A Premature End to a Great Idea
Damn.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of this trip. To everyone who has joined our facebook group or followed the blog, to everyone who has volunteered their homes as rest stops, and to everyone else who has shared our enthusiasm, thank you. Unfortunately, it now looks like this trip will never get off the ground.
We received a call very early this morning from Cheney Tech. Apparently several police officers, along with a member of the FBI, stormed into the garage where the bus was being held and worked on, and demanded that all work being done to the bus stop immediately. The bus, they claim, was part of an ongoing drug smuggling investigation. I guess when their prime suspect got wise that they were onto him, he sold the bus on ebay under an alias, which explains why John was able to get it as cheap as he did.
I’ve spent all day on the phone with the Manchester police. They keep telling me that because this is an inter-state narcotics investigation, that it is the primary jurisdiction of the FBI. The bus was impounded, and nobody seems to know when we’ll get it back, if ever. They’re not even able to tell me if the drug smuggler has been caught, or when when he’s scheduled to stand trial. And apparently the FBI is pretty upset about the amount of alteration that’s been done to the bus (it interferes with their investigation).
We’ll keep you guys posted, but at this point, the future of the trip is in serious jeopardy. We probably won’t get Anne Marie back any time soon, and it’s doubtful that we have the time (or the money) to get a new one. But thank you again for all of your support. It was a wonderful idea, while it lasted.
Nothing Is Over
Anne Marie is impounded, and none of us know if it’ll ever be back in our hands. We probably won’t get the tour back in order in time for this summer.
But the tour will happen.
If it takes another year or more, if it takes an Anne Marie II, if it takes the skin of our teeth we will persevere. This adventure didn’t get this far without a never-say-die attitude.
Nothing “was.” Nothing “lasted.” Nothing is over.
Vive le Tour!
APRIL FOOLS!
Just a quick note for those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, the tour is still completely on schedule. The whole thing about drug smuggling and the FBI and the bus getting impounded was April Fools day prank. Though I’ve never met the guy who sold John the bus, I’m sure he’s a very nice man, and isn’t in any trouble with the law.
Thank you for all of your enthusiasm to keep the tour going, and we’ll keep you updated with any new developments!
A Real Update
That picture shows the veggie supply line resting on top of the coolant supply and return lines. JDM and I went to Manchester yesterday to work on the bus a bit, and it looks like we will be done in two weeks. That should give us three weeks after that to get the interior up to spec, and get the bus registered. Everything is falling into place, and it looks like a May launch date is a reality.
We spent a bit of time working on the purge system, which is meant to make the transition from diesel to veggie smoother by backing some diesel fuel up the veggie line, but the engine did not return as much fuel as we expected it to, so we’ll probably forgo such a system. I’ll explain with more detail how such a system works when I make a finished conversion walk-through.
Coolant Testing
So Joe and I completed the coolant system, which heats the two veggie tanks, and the veggie line that runs to the engine. They work, incredibly well, and will easily heat the oil to the temperature we need. The heat exchanger in the day tank has a few small leaks, but those can be easily fixed on Monday. I don’t have any pictures or video to show because…it isn’t especially interesting. I’m learning things, and it’s work that needs to be done, but I don’t think I could convey any of that with a picture or a video of me tightening a clamp. A few weeks ago JDM joked that any video we took would be reminiscent of the endless wrench-turning from Dexter’s Lab. It’s true.
Anyway, I’ll be up several times next week, and everything should be together to a point where I can put together a video of how it all works. And I think FOX is stopping by the school to check in, so that should be fun.
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