BioWillie-fueled Jetta makes it to L.A.

The biodiesel dudes driving from New York to L.A. in a non-stop, veggie version of the famed Cannonball Run (Canola-ball Run?) made it to the Left Coast in less than 40 hours, though their trip almost ended in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Brian Pierce and Nik Bristow, co-workers at Atlanta-based ad agency Fitzgerald & Co., had planned to drive Pierce’s Volkswagen Jetta TDI non-stop. They would pause only to change drivers and would refuel from 15 fuel cans in the back seat that they’d filled with BioWillie, Willie Nelson’s own branded biodiesel. (The Jetta has access to the fuel tank from under the back seat.)

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Nik Bristow & Brian Pierce

Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce, Atlanta ad men, arrived in L.A. despite their own personal BioWillie fuel shortage.

Atlantans plan cross-country biofuel drive

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But several hours into their cross-country trip, they made a heart-stopping discovery: their plastic jugs weren’t filled all the way. Instead of 85 gallons on board, they had about 71.

“It was entirely our own stupidity,” a sleepy Pierce said Wednesday afternoon, minutes after arriving at the Santa Monica pier.

Luckily, their trip was being Webcast live from a camera mounted on the dashboard of their vehicle, with ongoing chat by viewers from Atlanta to Australia. One of those viewers was David J. LaFaive, of Plymouth, Ind., an agent with Worldwide Freight who tuned in after seeing an interview on the Weather Channel.

LaFaive found Don Swallow, a driver outside Phoenix, willing to pick up three jugs of biodiesel in Marana, Texas – the only 24-hour pump within striking distance – then hightail it over the mountains in his personal Cadillac to Flagstaff, where he hoped to cross paths with the duo.

“I don’t know this guy from Adam until we spoke on the phone,” said LaFaive, who guaranteed to cover Swallow’s costs and pay him $150 for the drive.

Swallow called LaFaive about 6 a.m. from Flagstaff as he was pulling into a parking lot off I-40 just before Bristow and Pierce arrived.

“I traveled 378 miles to get there and got there five minutes ahead of them,” said Swallow. “They jumped out their car, I had my trunk open, we exchanged the fuel, and they were gone within 30 to 40 seconds.”

Pierce said they were down to their last container. “We had about a gallon left.”

“We thought the whole thing was ruined, but the people who were watching and rooting for us saved the day,” he said, adding that LaFaive is “our hero.”