Inspiration Monday – Oregon and Grease!

Bench Monday - Oregon Hike

It’s official! The Ford is now running on veggie oil! Justin worked in the Green Eye shop all week to get that sweet, sweet fried food exhaust. Mmmmm…It feels soooo good to be off the fossil fuel grid. :)

By the way, Oregon was Uh. Maze. Ing. Green and beautiful and although Zeb needed a lot of downtime in the hotel (traveling without your home sucks) we did manage to do a beautiful hike and some long drives. I can’t wait to edit and upload the rest of the photos!

Even our drive back to Vegas has been gorgeous. The route through Reno was pretty ugly (and when they suggest snow chains they are apparently pretty serious) so we took a long detour down the Pacific Coast Highway instead. It’s been raining just enough to keep us from venturing out, but I cannot wait to head back through the San Fran area and take our time in the Redwoods next year.

Today we’re on our last stretch back to Southern Nevada. And to be honest, I’m actually looking forward to getting there. Just in time for the Christmas fun! (Not to mention my poor sciatic.)

What’s Been Inspiring You?

Life should be inspired, not required. But that means getting inspired!

I’m ditching the linky form (it’s a real pain) but you’re still invited to SHARE!

Write your own Inspiration Monday post and share it in the comments or just let me know what you’re in love with this week!

And be sure to head over and check out those comments. You may just find your new favorite thing. :)

Inspiration Monday – DPP and Heading to Eugene

I’ve signed up for the December Photo Project. I’m not sure I’ll manage a daily photo but it is fun to bring attention to some small holiday details nonetheless.

Sadly my camera seems to be disagreeable these days. Hmm, wonder if I can ask Santa for a new one? ;)

December 1-5

Top of the world

The Airplane

Oh Christmas Tree

Decorations

Cactus Garden

What I’m most excited about is heading to Eugene, Oregon, this week! :D

We’re driving up with the new Ford to do the veggie oil conversion with Green Eye Auto. Justin could have done the conversion here in Vegas, but wanted the opportunity to play in the shop. And…well, a road trip sounds more fun!

I don’t have our dates and we’re not sure how long we’re going to stay, but I sure am excited to spend my birthday week back on the road.

On to some inspiration:

What’s Inspiring You?

The things with which we fill our spirits and our minds have the power to transform our perceptions, our moods and our lives. That’s the purpose behind these Inspiration Monday posts.

Inspiration Monday gives you the opportunity throughout the week to seek out and save the things that inspire you with the sole purpose of helping to inspire others.

Life should be Inspired, not required. Let’s get inspired! :D

Write your own blog post and share its link in the form below. Or leave a comment on this post.

If it’s not a post about what is inspiring you, please don’t link it in the form!

Vegged Out With The Janssens

Vegged Out

Friday was a grand, grand day. That’s because it marked the 11th hour completion of Benny’s straight veggie oil conversion! Our greened-out RV now runs on waste vegetable oil, available for free from neighborhood restaurants and we couldn’t be more ecstatic. :D

Justin has been working with Matt Janssen on the conversion, learning tons and having a blast. It took much longer than any of us anticipated but it was well worth the wait. Not only should we be able to acquire the grease for free, but it feels good burning something that could otherwise go to waste, as well as something that creates less carbon than regular diesel. (I’ll save the knitty-gritty details of the conversion for Justin to blog as soon as he’s caught up on sleep and decompressed from the craziness a bit.)

It’s amazing how Joy can pour out of you – after hearing the news that the RV was running, and as I’m driving down the freeway with a giant grin on my face, I realized what this conversion symbolized for me.

Freedom! NOW it feels real!

And as soon as I realized This Is It I found myself with tears streaming down my face as I laughed and laughed and laughed. This is what Joy feels like; this is Freedom at it’s best! Who knew it would smell like Kung Pow Chicken?! :D

Rockin Janssens

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Sara and Matt and their girls throughout the month. They joined us for our unschooling park days, brought us dinner while we packed and even stayed around for our farewell party today. Sara even video toured the RV! Matt and Justin and Sara and I are so much alike in so many ways; it made for some amazing connections that we can only hope to develop more in the future. We had a blast and can’t wait to see them again on the road (if everything works according to plan, Sara and I may be planning something very cool, very soon).

There’s some other really, super cool news to go along with all this grease, but I’ll have to save that for Justin to share as well. ;)