7.27- El Paso, Texas to Florence, Arizona

After one day of not racing, it was an early morning for the solar car teams. The scheduled departure time was before sunrise. The Volt-Tech team met at 4:30 AM. All solar cars were trucked 160 miles before being unloaded near Lordsburg, New Mexico. It was a long ride to Lordsburg, and it did not take long before the Volt-Tech team fell asleep in my van. Heading west did not offer me a desert sunrise, nevertheless dawn revealed broad open space, mountains, and a few yucca plants in bloom. I was surprised to see freight tracks a few hundred yards away from and running parallel to the road. Several long freight trains could be spotted, and at one point two passed each other on parallel tracks. They each sounded one deafening and guttural alarm. The sound was a distorted and frightening crescendo with a twisted harmony that simultaneously faded and advanced.

Although late yesterday afternoon it had rained, most of the day was relentless sunshine.  The strong sun rays allowed the car to obtain a good charge. Due to this and agreeable terrain, we were able to accumulate the most miles of any of our race days. We had around 50 miles by the end of the day.

The day began slightly overcast. Early morning temperatures were cool and comfortable. Before putting the car on the road a few maintenance issues were taken care of. The following photo shows us unloading the car. Nick is our safety officer and at every stop he is the first person on the roadside. Once he has set up the cones and established that it is safe, the other team members are allowed to exit Mr. Smith's lead car. In front of our caravan you can see another team unloading; behind us there was a line waiting to unload.

Mr. Harris cut away a flap on the bottom of the car that was interfering with the wheel. 

Mr. Smith and Myles working on securing the upper and lower body.

Chris drove today, and the race began at 8:23 AM.

Chris drove for 25 miles, our longest run. Yea! The team then trailered the car over railroad tracks (too risky on our thin wheels) and did not unload for another 17 miles when the land had few inclines. At the unload spot, someone spotted a lizard on the side of the road. The judge who rode with us identified the lizard as a horned lizard. The horned lizard is endangered as a result of being sold as souvenirs in the 1950's - 1960's. In fact, in some places school children were paid five cents for each lizard they caught. This coupled with pesticides killing harvester ants,  the lizard's main source of food, has made the spotting of a horned lizard a rare event.  I was surprised to discover that this lizard allowed us to get very near to him, unlike the other lizards we caught glimpses of scampering from one shaded area to another. Horned lizards make themselves fat as a defense mechanism. The idea is that puffing himself up may make a predator think him too large to swallow. I have read that there are four types of horned lizards, one type, as a last means of defense, project blood from their eyes. This is meant to confuse their predators and it is distasteful. I do not know whether the lizard we saw is one such as this. 

Eleven miles farther (keep in mind the solar car goes around 15 - 20 mph) we pulled over to let the batteries recharge. We parked next to a large field of cotton. There was an irrigation ditch for the cotton a few feet from where we were unloading the car. I was surprised to see that on such flat land it had a strong current. I do not know whether there was a pump or some other device creating it. While parked, an Arizona police officer stopped by to ask about the car and our trip. Left to right: Brittany, Joe, Chris, Myles, trooper, our judge for the day, and Tyler).

We pulled into an Arby's for lunch. It was a bit odd to see the car pulling into a fast food parking lot. We parked in the back, and again there were fields of cotton.

In an adjacent parking lot I spotted a peculiar car. The owner told me that the body was a VW from the 1950's and that the engine was from a 1976 VW. 

Chris talks about his experience driving the car.

Mountainous terrain forced us to trailer the car in the late afternoon. 

The "F" stands for Florence. Florence, Arizona was our destination. It was 101° when we arrived.

The car was removed from the trailer and positioned with an unobstructed path to the sun's rays.

Brittany sprayed the solar cells with distilled water to cool them.

A spaghetti dinner was provided for all teams.

A Florence police officer came to talk to the team about their car.

While removing the canopy to catch the rays, it was discovered that one of the tires was bald. Joe took the arduous task of removing and replacing the tire. It is not as simple of a procedure as changing a car tire. Tyler mounted the new tire.

After hours in the heat, everyone was beat. Some of us were crabby, yet the team finished what they needed to do and stumbled exhausted to the hotel shortly after sunset.