Mark Hendry owns a shop in Tillman's Corner called Southern Automotive. He also owns a vehicle that I have dubbed the "Chicken Truck."
My month of not buying gas wouldn't be complete without a ride with Mark.
Photographer Arnell Hamilton and I quickly discovered that it will cost only 42 cents for my seven miles! Yes!
His truck is huge and grabs attention. "This is an 02 Chevy 3500 Series Diesel Dually."
Loosely translated, it's a gas guzzler!
These days, Mark would pay up the 125 dollars in diesel fuel to fill up. After getting all the ingredients, Mark pays about 20 dollars to fill up at a pays what amounts to 81 cents per gallon.
Instead, he's using a cooking oil concoction that he learned on the Diesel Secret Energy website.
Mark says 85% of the mixture is cooking oil and the rest is a carefully blended mixture. "We use a small amount of kerosene, cetane and some other items to keep the cooking oil from solidifying. It's actually considered a high performance diesel fuel."
The tricky part is getting enough grease to get the job done.
Mark admits that if you bought gallons of cooking oil at the grocery store, it would cost a fortune. His suggestion is to call restaurants in your area and see if they will give it to you instead of throwing it out.
This alternative is ONLY for diesel vehicles! Mark tested out his first batch on a tractor to make sure it would work.
Mark likes to joke and invite people to sniff his tailpipe. It really does smell like fried chicken!!


Gas Falls Below $3.00 A Gallon In Mobile










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Good recovery on that last near fall, Tiffany. Keep up the good work. You are doing a great job. As for using trees for steam, I am a slow learner, Carl. You would have to shimmy up that tree several hundred times showing me how to cut those limbs off. I would never be able to exceed your expertise.