EV Pusher meets the Eco-Trekker

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Why I didn't drive it to SolWest 2003

Okay, third time's a charm, and all that, right? I had every intention of making the pilgrimage to John Day and returning with no breakdowns to report, but July 2003 was a way too hyperactive month for me. A short list of my activities includes having a friend from California visit for the purpose of helping me install a door and windows in my Crown project, the Oregon Country Fair, a property tax appeal to prepare and file, and a multitude of other activities I now can't remember. To top it all off, my horse snagged a low branch in the pasture and ripped half of her forehead off!

Anyway, I did attend SolWest, but considering the amount of overstimulation I was experiencing, I decided to minimize the adventure aspect of the trip and drive my Biodiesel-fueled 1981 VW Rabbit, the one that's mostly factory stock. The trip was pleasant and uneventful, and I took the time in John Day to accomplish something I'd been hoping to get around to for the last year, polishing and waxing the paint on this car. Here's a photo of it in the Sequential Biofuels booth, where I was exhibiting and being part of their alternative fuel vehicle display:

Another reason that I was "saving" the EV and Pusher was that I had been in communication with the research office for an Australian film crew operating in the US who were interested in using the EV and Pusher as part of their "Eco-Trek". Shaun Murphy is making a coast-to-coast trip, starting in San Francisco, traveling to the east coast and back again using only renewable fuels such as Biodiesel, Ethanol, Biogas, etc. You can learn more about the Eco-Trekker at their web site. They were interested in having me provide Shaun transportation from Roseburg, OR to Corvallis, a distance of about 100 miles.

(An edit to clear some things up: The "Eco-Trekker" adventure was renamed "Coolfuel Roadtrip" after the editing was completed and the tale was marketed. It's currently showing on US television as a 13-part series.)

The Sequential crew had also been contacted, and in fact were already supplying the Eco-Trek crew with Biodiesel fuel for their travels in Oregon. I met up with Ian and Tomas of Sequential early on the morning of July 30 so that we could caravan 60 miles south to Roseburg together. Actually, the ET crew was about 40 miles up the Umpqua River at a place called Steamboat, and it's there that the tale begins.

We caught up with Shaun and the crew at the Steamboat Creek Campground, where they had been staying in their custom 38 foot motorhome that has been customized into two sections, one for living, the other a garage for hauling alternative-fueled vehicles. A large, hydraulically-operated lift gate was mounted at the rear, and a Corbin Sparrow electric car, an electric scooter and electric bicycle were stored in the garage part of the RV. Extensive electronics such as satellite internet linkup, photovoltaic panels, inverter/battery system and video taping equipment had also been installed. The roof of the RV held a camera platform for the video crew to use during filming, as well as Shaun's solar-powered kayak.

After a few quick introductions and a quick tour of the Pusher, Ian and Tomas left to go get the Sequential delivery truck set up for the first scene that was to be filmed. I hung about with the remainder of the ET crew, waiting for the two-way radio call that Shaun and the Pusher were needed for the shoot. Shaun described the "setup" of the story to be filmed, which was that he was going to be searching the Internet for a suitable vehicle to complete the next leg of his journey when he comes across the EV and Pusher. A quick phone call to me, I pick him up alongside the road and turn the car and trailer over to him to drive away, leaving me standing on the side of the road waving goodbye. "Oh, it's already been scripted" was my thought, but I carried on, assuming that the information aspect of the car and trailer would come out as the filming progressed.

Right now, though, I have another concern, which is that Shaun is expecting me to actually turn the car and trailer over to him right now to use in the scene about to be shot. I explained that driving the EV and Pusher wasn't very intuitive, and that he would need some instruction before he could solo in the car. We took a fast trip out to the road, where I showed him the basics of starting and accelerating the Pusher. I figured that for the current shoot, which was taking place about a half-mile down the road, he could manage to operate the Pusher in diesel stand-alone mode, with the EV motor shut down and transmission in neutral. This would present him with the fewest number of controls to balance and operate, and would keep him out of trouble for the most part.

Shaun was astounded that the EV was being pushed forward by the trailer, and kept commenting that he had never driven a car that used a knob on the dashboard to accelerate. At the end of our test drive, the filming crew announced that they were ready for Shaun and the Pusher, and I got out of the car, grabbed my bicycle, and chased along to be present for the filming as Shaun drove the car alone towards the turnout in the road where the Sequential truck was waiting.

First Filming

In true Hollywood fashion, the sequences were to be shot out-of-order. What was to be documented today was Shaun driving the pusher up to a roadside stand set up by Ian and Tomas of Sequential Biofuels, filling the Pusher with Biodiesel, and driving off. The whole scene probably lasts a minute or less, but took about an hour to shoot, multiple retakes, close ups, different angles, etc.

Here we see the scene being filmed. Ray catches the action on the Sony DV digital camera (under the silver blanket) in the background, as Eddy mans the sound equipment. Sally is running some auxiliary footage on a small hand held video camera. Tomas gives the Biodiesel rap to Shaun as Ian heads for the back of the Pusher to fill the tank from the Sequential retail fuel delivery truck.

After the scene was complete, I put the bicycle back on the Pusher and returned to the campground, while Ian headed to Portland with the truck to meet up with the String Cheese Incident concert tour to fill the generators that would power the concert with Biodiesel. Here's a last shot of the four stars of this scene, mugging for the still camera.

Back at camp, everyone went for a refreshing swim in Steamboat creek. Being well into summer, the water was quite comfortable, and it was a welcome relief from the 90°+ heat of the day. The Eco-Trek crew held a short meeting and decided what would be next on the agenda. It was decided that they would hire a helicopter and do some fly-over shots at Crater Lake, with Shaun driving the EV and Pusher around the rim of the great crater that forms the bed of the lake. Unfortunately, a fairly severe forest fire at Diamond Lake had closed the only paved road to the entrance of Crater Lake National Park, and the nearest that the helicopter could land was at a makeshift landing site some miles to the west of the park. Looking at the map, I could see that the road that the crew was expecting me to take the EV and Pusher over to meet the helicopter was 14 miles of gravel logging roads. I spoke up and put a damper on the plan, firmly announcing that the homemade hybrid was an on-road-only vehicle. The crew then decided to take the crew 4x4 van over the same road to meet the chopper, and simply take video of the lake without the Pusher. A few minutes before they left, the cell phone rang and they got the news that all air traffic was grounded in the area, and that no helicopter was going to meet them anywhere. Now the plan had dwindled down to taking the van to the lake and shooting some video of the beautiful scenery. Tomas decided to throw in with the part of the crew going to the lake, leaving me with Shaun, Eddy, Marty and Sally.

I got to know a couple of the other residents of the campground and found out that due to a wine tasting convention at the Steamboat Inn, camping at this park was free for the week, and that pitching one's tent on the grassy area was permitted, which it normally isn't. This was welcome news, as the only other remaining vacant camping spaces weren't all that level. I got out my tent and made camp before dark, going for another refreshing dip afterwards.

When packing for this trip, I included enough food and utensils to make a few rudimentary meals, but dinner this night was already taken care of. Eddy, the sound man, has a liking for cooking, and managed to get together all of the makings of a quite good tuna casserole, cooking in the Eco-Trekker RV. We sat about outside the RV eating, having the occasional beer, and taking in the early evening. After the dirty dishes had been piled up on the folding table, and three bowls of chow put aside for the Crater Lake travelers, Shaun produced a Cricket bat and a tennis ball. Several beer case cardboard boxes were put into service as wickets, and a quick game of parking lot Cricket ensued.

This action shot shows Sally providing a throw to Marty, at bat, while Shaun provides duty as "catcher" (I forget the proper name of the catcher in Cricket). Sparky the dog runs after the ball in flight, which became a fairly useful part of the game, as quite a number of the batted balls went over the bank into the creek bed, and he would retrieve them all. Much easier to catch the dog and wrest the ball away from him than to climb down the rocks every other pitch. Marty had the proper Cricket technique, doing a very professional running-wind-up-and-pitch, while Shaun never missed hitting a pitch while at bat.

After another beer for me, night set in, Eddy started complaining about not being able to simply go to bed because he sleeps in the van, which was still on the trip to the lake. Everyone whose beds weren't on a journey somewhere out of the campground found their way between the sheets. Eddy sought some comfort in a bottle of tequila, eventually making a bed on the ground alongside the RV. As the ET crew was still playing their CD machine when I retired, I put in the ear plugs and went quickly to sleep. The ear plugs would be only partially successful at dampening down the racket caused by some inebriated woman who returned to camp early-early in the morning and wouldn't shut up about some subject or another. Someone finally told her to stuff a sock in it and shut the hell up, at which point things got nice and quiet again.