salt Lake City. The guy there produces Bio Diesel. We filled up my stock tank in my truck with B100 which is pure bio diesel. So my truck has bio diesel in the regular tank to start and stop on and grease to run on when warmed up. His bio diesel only cost me 3.00 a gallon. At the time regular diesel was around 4.29 a gallon.

Anyone notice the strange fence in the background of photo 1925? Know what its for? My guess is flash floods or something, but I've never seen a fence that beefy before. I assume its to keep trees from coming across the road or something.

Jer and I took a picture of that same fence when we were at Big Sur some months ago. A few years ago there was a big burn on those mountains above the gully that left the hills free of vegetation....one can imagine what a heavy rain can bring down on those steep slopes. The fence is an eye catcher for sure. At first I thought it was someone's art, but when we stopped and checked it out it was clear why it was there.

Mrs.B said:

Jer and I took a picture of that same fence when we were at Big Sur some months ago. A few years ago there was a big burn on those mountains above the gully that left the hills free of vegetation....one can imagine what a heavy rain can bring down on those steep slopes. The fence is an eye catcher for sure. At first I thought it was someone's art, but when we stopped and checked it out it was clear why it was there.

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Haha thats funny we have the same pic! I just happened to pull over there to take a leak then saw the fence in the background and thought I'd get a shot of something that looks like it came from a super max prison. Looks like it could catch anything the hillside could throw at it!

Wish I had more time to check out all the places we passed through but, my buddy and I only had 9 days to complete the trip. More time is in order for the next one.

I plan on heading North West from Steamboat for the next trip and taking somewhere around a month. :cool:

What fence???

Awesome photos man! Looks like a great trip there, can't wait to go out west and explore over there.

MasterBlaster said:

What fence???

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Top row of pics, far right photo, behind the trees. Looks almost like what we call hog wire, but somehow different.

Fence in the Background of this Photo

rangerdanger said:

Awesome photos man! Looks like a great trip there, can't wait to go out west and explore over there.

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Thanks, You should get out west. Its a great place to live and explore!

That's a crazy looking fence. I wonder what the thinking was behind its design?

There's mega amounts of loose rock in those canyons, Butch. The fence is designed to keep the debri from spilling onto the highway, which is a matter of feet from the fence. That section of highway is closed fequently due to rock and mud slides (hill slides, for that matter), and it's a vital link for the locals. Californians like to build their homes where nature doesn't want them!

I would almost call the fence a net, made out of thick cable.

It just looks so odd...

I think you're right, reminds me of the movie Jurassic Park. The fence is actually there to keep the dinosaurs from attacking the Californians who put their houses in the wrong neighborhood.

Cool.

I miss Josh. You climb there?

When you head NW, will that mean The NW?

Nah, no climbing in J tree. NW definitely means THE NW! Its either there or somewhere out of the country...but I'd like to take another road trip come mud season here (October and November) Only time shall tell.

That's the rain season up here. October is pushing it. November is when we seems to get the most rain.

Leave mud to find more mud...maybe a revised travel plan is in order .