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After work today I went over to Maud’s house where a biodiesel demonstration was in progress. A few folks had come over, some old hats, and others totally new to biofuels, to see Maud’s reactor in action and talk shop.

It was interesting because everyone had their diesels pulled around back, and it looked like some sort of diesel army. There were three Mercedes 300s (even another wagon), a Volkswagen Diesel Quantum, and a VW Golf TDI. When they all started up it sounded like a truck stop. It was great.

I got a chance to compare vehicles with a few other folks and talk maintenance. We also compared the sounds of our engines (which is actually a useful diagnostic technique, since three of the engines there were physically identical to my own).

Once the batch was successfully underway we discussed ideas for improvements and Terry distributed a bit of extra fuel she had. I had helped her run a batch the other day, and we loaded 10 gallons of that batch into a drum in the back of my wagon. Upon closing the hatch I heard a terrible noise. Turns out that the drum was about 1/2” too close to the hatch, and the window of the hatch came down right on the rim of the drum, thoroughly shattering the rear window. After some vigorous cursing and sad commiseration from the fellow diesel owners I got myself back together. The window is still intact due to the laminate, and since the front windshield was recently cracked as well, I already needed to make a comprehensive claim. Fortunately, only two weeks ago I lowered my comprehensive deductible from 500$ to 100$ for a mere 36$ per year. A worthy investment, it would seem.

Anyway, despite the annoying window breakage, I’m very pleased that I now have biodiesel to start blending into my tank. This will give me a little time to get my own reactor set up and running, and will let me legitimately put on the ‘Powered by Biodiesel’ license plate frame I got. I’m also glad that I hadn’t put my new “Powered by Biodiesel” sticker on the rear window yet, since it would have had a short little life on that particular piece of glass.

Well, that election thing was a big bust. Welcome to four more years of ‘merica.

In better news, I’m going to Dallas. Now, I know that wouldn’t normally be considered ‘good news’, but in this case, it is. I’ve arrange to purchase an automobile there so I’ll be taking the train down, picking it up, and driving home.

The vehicle is a silver ‘82 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Turbo-Diesel Wagon. AKA, mighty luxo-cruiser. However, the efficient diesel engine gets a modest 25-30mpg, and will run happily on just about anything (including biodiesel and vegetable oil, as I am planning). The vehicle has 246,000 miles on it, which seems like a lot, but these older diesels are tremendously reliable, and their engines tend to last far longer than you would expect. A lot of good work has been done on the car recently, and it is in great running shape. The previous owner is a mechanic for the local dealership, and seems to be a good guy. When I get to Dallas we’ll take the car to the shop, put it up on a lift, and I’ll take a look around. I’m not the best with car stuff, but I know my way around the underside of a car, and have a list of some things to look for. If something is terribly wrong, I’ll renegotiate, or just take the train home. However, I’ve gotten very good photographs of the interior, exterior, and engine compartment of the car, and feel pretty confident about its issues. Since I’m only paying $2400 for the car, there is a little ‘wiggle room’ if it has problems.

It’s always a risk buying something from a distance, but I feel that the benefits can be worth the risks. I had pretty specific ideas in mind when choosing a car, and a wagon of this make and era was just what I wanted. However, since the car is 22 years old, it is worth finding a good one. St. Louis is in the ‘rust belt’ of the US, the region where the combination of weather and road salting is perfectly coordinated to consume cars with the cancer of rust. You don’t want to buy an older used car from the rust belt unless it has been immaculately cared for. A Texas car, on the other hand, has not been exposed to the severe weather and salt conditions of a rust belt car, and will usually have a much better body. People talk frequently about being fortunate enough to bag a southern car. If I expand my searching horizons, I find much better prospects.

I leave on Amtrak at about 9:00pm tonight, and will arrive in Dallas at about 1:00pm tommorow afternoon. The seats are comfy though, and I can sleep through the night. If all goes well in Dallas, I’ll just drive the car home, stopping to sleep partway through if I need to. That will put me back in St. Louis on Sunday, possibly Monday morning. Wish me luck!

Today I did my civic duty and voted in an election. It was good fun, as always, and a relatively satisfying experience. In honor of the event, I used the button making machine we have at work to make some, “I Voted! (I think…)” buttons. Perfect for people who’s voter registrations were printed on the wrong paper or who’s ballots were lost at the printers. Or if you are in any of the following states, who are all having problems, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia or West Virginia.

In fact, one of my coworkers here in Missouri was turned away from the polls because she recently changed her address, and her voter registration was supposedly now ‘invalid’. She came into work on the edge of tears, crushed because this was the first election she was actually voting in, because it was the first one that mattered to her. We got her connected with MoveOn’s Election Protection group and their emergency number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE. The lawyers on staff advised her well, and this afternoon she’ll be going to court to get a court order allowing her to vote. She’s looking for someone to give her a ride, and if she can’t find someone with a comfy car by this afternoon, I’ll be taking her in on my scooter, AKA the Emergency High-speed Two-stroke Voter Delivery System. Protect your rights people, its a jungle out there.

Tonight I’ll be getting good and drunk, and either celebrating or cursing loudly. The next few days are going to be interesting, to say the least!

Update: ElectionLine.org has a good guide to election related news posted. It will be updated throughout the day as events reach the news.