7.18.16- Oklahoma!

Today's route took us some beautiful Oklahoma countryside. The morning began at the crack of dawn with breakfast in our hotel, unloading the car, the morning Solar Car Challenge meeting, and lining up for departure. The impression I had of Oklahoma was that it would be flat, dry, grassy, and with few trees. Perhaps there are areas like that in the state but we are traveling in low hill country, with ponds, rivers, and beautiful trees and plants.

 In addition to the difficulty we had yesterday regarding the motor controller, our car struggles going up hills. Mr. Lucks suggested that the sprocket we have attached to our motor is too large; we hope to replace the sprocket at some point tomorrow. This problem did allow students to concentrate all day on the best strategies to get the most mileage out of a run. This included careful monitoring of battery voltage, the lay of the road, and the location of hills on the route. At times hills were to our advantage(when going down), and at other times students had to decide whether to trailer the car up a hill or make a decision based on the voltage available and the possible momentum gained from a downhill run. We were off and on the trailer throughout the day, but we were pleased at the end of the day to have been able to, despite controller and sprocket issues, complete today's race with slightly over 20 miles and NO penalties. 

Marisa taking a reading on the voltage on the battery pack in the car. Shortly before the race begins, this battery will be swapped with the battery on the trailer whose solar array picked up late afternoon rays yesterday and two hours of rays this morning. 

Elijah, Steve, and Cameron washed the solar panels.

Socks of the day are crabs. 

Morning meeting.

Here is a video highlighting the morning meeting. Dr. Marks, always has the attention of everyone.

Congratulations Ulster BOCES Electric Solar Car Team- we took first place for our division in yesterday's race. Shown below is Dr. Lehman Marks presenting the trophy to team captain Cameron Miller. 

Alex, Steve, and Nick switching the battery pack.

Jackie is testing the blinkers, brakes, and emergency lights for our judge.Everyday we are assigned a judge. At first it is a little uncomfortable having a judge watching you, but after conversations and the sharing of lunch we are all a little more at ease in his presence. 

Elijah, Matt (our judge), Cameron, Steve, Alex

"Oklahoma where the wind comes blowin' down the plain!"

 

Alex and Marisa began the race this morning.

We spent much of the time today taking the car off and on the trailer which allowed me the opportunity to take some photos. We stopped at a school parking lot and adjustments were made to the controller. Steve and Elijah are shown with the car. 

Our caravan begins with the navigation vehicle Jackie is in the truck with Mr. Harris. She has a printout of our route in tenths of a mile and also access to a topographical app. Jackie is doing a terrific job communicating to us all and making decisions on when to trailer or drive the electric solar car. The electric solar car is the next vehicle. While the solar cars in the race have only the driver in their car, the electric cars have a driver and a passenger, this is to increase weight since the electric cars not have the weight of the solar panels. Closely following is the chase vehicle. This van holds team members who will be driving and/or helping to change battery packs, load the vehicle off and on the trailer, and the flagger. The chase vehicle tries to stay close to the electric solar car to prevent cars from pulling up directly behind. The last vehicle in the caravan stays back 100 yards or so, and warns vehicles traveling at high speed on the highway that there is heavy traffic ahead.

Nick was the communication person in our van; during down time he dutifully kept the walkie talkie within easy reach.

Lunch was in the small town of Stratford. Some of us found a cafe with very good food and pleasant people. Everywhere we go, people want to know about the solar car challenge. People have all been very friendly and welcoming. 

Safety is the most important factor when we load or unload the car. The first person out of the car is the flagger. They set cones around us and flag cars. Once they are in position, they radio the other cars and team members either load or unload the car from the trailer. This can sometimes take quite sometime if battery voltages are read and battery packs carried between the car and the trailer—a three person job. Here is Chris flagging. 

Steve, Alex, and Judge Matt

Blue eyed grass.

I believe this is a trumpet vine. These were growing near a creek. 

Fresh sweet smelling cantaloupes filled this little roadside stand. We also passed quite a few peach orchards. I bought some local wildflower honey which was a nice amber color, but tasted a lot like clover honey. Nothing is as good as the honey made from nectar in the Catskill mountains. 

These shetland ponies were curious to see a solar car near their pasture. 

By the late afternoon the temperature was well over 100°. A lady at the hotel told me this is normal weather for eastern Oklahoma, the humidity is over 70% and it is HOT.

The day ended in Ponca City at a parking lot where the cars were displayed and the chamber of commerce fed us hamburgers and chips. Kansas is only twenty miles away and tomorrow's race is 140 miles to Manhattan, Kansas.