Of necessity, we summarize events. The world, via this blog and soon from the book Farewell, My Subaru, knows that I drive on Vegetable Oil. That’s the label. I’ll wear it proudly. But like all labels, it doesn’t tell the complete story. We don’t have time for all the details. They cloud the message. Bob Marley wasn’t a great refrigerator repairman. It just doesn’t affect his musical legacy. Only very, shall we kindly say, “detail-oriented” biographers delve so deeply into such biographical nuances.
Maybe we should delve a little, if only to show that there is almost always more to the story behind the mainstream talking point. This is why for the sake of that behind-the-scenes feel that only the truly honest blog brings the late night reader, I will disclose the story of the R.O.A.T. (Ridiculously Oversized [but carbon-neutral] American Truck that you won’t see me telling big media.
Here it is: even on vegetable oil, a diesel engine is loud. Exact decibels I can’t say, but about as many as distract a quarterback in a domed visiting stadium. It’s to the point that I’m worried about the long-term effect on my hearing. In fact, it’s beyond the fact that I have heard myself saying, “What? Stop mumbling! What are you trying to tell me?” to my dog as she barks wildly next to my face to alert me about the gaggle of coyotes after our chickens. The other day at a stoplight in Silver City, the guy in the Chevy Malibu next to me was bobbing and lip syncing, clearly in sync with my iPOD music (Moe’s first album.), which I hadn’t thought was overly loud. I opened the window, as he nodded a greeting in rhythm.
“Grsc snmmgk,” he said appreciatively.
“What?” I screamed. “I can’t hear you over the music.”
Then he either said, “I love this song” or “It’s too bad Stoned Wheat Thins started using partially hydrogenated oil.”
I needed to establish something before the light changed. “You can hear my music? Speak loudly – my engine is a V-16 or something.”
“Hear it? I can feel every note. I can hear it in stereo!” he hollered, adding, “My car’s shaking.”
It was true. When I reached the bike shop, my destination, I kept the engine idling. The music didn’t seem so loud. Then I shut off the engine, overriding the “purge” process (see March 28 Dispatch), kept the music on so I could allow my ears to adjust, and went to pick up my tuned-up bike. After a sign-language exchange with the bike guys, I came back to the R.O.A.T., which I now realized, on top of all its towing capacity, goat restraint functionality (see November 15 Dispatch) and other features, could also in a pinch serve as a sound system for Madison Square Garden.
The message? Diesel engines are loud. Actually not as loud on vegetable oil as they are on Diesel fuel, but cacophonous nonetheless. In many ways this Dispatch is a plea for help. I realize in my honest moments that I can’t wear the soundproof construction site earphones that my petroleum-free ride deserves, because that would mean no music. So my only consolation is I don’t drive much these days. Except when I do.
So my only hope is that medical science, by the time the Moe generation reaches senior status, will have developed completely bionic replacement ears. It doesn’t seem like that big a task. Just make our ears like really, really good stereo speakers that can also record on demand.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
18 Responses:
February 21st, 2008 at 11:23 am
Does anyone know if there’s soundproof headphone that blocks out engine noise but can tap into the car’s sound system? Wouldn’t do much for conversation, though, unless we had throat microphones, like on a plane.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Doug -
Noise-cancelling headphones (wide price range - Bose makes them for $300-$400 or Shure makes them for ~$100)…Same in-ear or standard headphones that musicians use when in-studio or on stage…Would have to wire in a headphone jack to the truck’s stereo…
Good luck with the new book. Can’t wait to read it…
Pete
February 25th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Ah ha, see, folks who don’t know the previous poster might benefit from the awareness that he is one of the smartest engineering minds I know, and so when he casually says, “ah, just wire the jack into the truck’s stereo,” he probably means a pleasant 20 minutes for him. For me, we’re talking almost certain totaling of the vehicle. Still, it’s encouraging to hear there’s a solution, and for my long term hearing health, I might have to dive in. Pete, prying off a dashboard for me is the equivalent of George W. Bush reading a book. Thanks for the kind words on the book!
February 25th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
OH that is SOOOO funny!!!
On a more serious note, doesn’t it require a bunch of (carbon-emitting) resources to come up with $300-$400 for noise-cancelling earphones? Should you/WE re-think the auto option to a quieter one (the Golf tdis are not noisy). Also, do I get the poop on straight veg oi fuel if I read your (Doug’s) upcoming book?
I am *this* close to buying a pretty new car (doesn’t meet my future self-sust plans) or dump dollars into my reliable *old* Honda, until I can kiss the auto lifestyle adios.
thank you Kerry
February 25th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Thanks for the kind words! It might be funny but for better or for worse it’s also true! Good question on any disposable product. This is why I’m aiming for self-sufficiency. But even buying slave made stuff used at Thrift stores seems to me to have ethical questions. Are there carbon-neutral headphones? There should be. And, yes, Farewell, My Subaru does indeed give the scoop of the hunger-inducing world of Vegetable Oil driving (as Rudolph Diesel intended, by the way — well, not on Chinese food, but on peabnut oil). Meanwhile, I need the noise R.O.A.T. (Ridiculously Oversized American Truck) because my driveway is maintained with the frequency of the banking system in Somalia, and thus 4WD is the order of the day.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Yes, its true; thus the reason its so funny. I spent ALL DAY yesterday trying to do a super simple task — change wires, distrib cap and rotor. Ran hair dryer on cap and wire ends and everything b/c it was a rainy day. Does the car work? NO! I hope it is faulty wires.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I feel for you, my friend. Nothing in my cranium would provide any actual -help-, but know I feel for you. I’ve been there. Recently. Often.
February 26th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Even though diesels are loud they don’t have wires, plugs, or distributor caps!!
February 27th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Just read your interview in Smothsonian and then went to your web site. Relay enjoyed it and now to get the guts and read your whole article. I love that you are doing what I did for over 40 years I lived on little of nothing and now I live in the city.I will enjoy reading all your story . New Mexico is one of the States that is really my home and miss not living there now.
Goldie
February 27th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Good point, Kevin — there are trade-offs to everything except chocolate, I guess. And Kevin F, my veg oil mechanic (See March ‘07′ Dispatch herein), wrote to say my Ford 7.3 Powerstroke engine is one of the loudest (though most robust) around. And thanks for the kind words, Goldie.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Thanks! It’s so funny to have a photographer come to the Ranch and shoot me, you know, feeding goats and fiddling with solar panels. Meanwhile, the full article is up on the Smithsonian Web site (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/interview-doug-fine-200803.html), and it includes a lot of the interview that didn’t appear in the print edition of the magazine.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I just found your blog, saw this posting and had a mild epiphany…I think this is exactly what’s happening to me!! (and here I thought I was just getting old).
I also have a 7.3 powerstroke (though I may adopt your ‘R.O.A.T.’ acronym…don’t worry, I’ll give you credit) which runs on veggie (though probably not as frequently as yours, since I live on the frigid tundra known as Boston, MA).
I’ve been noticing that my sense of hearing has started to fade over the past few years…the very same years in which I’ve been motoring about in my rumbling greasetruck.
Hmm, maybe I should buy one of my roommate’s veggie Mercedes (much quieter and a touch more sophisticated than the mighty monster truck…ah well, sophistication is over-rated anyways).
March 10th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I like it when I hear about people buying retro/discarded versions of status cars like Mercedeses to drive on VegOil. It wouldn’t work on the Funky Butte Ranch, though — the last mile leading to the place is maintained with the regularity of the highway system in Somalia, so I need 4WD.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
For future reference, Turbo Diesels make less noise and it’s not as harsh because the turbine traps the put-put sound.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I really enjoyed that film. You are a really funny guy and I wish you success in your lifestyle. We are all going that way whether we like it or not and many of us are revisiting a lifestyle we dabbled in in the 60’s. If we’re lucky we would have learned something. I learned how pleasurable it is living this way.
April 25th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Here’s a better solution: Buy a Dodge. The Cummins engine is MUCH quieter than the International Harvester built Powerstroke. Go check it out - my Cummins is not much louder than a gas engine, and I’m sure it would be doubly so on vegetable oil as I’ve heard that reduces engine noise considerably. It’s true it was a little quieter when new than now with 45,000 miles on it, but it’s still a winner.
Nice interview on Leno. I dream of living as you do, but haven’t yet figured out how to make the transition.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:04 am
[...] smashing into a “Vitamin Water” van fifty yards further along. My biggest hope became that my vegetable oil exhaust was giving some of the cyclists’ motorized handlers the munchies. As usual, it smelled quite a [...]