2014 Indiana Woodgas Meetup | Argos, IN | May 16-18

[ook187]

Thanks for the ride Wes. It’s always fun to ride in someone else’s truck. The milk is still good but I’m giving a lot of it to my cat when she shows up. What a great gang of folks. My truck ran great on the way back. It was so cool this weekend I still had some ice left in my original jugs in my cooler when I got home after 4 days of fun. I dumped near a gallon of condensate every hopper fill. Wet wood and rain. SWEM, Mike
I haven’t been to my office yet to see what is waiting there … I hate Mondays … It’s raining here right now …

[smokeyjim]

About mid Illinois, fuel pump starting going out on big ford, crawled home, with wood gas truck on trailer. Good meeting, good food, good people, cold feet.

Jims wife Sherry ( hacking Jim’s account :).

[terboo50]

Thanks to Ron L and the wives for setting everything up. And Chris for organizing activities (Q&A, parade, photo op, etc)
Made it home fine on this end also. We fired up the Ranger about 50 miles from home(hopper’s worth). A slight tailwind is your friend! Never went below 70mph and still had 1/2 of a hopper left when we pulled into the driveway! Since it was dryer, my cyclone trap ran dry!
It was great to see all the familiar faces and new ones too! I wish I could have talked with more people but prior commitments limited me to only Saturday. The new builds always keep the interest factor way up. With several people inquiring about my lawnmower, I feel I’ve got to get another one going!

[ook187]

Hi Terry, I like those new handlebars attached to your brain machine and smile … I still haven’t been to my office yet or unpacked. I had to fix a few things on the trailer first when I got back … I just got the mail and finally took my briefcase out of the truck. I put the perishables in the fridge yesterday. And on it goes. You are one of those guys who’s cup is always half full instead of half empty … Keep it that way and keep smiling !!.. What a group of knuckleheads … Mike

[Wayne]

The wife and I just got home safe and sound . The odometer shows we drove 1450 miles. Truck ran great with no problems. Pictures and comments as soon as I can get a few ducks in a row.

BBB
Wayne

[Carl]

I’m home, (about 2:30), and tired. What a great time, cold, rain, wind, and all. All of you together, knowledge, enthusiasm, friendliness, sharing, and integrity made it unbeatable. Thanks for all the freebies, and generosity for gasoline expense. A special thanks to the Lemler’s and all the ladies. Wayne and Chris are my heros.

[wobigtd]

I think everyone there except me is a hero. Ron and family all the ladies and all who shared their knowledge. I drove to Morris IL before turning on the radio just trying to get my head around all the information. Talk about info overload.
To those who shared their successes and to those who shared failures my hat is off to everyone of you. I drove there on dino but with that the cost of membership, the money into my build it is still the cheapest tuition for a education I ever paid.
For that you DOERS I am extremely grateful.
Tom

[MarvinW]

Got home late last night. Still not even had a chance to unload yet.
Never been around a better group of people.
Thanks to the ladies for keeping us going. My wife has always been my biggest supporter since I started this. They deserve a lot of the credit for things getting done.
Thanks Ron and family for working so hard to put things together.
I though about the note to write to SteveU and never could come up with the words I thought he deserved. Glad your back and thank you for all you’ve done. Maybe one day we’ll get the chance to talk.

Marvin

[AlDenninger]

We arrived safely home to the Ozarks just before noon today.
I can’t say enough about how welcome I felt. And, Beth had a great time with the ladies.
Thank you to all who made this weekend a success.
Thank you all for sharing your knowledge of woodgas and the spirit and joy of that sharing. I hope to one day soon be of such help to the next generation.
I also appreciate the bits and pieces shared toward my inventory list. I have a ways to go… I have my eye out for a donor truck.
My head is still swimming.

Looking forward,

[BillSchiller]

It was nice meeting you Al.

[Wayne]

Wow !!! What a week !! If I were to try and thank everyone that deserves it I would still be typing this time tomorrow and if I tried to name all the names I’m sure I would miss more than I mentioned . There were so much going on I din’t get to see all the projects nor enough time to spend with individuals. I will touch on a couple of stand outs.

Thanks to the entire Lemler family . The event couldn’t have taken place without them . Ron gave away the gasoline equivalent of two or three thousand dollars worth of fuel and even loaded it for many .

Also there is no way the event could have happen without the wonderful working women !!! What a great group of ladies . I can’t say enough about them .

My friends Jim and Kim Hart ( I got so busy I din’t even get to see Jim’s project , sorry Jim ) that was doing the videoing and neglecting his own project to record all the others . Also the very last to leave the fair grounds Sunday afternoon after making sure the grounds looked like we had never been there .

Steve .

I tried to write you a note but seems like pen and paper just don’t transfer proper thoughts . Hope I can look you in the eye and shake your hand some day .

I feel very honored that a man of your caliber even knows my name .

Your friend .
Wayne

[racer3g]

Hi all…made it home around 10:00 P.M. central time on the 19th… We stopped off at Joplin, Missouri at my Mom and Dads place to swap the trailer that they pulled for me back over to my truck. Hung around there for a while. They asked me to tell all of you that they really had a nice time and had never seen a nicer bunch of people all in one group. We traveled a total of 1,680 miles and used …are you ready…drum roll…a grand total of 13 gallons of gas. SWEM. Only had one problem coming home and that was when the pvc pipe where it attaches via a rubber coupling where the gas exits the cooling rails dropped down and came unhooked. Lost all vacuum on gauges, pulled tail light out and found the problem. Thought I would tighten the other side while I was at it and low and behold it was completely unhooked too. Got home and checked under and around the truck and found several fittings and couplings loose. It seems like my gas temp leaving cooling rails is heating the pvc just enough to let it collapse where the hose clamps tighten down and they just get loose again. Also the right hand side pvc leaving cooling rail headed down to the condensate tank was partially collapsed in an area. I figure this happened when I was needing to stop and clean ash dumps and was getting plugged. I stepped down on it once just to see how much vacuum it was going to pull on the rail and it almost pegged the gauge 30 inches. I cleaned it out and everything returned to normal but probably collapsed when I did that. My grandson had a blast also, I’m sure he will remember it for the rest of his life. I think Mike Larosa was his favorite guy to talk to, he was imitating the classic Larosa laugh most of the way home…LOL We all had a good time and also would like to thank everyone who made it possible. The food was fantastic as well as everthing else. Special thanks to Ron and family for providing the wood and all that they did to make it possible for us to have a fun nice place to get together. Hope to make it back next year. I wish there was more time to talk and meet everone better. I really wanted to talk to Wes and ask some questions about his build and get to know him, but just never seemed to get hooked up with him. Maybe next time Wes K. Really was fond of Carl Zinn, he is so fun to talk to and full of good info for us new guys so thanks Carl.

P.S. Special thanks to Wayne and Chris for making it possible for some one like me to be able to produce a working unit which now has 1,725 miles on it with no problems to speak of.

Langworthy family

[BillSchiller]

Great news Gary.
Did you use primer and solvent on the PVC joints during assembly?

[don_mannes]

It was nice meeting you too Gary. Thanks for bringing your truck and your family.I think you are a brave man to run a virtually untested vehicle that many miles. I really should not say untested because the concept is now very well tested indeed. I wonder how long it will take to reach a collective million miles with our group? I enjoyed seeing your grandson participate in the activities and I could see in his eyes that he was truly enjoying himself.

[racer3g]

Bill used cleaner and glue.

[ook187]

Gary, Very few folks around HERE appreciate my laugh but on the PVC, I NEVER use glue. Duct tape and if exposed to sun and wind I do aluminum tape over it. It is all plastic and will warp some no matter what. I think that IS the definition of plastic. On duct tape joints I use a piece of 14 gauge copper electrical wire with insulation and wrap around and twist a few turns to tighten to keep the tape in place. The fat side rarely leaks. Up here in the salt belt our vehicles rot so fast that we have to switch things from one vehicle to the next one. I just cut a chunk of PVC from 91 olds to bypass where my bilge blower was. I will just slap a start blower on like I used to do and not worry about it anymore. I have a circuit to keep it from free-wheeling but the brush holders simply just fall apart. I can’t post pictures here or I’d be glad to bust this last one open and show you all. I did that with the last one as it had only been 2 drives but you have to saw the end off the blower and pull the fan to get to the screws. I’m back in tick country. I just taped another one to the fridge … You-all stay well. Have to bust hump in the hills tomorrow … Gnats are coming in already. I have to find the clear imitation vanilla extract in the morning … Too dark to look now …Mike L

[Carl]

Gary, your build was one of the high point of Argos this year. Very few drive off the second day on a trip. Really enjoyed talking to you too. Very glad to meet the whole family.

[Handy_Andy]

Missed this years meetup. I really want to go next year.

[Wayne]

Good morning Andrew

In the years past Ron Lemler and family have been our host. They have been kind enough to rent and be responsible for the fair grounds . ( and a lot of other items to numerous to mention ) I certainly hope all goes like previous years but we need to wait on Ron to give us the green light .

[Chris]