September 28 th

The trip has started. We left Springville, Al about 7:30 CDST this morning and arrived in Cahrleston, SC about 5:30 EDST. We covered about 450 miles and used about 300 pounds of fuel. Trip was uneventfull. Everything went as planned.

September 29

September 30

October 1

October 2

October 3

October 4

October 5

October 6

October 7

October 8

October 9

October 10

October 11  The race is on, first day has goone very well. We have a lead of only a few seconds over the second place vehicle.

October 12 This is the second day of the race and we are having to make some adjustments in our route. THe Tioga Pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains is closed because of snow and ice. We decided on a rout to the south. THis has turned a 225 mile segment into a 450 mile ordeal. The later part of the day was difficult and we finished about 2 hours after the first finisher. The first finisher chose a rout that was about 150 shorter than the one we selected.

October 13  This was the third and final day of the race. We started well and actually received a penalty for getting to the first checkpoint too early. Day progressed very well and we arrived at the finish line about 40 minutes ahead of of closest competitor. Unfortunately this was not good eneough to achieve our goal of first place overall. We were beat out by a biodiesel sports car running on corm oil. We were the first solid fuel vehicle to finish, the second overall vehicle to finish  and we received an award for the "most complex engineering hurdle achieved".

October 14  Departed Lav Vegas for our return to Alabama, traveled about 350 miles today.

October 15 Visited the Pretrified Forest National Monument befroe traveling about 500 miles today. The significance of the visit was to take a look a wood that existed over 225 million years ago.

October 16  Traveled about 500 miles today.

October 17  Traveled about 500 miles today and arrived back in Alabama after 7800 miles  on approximately 6000 pounds of wood fuels.