Now, Kyle was in the military for 24 years and I suspect he got used to waking people up at ungodly hours. He had clearly developed a successful technique because at 4.30am the house started shaking with the sweet sounds of Dire Straits and the Sultans of Swing. If that wasn’t enough to stir us from our slumbers, then his next act of human alarm clock was even more extreme; a blur as Kyle ran down the stairs accompanied by the some of the most famous words on the trip so far: “WAKE UP MAAAAAAAAN!”. This was repeated several times as he excitedly bounced around the room like a tennis ball on steroids!

And before we knew it he was shaking us out of our sleeping bags and getting us on our feet. It was by far the most vigorous and effective wakeup call we had ever had. He then introduced us to “3 in 1 American flavoured Mongolian Coffee” which certainly helped the waking up process. If any one of you have a logical explanation of precisely what 3 in 1 American flavoured Mongolian Coffee is, please let me know. Anyway, it certainly was tasty, and before long we were readying the SRZero and support van for the next leg.

With the desert sun rising in front of us, the convoy of the SRZero, support vehicle, motorbike and Kyle’s car headed off with Nik and Kyle leading in the SRZero. For half an hour we drove east on the famed Route 66 until we came to Barstow which is where Kyle had to leave us to go to work. It was unfortunate to see him depart as over the last 36 hours he had somehow become an integral and cherished member of the team. We wish him all the best for the future and we hope that he can find the time to bunk work and join us on our travels somewhere!

After Barstow we headed east and after a few more hours of boiling hot desert sun (even though it was still so early in the morning) the infamous skyline of Las Vegas loomed up ahead. After seeing this city in so many films and pictures, it was a surreal and giddy experience driving up to the Strip in such an outrageous car!

Now, I have had one or two emails from misinformed individuals who lambast RGE for being a disorganised rabble. The truth is that this is far from the case, and for most days we have several contingency plans for where we can charge the car and get some sleep ourselves. On this occasion, we had several options, all offered by the kind members of the local Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association (LVEVA). However, being on the Strip with the SRZero, we felt we had to try our luck at one of the big hotels.

And so we headed for the Mirage, which was highly recommended to us by some friends as a fantastic place to stay! In we drove into their carriage driveway; jaws brushed the floor as we silently cruised by and came to a halt outside the main entrance. Before long we had several of the managers outside, and the team were animatedly explaining to them how we had the idea of charging the car up in their facility, and then displaying it in the middle of the entrance for all to see. Oh, and we wanted to hold a media event there.

They were a little shocked to say the least, but in true Las Vegas style, they made it happen, and all the necessary clearances and permissions where swiftly obtained from the higher authorities! And to polish it all off, we were offered a highly discounted rate to stay in their hotel…perfect! The hotel’s engineers were sent down to help us locate a plug while the rest of the team happily chatted away to the growing audience. While doing so, the local contingent of EV enthusiasts came by to see the hotel, and as with San Francisco several days earlier, we spent a happy while going into detail about the car and project.

After just 2 more hours, the car was on charge in a secure part of the hotel’s garage, we were checked into the hotel, showered, changed, and ready to explore a little. As for the rest of the day, there’s a famous saying which goes something like: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!”

We completely agree!

As always though, it was never as easy as expected. While Toby and I were on our way back from LA, we heard from the others that the chargers had tripped the circuit breakers in Kyle’s house early on in the night and we had nowhere near enough charge to make it to Vegas today. Damn!

So, after resetting the circuit breakers and getting the car back on charge, all we could do was wait. The hotel was kind enough to let us hang around for a bit longer without paying, but soon they kicked us out and Kyle welcomed us into his home for the day. Here, we made best use of the internet by catching up on emails, web updates, and blogging. But soon the lake (yes, a lake in the middle of the desert believe it or not!) beckoned and we had to take a quick swim and kayak in the lake to refresh ourselves.

However, other than work and the occasional swim, not much else happened aside from checking on the car and ensuring that it was charging, which it was. We calculated that the car would be ready for the drive to Vegas at 5am the next morning, so we took the opportunity to catch a few hours to sleep before the early start.

Throughout the day, Kyle allowed us free access to his house and possessions in a demonstration of complete generosity and relaxation, despite how keen he was to have a drive in the car. In fact, Kyle was the coolest, most laid back guy we had met so far on the trip, and it was really great getting to know him while stranded in the desert. So, a big thanks from team RGE to Kyle!

Unlike the previous morning, bright sunlight streamed through the broad windows of the MacCarley’s house, and we were awoken to the smell of cinnamon buns and blueberry muffins. RGE do not often have the chance to have breakfast as we are so often pushing to get to the next destination, but on this occasion we afforded ourselves the luxury to sit down and enjoy a delicious breakfast with our hosts. Time was short though, and very quickly we had to get moving. It wasn’t a complete goodbye yet though, as Art and his family accompanied us back to the university for our last few activities in San Luis Obispo.

Firstly, we met up with the local press and gave an interview in front of the car while it was still on charge. Next up it was time to unplug the car and give some rides to a few people. First up was Art; I don’t think he had ever seen his campus whizz by so fast! On one occasion, we were speeding down the road where I was assured there were no bumps, when suddenly the road dropped about 15cm beneath us in a very brutal speed bump of some description, and for the first time the SRZero took to the skies. Well, plummeting to the ground would be a far more accurate description actually, and very quickly we hit the ground hard! Fortunately, the SRZero’s beefy race suspension was able to handle it, and a light inspection at the end of the drive showed no untoward results! Next we were able to give the local press a quick spin, and with our last part of our Californian PR complete, it was time to say our goodbyes and head for Helendale!

So far, RGE had made it an unofficial goal to navigate our way from Alaska down to Texas using just normal, traditional maps. We actually did cheat one day when the roads got a little complicated, and that one time we used a GPS we got hideously lost! So we stubbornly kept to using just maps (we will use a GPS from Texas onwards though) and we headed off back up Highway 1 to try and find the exit which would ultimately take us to Helendale.

The road seemed to deviate wildly from what was drawn on the map, and soon we were on a small and very twisty road heading up through the mountains. But despite the road taking a big hit on our battery state of charge, it was one of the most beautiful roads we had so far encountered and even though we ended up back at the same point we were half an hour earlier, it was well worth the drive! Anyway, now that we were back on the right path, we sped off towards Helendale.

Along the way the scenery changed from dramatic coastal mountains and vegetation to scorching inland desert. But interestingly, despite the heat and parched ground, the roadside was dotted with lush orchards growing dates, pistachios, plums and a whole range of other fruits. The water source of these plantations soon became apparent; occasionally we could spot canals crisscrossing the desert, bringing in water from the mountains in the distance. This was intensive irrigation at its most extreme! But soon it got too dry for even the irrigation to continue, and the golden desert stretched off into the distance.And then, on the horizon, lots of white dots could be seen covering the surrounding mountains. Driving closer revealed this sight to be thousands upon thousands of wind turbines, ranging from the small to the absolutely massive. Check the photos to see what I mean…there’s no way I can explain it in words! And here’s an interesting contrast; just before driving into view of the wind turbines, we came across a huge oil field dominated by the “nodding donkey” pumps scattered across the countryside as far as the eye could see. Man’s past and current energy addiction juxtaposed with man’s search for renewable energy; quite a sight!

On we continued into the diminishing light until we came to Shadow Mountain Road, the final few miles into Helendale. And at the end of the road, at the turn into this tiny desert town, the sheriff was waiting for us. This was certainly not the first time we had been stopped by the police, but it was the first time they were waiting for us! As it turned out, they had got wind that the car was arriving and were eager to see it. They were a super friendly bunch, and we swapped rides; they gave un an off-road drive in their 4×4 squad car, and we gave them a drive in the SRZero. The video online shows it in much better details! It was fantastic fun, a unique experience, and after hearing some quite amazing and dangerous policing stories, we wish these fine gentlemen the best of luck in their future law enforcement endeavours.

During this entire escapade, we met Kyle Bauman who was a local resident of Helendale. He was actually an acquaintance of Claudio from the Long Way Round trip back in 2004. Anyway, he had kindly offered to host the car in his garage which is where we promptly headed after giving the sherrif a very fast drive through the town! He had also organised us our hotel rooms and had brought us some pizza as he knew we would be hungry; what a legend! We were looking forward to meeting our host in more detail during the next day, but for now it was time for some deep, deep sleep!

Firstly, the day saw the return of Rick Peterson, our biker companion between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse in Canada. He had to take a sabbatical from the project in order to fly helicopter rescue missions in Hawaii, and we were excited to have him back in the game! So, off we set for our next big stop; a place where none of us had gone before, and where we had been especially invited by the guys from Zero Motorcycles…

Moto GP at Leguna Seca! We arrived on the second day of this legendary event and were invited to park our car alongside the Zero Motorcycles stand. Unfortunately we only had time to spend 2 hours here, but in that time we saw a number of very exciting car and motorbike related exhibits, and of course the warm up laps which saw motorbikes screaming around the 2.238 mile track at breathtaking speeds!

There were a number of perplexed looks at seeing an electric car at such a petrol-dominated event, but everybody was extremely pleasantly surprised to find that an electric car could look so appealing! But at 3pm, our time was up and we had to head off to the most anticipated part of the day…

Highway 1! Up until Leguna Seca, we had travelled down on Highway 1 from San Francisco to Monterrey, but this was not the most beautiful part of the highway. All sources informed us that it was south of Monterrey that the road took on its famous and spectacular twists, turns, and jaw-dropping vistas. We were not disappointed! On our left hand side, cliffs and mountains fringed the North American continent, with the occasional valley allowing us to glimpse inland, and on our right hand side just a few metres beyond the edge of the road lay the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean!

The twists and turns of such a road may seem tedious in the support vehicle, but they were an untold delight to drive in the SRZero. Because of the wide wheel base, low centre of gravity and road-hugging aerodynamics of the SRZero, sharp turns could confidently be taken at speed, providing for an adrenaline fuelled drive all the way down to San Luis Obispo!

On the way, we stopped for a quick food/toilet break, and there we were informed by a local that we should look out for some elephant seals that were basking on the beach a few miles down the road. With several animal lovers on the team, we vowed to check them out, and a few minutes driving down the road revealed a large and occasionally writhing mass of grey blubber. These were the famed elephant seals, and a more lazy animal could surely not be imagined! On occasion, 2 belligerent males would “stand up”, roar at each other, find that too tiring to continue, and then pass out. Similar passing out could be observed after one of the creatures made the occasional dash across the sand; 2 metres and a long nap was needed! A video of described behaviour can be seen in our videos section.

Anyway, we were still in a rush to get to our next destination so we quickly got back on the road. A few hours later we reached the campus of California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) where we were to meet our hosts for this evening. Sure enough, a few minutes after arriving, Dan and several of his fellow students arrived to welcome us. After a quick show and tell of the car, Dan informed us that his professor had prepared food for us and had offered his home for us to sleep at. As it was 10pm already, we decided to quickly hook the car to charge (it was due to stay and charge up at the university’s electric car charging point) and head off as soon as possible.

A short drive south revealed a beautiful octagonal house set in the woods. Upon exiting the support vehicle, we were welcomed by Professor Art MacCarley, professor of electrical engineering at CalPoly, and his wife Dana who had prepared for us a beautiful home cooked meal; the first the team had had for a long time! We were joined for dinner by Dan and his colleagues, and the meal was spent discussing the project, what’s going on at the university, Rick’s experiences in the helicopters, and Claudio’s various escapades. A truly enjoyable occasion!

Very quickly, tiredness set in, and our hosts graciously offered up their spacious living room and spare bedrooms for our use. Soon after, we were fast asleep!

RGE would like to thank Art and Dana for their exceptional hospitality, delicious chicken, and very comfortable sofas! No doubt we would have had a far less enjoyable night had they not been there to help!

So, back to the real business! The last post ended with us heading off to sample the San Franciscan nightlife with our local host, Andy, who was an old school friend of Toby’s. Before long we were soaking up the vibe at the Infusion Lounge; a quite European-style club with great music and scantily clad stage dancers. The team shook loose the last few days of driving, and danced until the club closed, which fortunately was not too late as we had much to do the following day.

There were 3 missions for the day; firstly, Nik and Andy were to take the car to the pre-arranged KPMG event where they were to meet some high level KPMG personnel, as well as visit Better Place, based in Silicon Valley. Next up for Clemens and myself was the unenviable task of arranging licence plated for our support vehicle, and lastly, Pambo and Toby were back at the hotel doing website updates and charging point research respectively.

Andy’s KPMG account:

“The day started bright and early at 6:00am when Nik and myself got a cab over to Luscious Garage, where the SRZero had been charging overnight. It was still a little early for us and we missed breakfast, but luckily the KPMG team had laid on a sumptous buffet for the event. There were croissents, Krispy Kremes, and cakes galore – though we went straight for the coffee! Now suitably fuelled up, we met Kelly,  Steve, Beth and the rest of the KPMG team there and had a good 2 hours to show off the car to their employees.

After that we drove the car over to the Ferry Building near the Bay Bridge – a great location with a lively market inside and out. It was a decent turnout with the media as ABC and NBC came along to check out the car. – check out the video here: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=resources/lifestyle_community/green&id=7570598

Then it was time for a half hour drive over to Silicon Valley to meet with Better Place. I had big expectations for Silicon Valley, and it was pretty cool to see the head quarters of Facebook and Google, but I have to admit that it did appear to be more like a normal industrial estate than the hotbed of technology that it actually is. Anyway, we were really excited to meet Better Place as they have tackled the range issue on electric cars from a completely different angle. They are pioneering a battery swapping system and the infrastructure to enable EVs to make longer journeys. Check out this video from Shai agassi here that explains it here, it’s a great presentation: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/shai_agassi_on_electric_cars.html

We took them for a ride in the car and had a behind the scenes look at their upcoming plans for the Better Place movement – you will have to keep an eye out for them over the next couple of years, though unfortunately we did not get to meet Shai as 80% of the worforce were actually over in China! But it was still a great experience and we left enthused to see other organisations working hard to further electric vehicle technology.”

Shortly after Nik and Andy headed off for the KPMG event, Clemens and I drove down to the local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office to try and organise license plates for our support vehicle that had so far been running on a 10 day temporary permit issued while we were in Canada. To help guide us through this bureaucratic labyrinth, we met up with one of the unsung heroes of the RGE story; Boris.

We would still be stuck in Anchorage if it had not been for Boris, as he is the owner of the only insurance company that was prepared to insure us. Despite us approaching 35 different companies in order to procure insurance for the drive through the US and Canada, no one would agree to insure us. But then, on the day before we were set to start driving, he called up and gave us the good news!

Anyway, we met Boris at the DMV office, and he set about trying to get us some Californian plates. But it turned out to be far harder than expected. The DMV officials were rude and had no clue as to what we had to do, and so just tried fobbing us off to the customs department despite it having absolutely nothing to do with the transaction we needed to complete.

Hours passed as we were slowly moved up the hierarchy to people who thought themselves more important than the last, until we finally reach a Russian lady who was tempted into cooperation after Boris conversed with her in their native tongue. After several more hours, fortunately interrupted by a delicious and patience-revitalising lunch, we managed to obtain a temporary Californian licence plate. Something that could have taken us 30 minutes ended up in a 5 hour procedure, but finally we were done!

The downside, however, was that we were now too late to join Nik and Andy for the very interesting visits they were having at Better Place and HP. So instead we agreed a time and place for us to meet Boris for dinner in a few hours time, and off we headed on our separate ways. Over the next few hours, Clemens, Toby, Pambo and myself explored some of San Fransisco taking in sights such as Crookedest Street, the western hemisphere’s steepest navigable road, and the beautiful views of the sparkling San Francisco Bay.

Before long however, it was time to go meet up with Nik and Andy who were by now back in the city, drop the SRZero off at the Luscious Garage, and head for dinner. Before heading for dinner however, we took the opportunity to give Boris’s 10 year old son, a budding go kart driver, a quick spin around the city in the SRZero. Judging by the look on his face, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience! A delicious and very enjoyable dinner followed, and after a few drinks at a local bar afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

Day 25 dawned in the typical San Franciscan way; cold, damp, and cloudy. But that didn’t dampen the team’s spirits as we got down to some hard graft. Andy, Pambo, Clemens and myself stayed back at the hotel within reach of the internet to continue with our PR, website, logistics and organisational work respectively, while Toby and Nik went over to the garage to give the car a once over and to patch up the rear right tyre that had been pierced by a large screw. Other than that however, the car showed no signs of damage or untoward wear and tear, and so it was that by 5pm, with the car reassembled and the rest of the team present at the Luscious Garage, we received a visit from a collection of local EV enthusiasts. In addition, Jonathan Richards, a talented cameraman and editor from Von Planta Productions joined us at this time to help Claudio with the filming and editing for the next few weeks on the trip.

A couple of hours were spent showing the car to the very well informed EV supporters, some of them ex Imperial College alumni, and some sporting their own EV’s too. But unfortunately time flies when you’re having fun, and before long it was time for Caroline, owner of Luscious Garage, to close up shop, and for us to go and have dinner. If anybody is interested to hear about the umpteenth food-related excursion, we headed back into J-Town (slang for Japanese Town in case you didn’t get that) for a shabu shabu, and from there headed back to the hotel for an early night.

And that concluded our last evening n San Francisco. It had been a very enjoyable few days, minus the hassle with the licence plates, but all had been sorted in the end, and it was with anticipation for the coming days that RGE bedded down for the night.

So, in order for the team to get as much as sleep as possible, Clemens raced ahead to the hotel the night before with Ben and Dan so that he could get up early in the morning to drive the 30 miles or so over to the coast. The plan was that we would meet him on the north side of the GGB just north of San Francisco once he’d finished the photoshoot. This meant that the rest of us could get a bit more sleep than usual!

Clemens left the hotel early in the morning, and drove with Ben and Dan over to Nick’s house to unplug the car and take it to the coast. Fortunately, unlike the day before when charging had ceased while we were sleeping, the car had charged perfectly this time and Clemens was able to unplug without hassle and get moving to Carmet, the town on the coast where we were to be photographed. Beforehand though, he was able to give Nick (our car host for the previous night) a quick spin around the block to help thank him for his incredible hospitality.

Back at the hotel, the rest of us were just waking up and tending to a number of emails that had been left for far too long when a call came through from Clemens:

Alex: “Hey man, what’s up?”
Clemens: “We’ve had an accident!”
Alex: “What!? Is everyone alright? What happened?”
Clemens: “Everyone’s fine, but we had a crash.”
Pause as my heart fails and then reboots…
Clemens: “But, don’t worry, the SRZero is fine!”
Relief!

As it transpired, the accident was kind of our fault, but very indirectly. Ben’s car was parked up on the side of the road as the SRZero was driving past. However, there was a mesmerised driver behind the SRZero who could not take his eyes off it, and as he was staring he veered off the road and straight into Ben’s parked car! Apparently, the front of the perpetrator’s car was totalled, and I could certainly believe it after seeing how smashed up Ben’s car was. Fortunately no one was injured though, and the whole business over swapping insurance etc was handled amicably.

Another bit of luck was that Ben’s car was still capable of driving, so they managed to get all the photos they wanted to take of the SRZero, and so it was bang on time that we met them at one of the most anticipated spots of the entire trip; the Golden Gate Bridge!

The plan was to meet them on the north side of the bridge where there was a car park as well as some great view points of the bridge and city. It also had easy access to roads going up the mountainside which gave an amazing bird’s eye view of the bridge and surrounding area. The scenery was incredibly dramatic, further emphasised by the clouds constantly rolling off the Pacific Ocean and into the Bay area, and provided an exquisite location for some great filming as well as another one of these experiences which you would never expect to happen…

When Claudio was filming Charlie Boorman in the By Any Means television series, he was out in Australia where he met a bunch of guys from Zero Motorcycles, a company building high performance electric motorbikes. As it so happens, this company is based in California, and they got wind of the RGE project. We just had to meet up! The world’s longest range electric vehicle had to ride alongside some of the best electric bikes out there too, and there is quite simply no better place to do it than in San Francisco!

So at the car park I mentioned earlier, we met up with the Zero guys and got a good look at their bikes. They were built to an exceptionally high standard and employed some of the best and latest technology we have seen on electric vehicles, especially on the battery side of things. Incredibly, they also let us have a go on them, with some team members managing to ride them with varying degrees of success!

But there was not time to hang around; the weather was closing in rapidly and it was imperative that we captured the moment we crossed the bridge. So after a photoshoot at the top of the mountain overlooking the bridge, we headed down with cameras mounted on the car, in the car, as well as being filmed by several bikes weaving around us. And wow! Speeding across the bridge was, for me, the highlight of the trip so far. It seemed to symbolise a major milestone even though it only represented about one quarter of our journey. Here we were driving across this international icon and once the world’s longest suspension bridge in an absolutely unique vehicle which we had built ourselves. I would need far greater writing skills to come anywhere close to conveying the elation the team and I were feeling. The car effortlessly glided across the Golden Gate, and before long we had completed 2.7km straight and we were in San Francisco! YES!

Our traverse of the GGB was followed by a drive along the sea front, past Fisherman’s Wharf and the Marina District, and finally into the east of the city. On the way, we got a huge amount of nods, waves, stares, jaw drops, hoots and all other manner of salutation. In addition to this however, we also got skateboarded. No, this is not some kind of new slang spoken by this unruly youth of today, but merely a word I just made up to describe a quite unusual (and probably illegal) experience. A skateboarder ran up to us while we were stuck behind a red traffic light and asked what the car was. We quickly explained, and stunned as he was, we have to give him credit for a fantastic idea. He asked if he could hold on to our wing while we accelerated off. We said yes, and off we went down the streets of San Francisco! Judging by the whoops and shouts of enjoyment coming from behind, I knew he was having a great time, but as a set of tram rails loomed ahead, he let go rapidly and he disappeared off into the crowd!

From here we headed on to 9^th street where the car was to be charged and accommodated during our stay in San Francisco. The building we had been directed to turned out to be a place called Luscious Garage, and a more lush place you could simply not imagine! Set in a trendy part of town, this garage was more like a 5 star luxury electric and hybrid service centre. With a high arched wooden ceiling, large skylights, huge amounts of space, lots of tools neatly arranged, and 4 hi-tech car lifts, this was engineering heaven! It also turned out to be probably the greatest place we could ever hope to charge our car as there were all manner of sockets, extension cords and other charging accoutrements. We were greeted by the owner and founder of Luscious, Caroline, who very kindly let us stay there for free. We would like to thank Caroline for her exceptional kindness and generosity, and congratulate her on the truly fantastic business she has set up.

Normally, setting up the car to charge here in the US causes massive headaches for us as every socket is different. However, Luscious Garage had all the right sockets we needed and the car was very quickly sucking up that invisible sauce called electricity! With the car taken care of, it was time to head for some food with an old friend of Toby’s who lived in the area. Andy was his name, and throughout our stay in San Francisco he showed us a really great time. Anyway, away we drove to San Francisco’s Japanese quarter where we delved into a traditional all you can eat sukiyaki. Many of the team had never had this culinary experience before, so it was with relish that we tucked in!

From the restaurant, we went back to the hotel, changed into something a little more appropriate, and headed off to sample the San Franciscan nightlife. What a day though! Everything had gone accordingly to plan (minus Ben’s destroyed rental car) and all we had forgotten was to put flowers in our hair for all those gentle people there!

P.S. If you didn’t get the reference in the last line, listen to Scott Mackenzie’s song on the subject of San Francisco!

While this did mean we would get into our destination late, and it annoyed all the cameramen no end as it would mean we would be driving in the dark, it did mean we could devote the next few hours to getting more logistics work done, as well as taking a leisurely lunch.

Walking around outside was stunning what with the weather and the surrounding mountains, half forested and half scrubland. In a similar way to when we crossed the Rockies from Clinton to Vancouver, the scenery was very much like a western film. In fact, it looked a lot how I imagine Mexico looks like which was further complimented by the Mexican restaurant we found just down the road from the hotel. Replete with patio and very Mexican waiter, we enjoyed some delicious fajitas. So tasty were these morsels, that we had it again for dinner later on that day!

As the car was charging, Nik and Toby took the opportunity to do a quick car check which included bleeding the brakes which had become a little soft over the last 6,000 miles. Much work got done from all parties, with Ben from CAR magazine taking team members aside every so often for interviews which will ultimately inform his article.

Before long though, the car was charged and we packed up and got ready to go. As the light was fading, we managed to get a few great video and still shots of the car speeding away with a snow-capped mountain behind us. However the sun quickly dipped below the horizon, and darkness spread out before us. We were once again driving through beautiful scenery without being able to see it; quite traumatising for the team I can assure you! Anyway, as a result, the drive was very uneventful and we arrived in Santa Rosa at around 2am.

Very kindly, Nicholas Carter from the local Electric Automobile Association (EAA) offered up his garage for us to charge off. We called him shortly after the circuit breakers to the chargers tripped and told him we would be late. This did not faze him, and in true generous American spirit, he told us where the key to his back door was, and how to open up the garage from the inside. And when we finally got there, there were extension cords all laid out for us…magnificent hospitality!

Unfortunately, due to the noise we were making, we woke Nick up, but he wasn’t angry and he enjoyed seeing the car in action. The car was quickly plugged in, and off we went to another Holiday Inn about 6 miles away. All in all a very easy and successful day once we had charged up.

A few minutes later however, he turned up looking very dishevelled. In a triumph of intelligence, Nik had decided to bed down in a flower patch outside which was riddled with sprinklers, and at around 4pm they turned on and he got soaked. But rather than coming inside, he decided to sleep on the concrete outside the office, and when a member of staff arrived, they were concerned to find what looked like a homeless person passed out in front of their office! But upon being ruffled awake, Nik introduced himself and all was well as he walked into the office to join the rest of us.

Most of the time, RGE is super keen to carry on moving and getting the miles under our belt. But this time we had to stop and take care of a growing problem; laundry. I can’t speak for everyone else, although I suspect they were in a similar situation, but I had absolutely no clean clothes left. So we had to take a break and go and do some wash our clothes and generally clean ourselves up. This being completed, we reassembled at Rinehart and gave our hosts a couple of spins round the car park, packed up, and started our journey south to Yreka.

Today was another one of those journeys where months before you start dreaming about it, for today we were to enter California on our epic road trip. Romantic notions of the sunny summer of ’69 and the accompanying hippie songs ran through our minds…we were in the mood for California! It was a long drive to Yreka though, with huge gradients in between, so we had to take it at only 50-55mph on the highway. In fact, we had been warned about this particular mountain we had to cross as it was high, around 4,500ft, and right at the edge of our range which means we were driving uphill with very limited charge left.

At around midnight we hit the mountain. Up and up we went, and suddenly signs for local ski resorts started popping into view, and the air was certainly becoming cooler. But by now, our state of charge was dropping vast as we drove upwards, and soon we had hit zero! We were now running on our “reserve tank” and with no end of the hill in sight, the state of charge situation starting looking a little dire.

But finally, signs for the summit appeared and the welcome site of a 7 mile downhill stretch beckoned. By this time however, we were on -3% state of charge, and the regenerative breaking, whereby we put energy back into the battery pack when going downhill, was most definitely needed! Off the throttle I came, letting gravity do the work. At the bottom of the hill and with the Californian border in sight, the state of charge read 1.9%, and we coasted all the way up to the border gate.

“Border?” I hear you say, “There are no borders between US states!”. Well that’s what we thought too until we were asked to stop. I was expecting a thorough questioning about what the car was and why it was here, but instead I was stopped by an elderly farmer-looking and moustached man and asked if I had any fresh fruit on me. I did not, and neither did the support vehicle, so we were able to pass without hindrance! Apparently diseases in fresh fruit brought into California can cause problems with their crops, hence the strictness.

Anyway, back to the driving. We still had a good 12 miles to go to our recharging point, and the state of charge was falling once again. After driving very carefully, in a process we have come to call “EcoFoot”, we made it to the Holiday Inn in Yreka, which fortunately had an adjacent RV park to charge off. And just to add more flavour to the evening, which was by now very late (somewhere in the region of 3am) we got stopped by the police. But this time they were not even interested in looking at our documents, and were far keener to hear about the car and project. I did a few skids in the gravel to impress upon them the potential of electric vehicles, and then headed over to a charging bay to give the car some much needed juice.

By now we were absolutely exhausted, and not even the hotel’s pool was enough to tempt us away from rushing towards our beds at the Holiday Inn. But what from little we could see in the dark, the surrounding scenery looked stunning and we were looking forward to the morning when we could take a look around and drive through the area.