Austin, TX Roadtrip: anyone game for a GTG?

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
Greetings from North Carolina! I'm embarking on the 2100-mile drive to Austin on the 3rd. I have a work assignment from 5-11 in downtown Austin, and will be working till 6-7pm nightly. Should anyone happen to live in the area, and want to meet an out of town TDI'er ... I'd appreciate some company, and also to hang out and meet other TDI folk from the south. I'm hoping you guys do the southern hospitality thing like we do here :)

So far as I know, I'll be staying at the Hilton on E 4th St. I have some questions regarding parking, the guy heading up this project said that you may have to pay to park... I would hope my Hilton reservation (paid by the company) will let me park in the deck as a courtesy, but I've never been to the Lone Star state. I am aware that there are lane-size shoulders, and should a trail of 3 (or 4?) + cars gets behind you, you must move to the shoulder and let them pass....

Any other information I should know about? I am planning to make the trip on B100; I'll be toting some fuel with me (15 to 30 gallons, depending on what EcoWise of Austin tells me about their B99 and cost when they open today), and on the return trip I'm stopping off in Georgia to meet another TDI'er to pick up a NA 1.6L VW Diesel engine for our '89 2DR Golf project (we're doing a direct swap).

So... whose in Austin? :)
 
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aNUT

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Location
Boulder, Colorado
TDI
'01 TT (ALH-ish), B7 Audi gasser, '05 Golf
Welcome. I believe the Hitlon has a parking garage, so you shouldn't have to pay extra to park your car. Me and Robby's shop is about 15 minutes south of there once traffic clears. Sometimes we work late, sometimes we don't. Give a call if you'd like to come by. You're more than welcome to hang out.

There are numerous high blen bio retailers in Austin. Often we have fuel in at the shop, but not always.

Directions from downtown:
Head South on I-35
Exit #227 Slaughter Ln.
Left turn on Slaughter Ln.
Continue on Slaughter until it T's into Old Lockhart Rd.
Right turn on Old Lockhart Rd.

The entrance to the property is 7 tenths of a mile past the intersection of Old Lockhart and Slaughter. It is on the right side of the road just past the Onion Creek Ballroom. Look for a green and purple tank with 'AUSTIN BIOFUELS' written on it.
Our shop is all the way in the back.
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
Hey Anuthee! You've answered my biggest question: price and availability of higher blends of BioDiesel. I think I'll stick to filling my tank + 3x5 gallon carboys for the drive. Gotta save room in the trunk for the hand-me-down 1.6L :)

I've printed the Austin-area locations and I'll definitely give a ring once I get some idea as to what the routine for this job will be. I am glad to see other states on the High-blend bandwagon. You guys are almost at the NC-fixed price of 3.50 in spots, sadly we're 3.50 for B50 due to the temperatures right now (back to B99 once it warms up, chicken fat feedstock does not like the cold at all).

I'm looking forward to this trip. I'm hoping I can break 700mi again on a single tank!
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Look me up when you come and we can find something to do! You will need to tsee the sights. We do that pull over thing as a courtesy, and driving in the country peole will wave at you (not the one finger Texas Hello as My dad calls it). Austin Biofuels is a great place and are also the local VW gurus here. Maybe do a BBQ comparison to NC. I was stationed at Ft. Bragg 2 years of my hitch.
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
Thanks for the warm welcome, lightflyer! I would love to do a BBQ comparison, I was born and raised in Memphis, TN and love sampling different BBQ!
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Ironworks it is then! Maybe the Saltlick if you are free the weekend. 6th street, Barton Springs, Lake Travis, lots of good stuff to see.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Unless there is more time than just late in the evenings, anything very far is out. Looks like KC will be here late Saturday. No real chance to go anywhere then. Sunday would be great. If KC works till 7 pm every night, not much chance to get anywhere very far.
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
I'm awake at 6:00am Tues-Thurs :D

But that don't help much.

I do wanna try and head out one more night for some more local cusine.....

Thanks mucho for the fun night, lightflyer. I really appreciated being chauffered around and shown all the cool sights for the city! I owe ya when you travel to NC next...
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
inveSTigator said:
^^ Guess I wasn't invited! :(

I kept looking here for somebody to finalize a game plan.
If you wanna drink some beer in my hotel room (I am finding I like Flat Tire); I am finding that we didn't get some of our processes for distribution quite polished and it has caused for a VERY long day. To say the least, 4500 attendees and some 400 speaks/presentations to be processed.... over 5 days... with 22 computers to keep up with... I'm just kinda beat. Lightflyer managed to catch me on the one day I had where we didn't have anything to do. We wouldn't have been as bad off today if on Saturday, the day he called me and chauffered me around the town, we had access to the convention center and could have gotten some hard testing hours under our belt and not had some 80 presentations not get copied over the network because of a bug in a script causing a system to crash (and causing the astronomers to panic, and you know that dung rolls down hill).

But yah, I'm up for beer at my hotel if you are! The only driving we're doing these days is to/from Walmart to restock on 6'ers.
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
So thanks to recommendations from Lightflyer1 -- I stopped off at one of the runonbeer/Austin Biodiesel pumps. It was actually the more eclectic locations; Junior's Beer & Wine. Seeing as I buy Biodiesel at Larry's (Organic) Bean Warehouse (great coffee!!!), buying biodiesel from a beer joint seemed most fitting. I have to admit it's a stellar idea -- where else can I get a Fat Tire AND 26 gallons of fuel without having to move the car? ;)

So I'm going to head out tomorrow AM... 6-sih local time.

Do any of you guys (that includes you, inveSTigator) want to go out to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner this evening (Friday night)? I know, for a fact, we'll be finished up w/ things by 5pm today.... packed up and all. What do ya'll say? :)
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
Well guys, I made it back safe and sound to NC. I also got the 1.6L Diesel engine in GA. Nothing much to write about, except that in an attempt to guess how far I could go into the red, I managed to run out of fuel! Yeah, I know.. stupid thing to do. But, I wanted to see if I could make 750 on a tank. I can do 731. The car restarted once I added the 15 gallons of Austin Biodiesel (that I bought at a Beer and Wine store -- image that) and was able to tool on down the road.

Some Pics:













And on the way home, with the 1.6L in the trunk:



Lightflyer, I did 60MPH exact from Austin to where ever it was in Alabama that I ran out of fuel. I now must say, I'm glad I did this as I won't panic should I have a fuel pump failure. I know what the car will react like now. I also don't think the liftpump was hurt badly, I use too much B100 to have any credible trash build up (plus the car is just too young). Once I ran out, I decided to make up for time and was running 70-75. I got the same economy figures (so far, only at 509mi but its sitting at the same mark as the 731 tank) with running faster speeds (even with the 1.6L in the trunk).
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Mine does over 50 mpg as long as I keep it under 70 mph indicated. This assumes you aren't having to shift, brake, accelerate or stop in traffic. The extra weight doesn't seem to matter much when driven like this. Glad you made it home okay!
 

kcfoxie

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
'12 6-spd JSW
700 miles is a comfortable number for me. I now won't panic if I don't refuel the car at 515 miles anymore. I KNOW I can stretch it to 600 miles in the city now.
 
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