Around and around the country he goes, when he will stop, nobody knows…- July 2019
LUVERNE, MN
Bob often runs into cultural oddities, like this patriotic longhorn skull, when visiting a firm that makes jet fuel out of corn in SW Minnesota. On the right is the firm’s corn-to-biobutanol plant.
LOUISIANA
“The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise . . .”
– Mark Twain
You can see the farm fields following the old oxbows in the river valley. On the right is a fine plate of crawfish étouffée over catfish, along with some cornbread and a local beer – enjoyed at Orlandeaux’s Cafe in Shreveport, LA.
SIMPLY GORGEOUS
The Columbia River Gorge is a captivating area. Oregon on the far bank and Washington in the foreground. Bob was in that neck of the country to audit a landfill gas to biomethane project near Roosevelt, WA (pop 156). Wind turbines and peaches abound!
TWO OUTSTANDING MEN
Bob’s client (and work buddy) Bill stand overlooking the vista, and took these pictures unbeknownst to each other before sharing them. They have met at about six audits around the US – so far.
PEACHES
Bill loves peaches. He carried this box of about 32 of them as carry-on luggage on his flight back to Houston, TX the next morning. They were enormous and incredibly good – Bill says, “On a scale of 1 to 10, they’re 20s!”
BONNEVILLE DAM
Bob managed to make it into the dam site before it closed for the day. His brother, Rick, worked in IT for the public utility for his entire career.
FISH LADDER
There’s a nice visitor center with top and side views of the fish ladder that allows fish (mostly salmon) to get up past the dam to spawn.
STONEHENGE MEMORIAL
A full scale replica of Stonehenge stands as a memorial to Klickitat County, WA residents who lost their lives in WWI.
PORTLAND TRASH TURNS INTO BIOMETHANE
The project takes landfill gas and cleans it up to biomethane – it may end up as biomethanol in a London taxi’s fuel tank. The bathroom at the project had an interesting (to some) choice of reading material.
HEADING BACK EAST
It was time to say goodbye to Mount Hood, and head to Moline, IL for an audit of technical corn oil at four ethanol plants in the mid-west. Heading towards landing, the drainage that’s been worked into the corn and soy fields is testament to the copious amount of rain the farm belt has had to deal with this year.
BIG MUDDY
Evening on the Mississippi River near Moline, IL, and the sun sets on another work trip for Bob.