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Click on the links above to see our "Wok-umentary" of our three month journey living in a bus as our family of five converts the world's first luxury motor home to run on free, waste vegetable oil, and then drive home, cross country on

The Fat Of America

July 17th, 2006
Location: Eugene, OR to Seattle, WA
Day 5

Back Up Next

-         We finally make our way from Oregon to Washington on Sunday night. The truck-stop near Mt. St. Helen’s isn’t too inviting looking and Steve decides at around 6 in the morning to call it a night. He is too wound up to sleep anyhow b/c today is the big day for him.

-         Today we meet with Chris Goodwin, Steve’s west coast alter-ego. I am sure he feels that a lot is riding on this first encounter in some ways…to him this Goodwin guy is somewhat of a loose cannon and he wants to make the right impression.

-         Anyhow, we wind our way through the streets of Seattle at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon and meet the genius behind converting the Adler fleet to run on wvo. A big, intense, vary caustic chap whose done a million different things in his life, he presents himself as a little aloof, being careful not to appear too friendly.

-         The guys run around headless for a while and then decide to take some measurements etc. …boring! The kids are being good, I try to keep them busy…

-         The plan is to leave Mr. Goodwin to himself to work out the details of manufacturing a tank etc. For us this means we won’t be needed here for some days and so we take off with the truck to go up north.

-         The air is very different around here, clear and crisp. It feels much like autumn instead of July.

-         I want to stay close to the water somehow so we/I pick a place called Annacortes on Fidalgo bay. The campground looks terrible, however, only a parking lot…and even though it is on the bay it has the marvelous disadvantage of having undisturbed views of some very nice oil pipelines…

-         Disgusted we both set out to find another campground, which we do about 6 miles away. This one is set among beautiful old pines. It’s just delightful. The tree tops swaying in the wind are so loud Lilli and think there must be a river nearby until we both agree the sound is coming from up on top…

-         Of course, I takes only 2 seconds for Julia to bang her shin on a medal make-believe carriage and come crying to me. I find a bag of frozen raspberries to cool the big bruise…

-         The WiFi is working out here and so is Steve.

-         We have our first dinner together in the truck (with me standing at the table or sitting with Jonah b/c we have not yet acquired the fifth chair…).

-         Now, in the meantime Steve is freaking out, among other things, about the fact that his big work project is still not finished and wherever we go we have to make sure he has internet access so he can be done with it…what a nightmare…
 
The sense of intense nervousness and anticipation is hard for me to accurately convey.  I am usually a pretty high strung, but happy person.  However, these last weeks, days and especially hours, I had been a nervous wreck.  There were still so many unknowns, so many things to go wrong, and I just wanted some sense of certainty about something!  

We arrive at  Chris' shop on Monday morning, a bit late despite the fact that I was so nervous, I did not sleep the night before.

We meet Chris for the first time. A few minutes later, it was Teriyaki time.  I learned later that this is a sacred ritual, and is not to be interfered with.  I sat in the bus, with the whole family, still jet lagged, excited and vulnerable, watching, no, staring with festering frustration which I knew was really my own insanity, watching these guys eat their lunch as if they needed to kill a few extra  hours. I recognized that I was so high strung, I could not really evaluate the situation rationally, but I was starting to get anxious.

I had no idea then that several weeks later, I would be a proud and welcome participant of the Teriyaki ritual.  At that moment, I felt very much like an outsider.

Chris shows me a filter that he says he made for the project.  It looks great, its big, manly and is shiny and metallic.  I want it!

Maybe I can get a quote for the cost?
Forest looks so clean cut here.  By the end of our stay, his hair will become long, his beard unshaven, and his shoes reduced to tatters. Seriously, look at the pictures.  We aged this poor guy beyond the 6 weeks we knew him.
Beyond the toilet paper, Chris is thinking of tank placement and plumbing.
Some measurements and concerned look which are enhanced by holding up your chin with your fist.

When I got to the shop, I thought Ric (Johnny Depp look-alike on the left) was part of Chris' crew.  He was wearing a jumpsuit with the name "Gabrial"  on it.  It turns out he was parked in the hippie bus on the other corner, converting his bus to WVO.

Ric was a good guy and is perhaps one of the only people to successfully posture WVO as an aphrodisiac.  He had quite a following on his bus!  Maybe it was just the Wheat Grass press?