Mike Easterling, fresh off his Wallis Award a few days ago at the Will Rogers Awards Evening, filed an excellent story in Urban Tulsa about the two Alabama men who seek to drive a 1966 GTO the entire length of Route 66 — powered solely by compressed natural gas.
Mike McConville and Keith Barfield will embark from Santa Monica, Calif., on Saturday for their Drive to Inspire — an effort to encourage Americans to use alternative fuels and wean the country from foreign oil.
The duo will be in Tulsa for a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 2, at Elgin and Second streets in Tulsa. Route 66 author Michael Wallis, who also is co-director of the fledgling Route 66 Alliance, will be presiding. Other public appearances are listed here.
Also, a Tulsa firm will give the GTO a free fill-up before it leaves town.
The story details the logistical hurdles that Drive to Inspire faced (especially when the GTO’s range is only 150 miles) and the help that’s been offered:
It certainly hasn’t been an easy trip to put together, McConville said, likening the task to herding cats. Even last week, he said, there remained huge gaps in his map of CNG refueling stations along the trip — mostly between Flagstaff, Ariz., and Albuquerque, and again from Albuquerque to Elk City. The GTO will have a range of only about 150 miles before it needs to be refueled, meaning McConville and Barfield will have to have some help if they don’t want to find themselves stranded by the side of the road. […]
A man from St. George, Utah, has agreed to meet the GTO in Kingman, Ariz., with a CNG refueling truck, while Tom Sewell, president of Tulsa Gas Technologies — a local firm that offers CNG dispensers, parts and service — has offered to do the same if the vehicle runs dry somewhere on this leg of the trip. […]
Other companies have offered their help, as well. McConville said executives at Bridgestone tires saw the Wired.com article and offered to outfit his GTO with their new green-friendly EP100 tires, as well as the services of their retail establishments along the way, if needed.
Clean Energy Fuels, a Seal Beach, Calif.-based company founded by T. Boone Pickens that is North America’s largest provider of CNG and liquefied natural gas, has offered McConville and Barfield free CNG at its fueling stations in Santa Monica, Barstow, Calif., and Henderson, Nev.
And Oklahoma’s Chesapeake Energy is sponsoring a celebration of the trip at Arcadia’s Pops restaurant, a Route 66 landmark just outside Oklahoma City, at 6pm on Thursday, July 1.
A documentary crew will also be in tow to film the crew’s experiences along the way. A lot is at stake, but McConnville seems to have the right attitude:
“I have to be careful about my expectations,” he said. “Selfishly, I just want my family and I to have a great vacation.”
One thing’s for sure: No one will think this CNG-powered vehicle sounds wimpy:
Drive to Inspire also will post on its Twitter account and Facebook along the way.