After many hours of packing and prepping, the solar car team loaded up and finally took off from Lexington around 4 p.m. on the July 4th. We were hoping to take off sometime between noon and two, but it turned out packing a whole garage full of equipment into a trailer was a little trickier than we first imagined.

Just before we set off, we made sure to get a group photo of the gang (should make an excellent comparison photo with our team after this is all over). We also presented our team leader, Matt, a present for the huge commitment he has given to our team, a solar powered caliper.

We reached Little Rock, Arkansas around 2:15 a.m. central time and checked into a Days Inn. Waking up at 8:30 in order to catch the continental breakfast, we were on the road again by 10.

Nothing too terribly exciting to report save for one chain of events… Being in the lead vehicle of four, we were told over the radio from our comrades behind us that we lost our “UK Solar Car” magnet that was applied to the side of our van. A few miles go by while we debate whether or not it will be worth turning around to pick it up off the highway. We finally conclude that the crew in the second car should turn around and pick it up. It was right after they got off the exit that we noticed something flapping under the solar car trailer. It turned out that the axle had picked it up and the magnet remained perfectly balanced. We notified the car that turned around and persisted to park in a lot to pick up the magnet. It was pretty banged up, but it is still useable.

Back on the road all together again, things were looking good. That is, until about 30 miles from the magnet incident that we got a call over the radio that one of our members, Brian, could not find his wallet. Considering he was the one who jumped out of his car to grab the magnet, our only conclusion was that his van would have to backtrack to go search for it while everyone else continued. Luckily it was found by someone who called a number in the wallet who ultimately called Brian.

Now as I type this we are in Texas on I-30, only a couple of hours left until our final destination in Dallas. “Freebird” is playing on the radio, and we can only handle Anthony singing guitar solos for so long…