Sunday June 29th Sam’s Tap Room: Awards Ceremony for Beartooth Burn (bike road race up Beartooth Pass)

The bio-bus set up for tabling at the local tap room and brewery for Red Lodge Ale. Sam Hoffman, the brewmaster, not only brews his own beer, he fuels part of his operation with home-brewed biodiesel made from local-devived waste vegetable oil. 

We all enjoyed the tour and tasty product he supplied to quench our thirst for information about sustainable brews. Those approaching the table after the race were thirsty for a beer and information about biodiesel and the glass recycling display on our table. Visitors converged at the bus and tap room drawn from a wide geographic area, here for the bike event and other tourist magnets in the area.

Regis Café stepped up to promote the bus by donating fresh baked goods for distributing at our tables.  Richard, a local resident, thanked us for all that we were doing on our tour. He was proud of his fuel-efficient Nissan that recently replaced his Suburban that had “a drinking problem”. Keep up the good work bio-bus crew.

Michael, a local resident we met at the Regis Cafe, brought us up to Beartooth Pass for some mountain snow and magnificent vistas. 

Home Depot: Sheridan, WY

Pulling into Sheridan, WY, we were a bit unsure of our host location at the homebuilding Goliath: Home Depot. As it turns out, the sun was out and so were the people as we rolled down our awning and set up out display tables. Home Depot set out their line of “green” cleaning products and promoted their energy efficient light bulbs.

Appropriate to our location and host, there was public interest in renewable energies and green building techniques. We were pleased to hear that our presence was known and our message effective, as several employees from the store come out on their break to check out the our resources. We gave a few tours of the bus to interested folks who really appreciated our work and wanted to know more about our summer tour on the green bio bus.

40th Annual Beartooth Run - Red Lodge, MT

After an early morning drive from Miles City to Red Lodge, the bus pulled up to the Civic Center to wait for runners to return from the 40^th annual Beartooth Run. When we arrived, a local community pep band played traditional upbeat music and runners began to return. We quickly set up, and learned how to use the awning without a pull-cord. Charlotte, from Northern Plains Resource Council, met the bus crew up there and joined into the discussions.

Before the crew fully set up the display, an organizer for the run came to us and told us she would announce our arrival to people inside and encourage them to visit the bus. Runners and non-runners came to the table shortly afterward. We spoke with mostly local people. The issues discussed included green building, sustainable bio-fuels, and the process of growing the crops. A couple of men asked us about how many barrels per acre a person could get from harvesting different oil seed plants. We did not know the answer. The bus crew is looking into this.

We talked with several people for quite a while. After the running event closed down, some folks stayed around to talk with us. A guy named Michael talked with us about animal factories and the presence of them in his home region outside of Chicago. He also invited us to come over to his house this evening and hang out. Aside from meeting a new potential friend, we gathered 7 new signatures on the Call to Action and discussed local affiliate issues with existing members.

The Thadens!

Right outside of Miles City, we had the privilege of staying with the Thadens, local Northern Plains members. They welcomed us with wine from their vineyard, homemade bread, homegrown garden lettuce an cheese. They also shared their fabulous stories, contagious laughs, and fabulous midnight singing with us.

Miles City BBQ

The bus rolled into the Miles City Community College (MCC) at 2pm. MCC is starting a new bio-fuels degree program. This is really exciting because we were able to discuss the sustainability aspect and hopefully they will pursue this. John Munsell had a Chinese mechanical seed crusher, biodiesel processor, and a seed separator owned by MCC. With this equipment, he gave multiple biodiesel demonstrations throughout the event. Northern Plains along with its local members catered the BBQ with local beef. Despite the wind, the BBQ was a great success. Approximately 100 people attended the event, toured the demonstration, had some local donated beef, and visited the bus, mainly to talk biodiesel, local foods and wind. We met some incredible people including Scott, interested in starting a local foods program, Tommy who is living off of the grid in a solar powered home, and of course the folks starting the biofuels degree program with a WIRED grant through the Department of Education. Northern Plains will hopefully collaborate with local members to establish a local foods project, and to continue discussion on sustainable biofuels with the college.

Sheridan Renewable Energy Homes Tour & Park and Talk

Gathering in the county parking lot in down town Sheridan, we pulled out the awning and set up what is becoming a familiar display, ready to meet locals and exchange information and conversation with community members. Quite a few interested passerbyers dropped in to visit with Shannon and two crew members while the other two set out into the town to talk to people in the streets. The general overall support for a renewable energy future is overwhelming accross the board. Even those working for the oil and gas industry were supportive of future energy development in the renewable and clean sector, signing on to the WORC Call to Action for a Clean Renewable Energy Future.
People started gathering around 1:30 to board the bus for the grand tour of Sheridan's homes going green. Some of which have been working on being more energy efficient for 30 years. The greatest part about the homes was that they looked really average, but were considerably more efficient than the traditional homes in the area. We stopped at seven locations within the city limits that included features such as passive and active solar, rammed earth construction, radient floor heating, straw bail construction and more.
It was wonderful to have a bus full of engaged community members. The 14 passengers on the renewable energy bus were very diverse, ranging from those who had been working with wind energy and radiant heat in their own homes to people that were considering taking the next step up from recycling. We discussed and investigated the stops coming from many walks of life, with a retired U.N. employee, an engineer, a reporter retrofitting a home, and two wonderfully receptive kids. Who know that Sheridan,WY had so many cool things going on.

The Bighorn Mountain Wild and Scenic Trail Run

After leaving a successful event at the Home Depot and eating some great local food for lunch, we went to the Sheridan High School where people registered for a 100 mile run. The event attracted people from many parts of the continent, including Colorado and Alberta, Canada. We set up outside the registration area and talked with folks about renewable energy, recycling, and energy efficiency.

For the first hour, or so, not many people came up to the bus, but after a little while Chelsea went out and began to talk with people and us at the bus become more active in trying to talk with folks as they walked past. Many of the conversations revolved around bio-fuels, but other people liked the concept of the recycled glass used for the WORC and Northern Plains building (Home on the Range), in Billings. One couple from Casper traveled up for the run and showed a strong interest in the glass. The family was landscaping their home and showed a strong interest in using the pulverized glass instead of rock. The problem, however, comes with trying to find the stuff.

All-in-all the event went well, even though the parking the construction crew for the parking lot became loud at times. Kevin brought us sushi, including beef. We stayed at the event for around 4 hours and hopefully made some new contacts for the Powder River Basin Resource Council and collected 3 pages of names on our Call to Action.