Day 5 -- only 113 miles. I was hoping it was going to be a bit of an easier day than the previous, but that was wishful thinking. For whatever reason, we had our share of gremlins in the car today, but everything worked out and we made it safely and on schedule to all the day's events.
We had an 8:00 a.m. start from Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Delaware. Not the same crowds as the night before, but Paul Brubaker, from the U.S. DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration gave us a great send-off and then rode with the caravan the entire 85 miles to the Department of Energy in downtown DC.
Here we are on the road leaving Delaware.
There we were greeted by a host of dignitaries and media. It was so crowded I wasn't even able to get close enough to hear the speeches. I'll be sure to catch the sound bites on the evening news, as at least nine cameras were there. In fact, there may have been more media here than the entire attendance at the Delaware event in the morning.
Here's a glimpse at all the media cameras.
We took 38 people on a ride and drive with the our Touran HyMotion, the most so far this trip.
From there we headed out to a Shell station on Benning Road -- right in the District. It's one of only two places in the country where you can drive your hydrogen vehicle up to the pump and pay for fuel. We topped off half a tank for $10.70. Not bad!
Driving through a huge downpour on our way out of DC.
So, I'm at Fort Belvoir, about 20 miles from DC in Virginia. We're doing a final fuel for the night. We hit an incredible storm on the way here, hail, rain, the whole 9 yards -- make sure to check out the video. Even though the Tiguan is a prototype it made it through everything nature could throw at it with flying colors.
By the way, check out hydrogendiscoveries.wordpress.com/
Tomorrow' s one of the longest days so far, 383 miles to UNC Charlotte. I'll see you in the Tar Heel State.
