Saturday was (11/8/2014) Day 1 of MTSU alternative fuels researcher and professor Cliff Ricketts' "Southern Fried Fuel" cross-country adventure. He is driving 3,550 miles from Key West, Florida to Seattle, Washington using pure animal fat primarily from chickens and waste vegetable oil collected from university dining facilities.
Ricketts' journey started Saturday morning at the Southernmost Point -- where U.S. Hwy. 1 both begins in Key West. To tie a little local history with this, that is the "Dixie Highway". This famous roadway links the Keys, Miami and Chicago and goes through Murfreesboro. Although they Blue Raider fat machine won't stay on that roadway.
In a test on this past Thursday and Friday, Dr. Ricketts drove his 34-year old VW Rabbit 600 miles using 75 percent diesel and 25 percent pure biodiesel from the processed chicken fat and parts, He averaged more than 45 miles per gallon.
His Saturday route will take Ricketts and his "pit crew," which includes current student Abby Barlow of McMinnville, 2013 MTSU graduate and high school environmental academy teacher Lucy Prestwood and mechanical engineer Mike Sims of Jackson, Michigan, from the Florida Keys to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and Sarasota before reaching Bradenton, where the group will spend the night.
Professor Ricketts grew up on a farm and oversees the family's 200-acre farm and beef cattle in Wilson County. If all goes well, he will be on the WGNS Action Line broadcast "live from the road" around 8:10 Monday morning (11/10/2014).
