Five friends don't ride on fossil fuel

Middletown (WTNH) - They call it the magic school bus. Five friends turned what was a school bus into an RV for a cross country road trip. They're not entirely sure when they're leaving or where they're going. There's really only one rule - the bus doesn't run on fossil fuels.

"Because the whole philosophy of the trip is to just wander the country. Like, we really don't have any sort of plan," Mike Dozois of Middletown said.

And not using fossil fuels makes the non-plan a little more interesting.

"Well, that's the great thing - it's free and it's carbon neutral, so it's the smart thing to do and it's the responsible thing to do," John Paganettie of Middletown said.

John Paganetti came up with the bus idea three years ago and, with help from students from Cheney Tech, he converted the bus to run on used vegetable oil.

They're starting with some from their favorite Middletown Diner, O'Rourke's, and the plan is to find more along the way.

"Any McDonald's any Wendy's any Chinese restaurant, they're all able to help," Peter Hildebrand of Middletown said.

They hope they won't have too much trouble finding restaurants willing to part with their grease because a lot of restaurants have to pay someone to take away their used cooking oil.

"And so if somebody in a magical school bus pulls up and would like to take it off their hands for free, then they're normally very receptive to that," Hildebrand said.

But will they find a helpful diner in the middle of Kansas? Well, they're going to find out. The plan is for the magic bus to head south, then west, go up the pacific coast, and head back. They figure it will take close to three months, of driving, sleeping and eating in the bus. They say it's both exciting and terrifying. And that's the idea.

"I mean, adventures are supposed to be daunting and I think for me that's part of the great appeal of this trip, that's it's kind of a quintessentially American adventure," Ned Resnikoff of Middletown said.

For more information on their adventure, check out www.juanway.org.