Made it home about 7pm CDT my butt crack is picking up gravel. But what an experience. Thanks everyone.
Just finished fixing my gasifier after the trip. I made it home around 6:30 PM. I had to weld the gasifier base back in place and get the damn monorator drain to work. I finally got the plug out of the top. Of course as soon as it started to drain, all that tar wound up on the right leg of my good jeans. I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. Now I have to find a pot to boil those in. I did 120 miles of the 350 to Argos on wood and 150 miles on the way back. I melted down a few onion sacks reloading and almost fell off the trailer one time while I was reloading in an industrial park … Gettin old ain’t for sissies … What a gang !!! Love, Mike PS, it was beautiful weather here when I got back. The midwest is sure strange that way …
Pulled in the yard just after 4 pm. What an intense weekend! Sure was good to see everyone and meet some new folks. Thanks again to Ron for supplying all the wood and arranging the use of the fairground! No shortage of good food, thanks ladies! It was again great to brainstorm, trouble shoot, and see everyone’s stuff. A lot of good workshops from washing cooling racks, fuel pump pressure testing, etc, etc, etc, Thanks Wayne for your help on the 75%.
Made it home safe and sound. Truck ran perfect all the way home, even with a semi-collapsed hay filter.
Many thanks to our official videographer Jim Hart, who took a lot of quality pictures and video (which I will be posting soon).
Also, a big thank you to Ronda Lemler and crew, particularly Julie Drost who was extremely helpful in the organization stage. All of the ladies did a fine job keeping us fed and on schedule. (Were it left up to us guys, we would have looked at trucks and stood around all day talking, and then wondered what happened to dinner… )
While the weather was not as good as I would’ve hoped, we made do with what we had and still had a wonderful time. Thanks everyone for coming out, and hope to see you all next year!
Hello All, Made it home in one shot. 820 miles in 12 and a half hours. Then I checked out the pics and videos and wish I was back there. First time I ever pitched a tent inside a building. Man, was it cold at night. 32 degrees Thursday night, 33 degrees Friday night, 38 degrees Saturday night. Thanks to all that made it a real gas, I mean woodgas. Thanks Gassie girls, you know who you are.
Once again Argos has come to an end and we’re back to our daily grinds…
I agree with Chris, Mike, and others - the ladies really took great care of us. As per Lesa’s instructs I will do my best to get my wife to come with next year (no promises though). And as always the Lemlers were excellent hosts - many thanks to them for all they do
It was great to see everyone again, old faces and new ones. While the weather didn’t cooperate as well as last year everyone hunkered down thru the rain squalls and made the best of it. Given the wet and cold it was amazing how upbeat everyone was. Saturday turned out beautiful after a brief but intensely wet start and at times there were so many things going on simultaneously it was hard to catch them all.
Until Next year…
The wife and I stopped in Elizabethtown KY Last night and we caught up on some sleep and getting a late start this morning . Too much going on ate the event to do a lot of sleeping there.
No issues with our wood powered transportation
Smiling with every mile
Wayne .
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 …
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 :).
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!
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
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
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.
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
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
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,
It was nice meeting you Al.
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
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
Great news Gary.
Did you use primer and solvent on the PVC joints during assembly?