MOULTRIE — Stopping at a rest stop to fill up may not seem like the norm but for Kris Travis of Fairbury, Ill., that is exactly what she did as she traveled crosscountry to visit her mother in Moultrie.

“She carried her own filling station when she came down,” said Jinx Stubbs, Travis’ mother.

Travis used biodiesel made out of vegetable oil in her produce delivery van and she carried about 150 gallons of the fuel in huge plastic drums in the back of the vehicle. Whenever she needed to refuel, she would stop at a rest stop and funnel the fuel into her van from the drums via smaller fuel cans.

“People don’t really talk to you. They look at you weird,” she said.

Travis said there was a sign on the back window of her van that explained that the vehicle was running on biodiesel and she hoped the people would read it and make the connection.

“Part of our purpose in doing this is to teach others,” she said.

She said it was also a relief not to have to look for the cheapest gas stations along the way.

“It kind of takes the pressure off. ... This was kind of my trial run to see if it would work cross-country,” she said.

Travis and her husband own a produce farm, Spence Farm, which is the oldest family farm in Livingston County, Ill. They are also part of a co-op with other area farmers. They deliver the produce from their farm and others to some top restaurants in Chicago. One of the restaurants is the Frontera Grill, owned by Rick Bayless, who has won national awards and hosts a program on PBS.

“I think one of the coolest things for us is the restaurants that we work with are so supportive. I think they are a little more environmentally-minded. ... They are committed to working with local farmers,” said Travis.

However, the van does not return empty after it delivers the produce. It comes back with drums of used vegetable oil from the restaurants, which is then taken to a farmer in the co-op who converts it to biodiesel by adding lye and methanol.

“We are helping the restaurant get rid of a waste product,” Travis said. “... It’s saving them a ton of hassle on disposing the stuff.”

The Travises are given a credit on their fuel purchase for bringing the waste product to the farmer. Since they use their van to make the produce deliveries to Chicago for the 18 other farms, as well, the co-op members help with the fuel cost. They have been using the biodiesel in their van since April.

“Everybody splits the cost and it’s cheaper,” she said.

At about $1.80 per gallon for the biodiesel, the cost is much less than the average consumer is currently paying, she said. Travis also said that biodiesel was non-flammable and if she was rear-ended all that would happen would the van would be covered in vegetable oil on the inside, instead of catching on fire.