30-Days around America

[xcel]

Our country… Filled with hope, promise and some sadness.

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – Dec. 15, 2008

American, Illinois and POW-MIA flag blowing in the wind yesterday.

What a month.

Although it is time to get back to the daily grind of News posting, rumor control, future event planning and reviews, what Jennie Chen (Pookiesoup), Justin Fons (CitrusInsighter) and I experienced in the last 30-days may best be described with a few snap shots of our past, present and even the future.

A quick initial drive from Illinois to LA in mid November led Justin and I through a number of states with interesting experiences including the first shocker, LA and the first 48-State drive setback. I just received a call today from the trucking company’s insurance carrier in fact asking where they should send the check so that one should be concluded shortly.

From there, it was a quick turnaround heading back to IL to pick up a second 09 HCH-II and back on the road again.

Pics...

As the miles piled on, Justin and I came across this interesting pic as we sat in a McDonalds near Oklahoma City, OK.

$1.719 vs. $2.999

Is it any wonder why diesel vehicles are not going to have the impact on our foreign oil dependence we had all hoped for in the recent past

As we were driving through NM, we came across a brush fire that appears to have been caused by the blown tire on the trailer shown in the back of the pic. A simple pic of minimal significance but taken in the middle of absolutely nowhere!

As we continued on our way westward, we took much of the Southwestern 48-State route which included a run up into and around the 4-Corners (NM, CO, UT and AZ) area.

HCH-II with the Four Corners marker directly behind.______________Four Corners - CO top, NM right, AZ bottom and UT left.

After leaving the Four Corners, we traveled through what has to be one of the most beautiful scenic drives on the planet. That being Monument Valley, UT where many of the old John Ford – John Wayne Westerns were filmed.

These pics are only a preview of what was really in Monument Valley, UT

LA

Rani (Tarabell) kindly put us up as we were all prepping to cover the LA Autoshow Press Event. While there, Justin and I installed the 48-Contiguous State FE graphics on our trusty steed, the fully loaded, 2009 HCH-II.

48-Contiguous State Graphics on the 2009 HCH-II.

The day before the show, I took a Honda CRF230L out for a quick review. I spoke with Honda’s motorcycle media manager, Jon Seidel today about finishing off the highway portion of the review the next time I am in LA and he said definitely

The CRF230L in full glory as well as the Honda tech (Dan Shaver - Honda Shop Foreman) that took care of her before and after my ride.

Live from the 2008 LA Auto Show…

And at the show? Besides receiving the latest scoop on most of what we are interested in, Rani drove the Mini Cooper BEV (AC-Propulsion system) while Randy Mays, Justin and I drove the Honda FCX Clarity and Mitsubishi MiEV.

Mitsubishi MiEV BEV, a real stunner.___________________Honda FC Sport with Insight-II behind.

48-Contiguous State Fuel Economy World Record Drive

With the 09 HCH-II in hand, a quick oil change and setup at Bill Kinney’s home in Kennewick, WA, we were off. First stop, head back across the WA/OR border to top off just a few miles out of Hermiston, OR. We were on our way thanks to the membership’s route planning, support and posts keeping us on track and everyone up to date…

Washington was our first recorded state crossing with California our last just 12 days later…


First pic as we begin the 48-Contiguous State drive._____________Jennie and her IPhone permanently attached


An interesting sidebar to our trip as we traversed MT ________________One of many station attendants signing the tank seal.

48-Contiguous State_FE World Record Overall

Hypermilers complete new Guinness verified World Record at 68.54mpg (US)!

ScanGauge-II and Honda, our sponsors.

Insight-II

Just two days shy of the finish; I was invited to drive a special vehicle for a special event. More to be revealed later of course

Officially released pic.

This brings us to a few negative views and experiences that Jennie, Justin and I experienced while driving the country.

In the Four corners area, hundreds of miles of roadway were littered with empty beer, wine and spirits bottles and cans that have not been cleaned up for possibly decades. If only the tribal councils responsible for the areas had the wherewithal to gather up volunteers to clean this up for the betterment of themselves

While driving through the towns of Cairo, IL, Picher, OK and Wallace, ID, it was obvious our economy is failing in smaller towns and cities far beyond what the media has reported through this recession. I suspect these towns have been in decline for the past 25 years but to see it up close and personal as they head toward oblivion is a saddening experience.

And of course the final blow came in Phoenix, AZ during a rush hour drive to the airport as described in the "Wayne can't stay out of trouble" thread. With scant three-days of clothing for the 48-Contiguous State trip, Marian flew down to visit relatives and bring me clothing for another 5-days. Whoops as a Ford SUV smacked the back of the second HCH-II in 5 mph stop and crawl and pushed me into a 03 Civic stopped in front. Just a crease in the front bumper fascia but that pristine HCH-II’s rear really took a hit

Thanks to our membership, ScanGauge and Honda who made our 30-Days possible so we could experience our great country as it is albeit in a flash vs. reading about it after the fact.

[chibougamoo]

Wow! Almost as good as riding in the back seat with you guys! Thanks a bunch, and think about adding more pics. We should really try and get the names of those engineers, cause they deserve the recognition. Well done team!

(Next year, you should consider doing it in a diesel-hybrid bus, and I'll gladly pay to get a passenger seat and tag along for the ride! Think about the mpg-per-passenger-mile record)

[MaxxMPG]

Flash back to ten years ago and think that at the time, you probably would not have envisioned yourself taking a road trip that would bring you to each of the 48 contiguous states. And certainly you wouldn't have foreseen that you would be setting a world record for fuel economy.

Not only was this an experience of a lifetime - and one that only a handful would ever contemplate - but it also serves as an inspiration for current and future drivers. It provides documented proof that anyone can buy a car off the showroom floor and achieve fuel efficiency that is far beyond what is listed on the window sticker.

Although gas prices are about 40% of where they were in July, the cash crunch is forcing drivers to continue to count their pennies. So the quest for more MPG still remains in the public consciousness, and the new world record proves that amazing FE is possible.

[jenriquez]

Welcome back Wayne, thanks for sharing your experiences especially about the negative views and experiences, the difference in gasoline and diesel prices, etc. BTW today (12/15/08) I saw diesel at $2.29 a gallon at a local Chevron here in Westminster, CA (LA area) so it's gone down a bit closer to gasoline (was $1.65 at the time). While things may get worse before they get better... I believe the US will bounce back and we'll be better off for it, whether it be energy independence and vastly improved energy efficient vehicles.

[cuchulain]

Welcome Back and Congrats

Hope to hear your MIEV impressions when you get the time..

Good Luck
Andrew

[seftonm]

Good to see you back, Wayne. What an amazing trip you, Justin, and Jennie got to go on! Great job by all involved in setting the bar high with the new record. I'm looking forward to January 11 for the Insight II details

[Dan]

Great Welcome Home post. We are all very glad to see you Justin and Jennie all back safe with a enormous win under your belt. Definitely sounds like a month not to be rivaled. Thanks again for your tireless work in bringing our Country (kicking and screaming) one step closer to oil independence. It's going to be good to have that record on this side of the Pond (no offense to our UK brethren).

11011011

[psyshack]

Picher, Ok is a super fund town. It was a lead/zinc mining town. Buy outs are hot news there. Also what was left of the town took a bad tornado hit last year. Folks need to get out of that area in the worse way.

[laurieaw]

congratulations to you all for an amazing trip and record.

wayne, i can vouch for the fact that the 4 corners area is an area of extreme contrasts in lifestyle. i used to visit that area a lot maybe 15 years ago. in 1990 i hiked the grand canyon, one of the highlights of my life. driving back, even coming out of the canyon park, it was early morning and i noticed twinkling of reflections on what i thought were rocks along the road. miles and miles of it. i finally stopped, and found it to be broken glass. the contrast between the poverty in that area and the excess to be found in nearby spots (expensive hotel rooms on the canyon rim) was a stark and realistic statement of life in that area.