Race Across Missouri - Post #2

Wow, just wow. With just two weeks to go, it is amazing how many people have joined the conversation regarding our little Race Across Missouri. Social media influencers from every industry have added to the debate on whether it is faster to get to St. Louis in a car, or through air travel.

Here is an update of the race timing on Monday:

At. 8:30, Jake from @Garmin will meet me at my apartment just a couple blocks from One Kansas City Place, our starting point. He will be equipping my vehicle with several devices, the most important being a Garmin GTU tracking unit.This will follow my progress across Missouri, as well as alerting users to my average speed and location.

At 9:00 my co-pilot, Vanessa, will arrive at One Kansas City Place. As a representative of INK magazine, she will be live tweeting progress, in car video, and updates through an in-car mobile hotspot, since I will be driving.

At 9:30, the race is on! Justin and I will be leaving One Kansas City Place on foot, Justin will be racing to make an airport bus, and I will be running the 2 blocks to my parking garage at 9th and Walnut, where the Panamera will be parked. From there, we will be hopping on I-70, bound for the arch.

Justin will complete a series of transitions from bus to airport, airport to airport via plane, and try to get a cab to the arch before I arrive. This can not happen.

I would like to thank a couple of our sponsors, INK magazine, Porsche North America, and Garmin to name a few. I would also like to thank the management team at Aristocrat Motors, without whom this would not be possible.

I will tweet some images of the prepped vehicle tomorrow night, and look forward to the challenge on Monday!

Race Across Missouri - Post #1

In five days time, I will be in a competition that spans the state of Missouri. At 9:30am local time, I will depart One Kansas City Place downtown for the St. Louis Arch in a 2011 Porsche Panamera. Justin Meyer, from the Kansas City International Airport will be headed to the same destination, but in a slightly different way. He will be taking a city bus to KCI, a Southwest Airlines flight to St. Louis, and then a city cab to the arch.

I don’t need to detract from air travel to extol the merits of driving. Simply put, I will be in a vehicle that has been designed to be luxurious, fun to drive, and above all, comfortable. These advantages all will be overshadowed by the fact that I am going to beat Justin, despite his ability to travel at speeds exceeding 400 miles per hour for a (small) part of the race. [Note- for those following along, I will be tracked by the good folks at Garmin to make sure I don’t break the speed limit, which would disqualify me]

Public transportation has its place, but at the heart of my win will be a victory for grand touring vehicles and the age old American road trip. We have the freedom to pack it all up and go wherever we want, without schedules and hassle is a spirit this country embodies.

Getting behind the wheel of a car of this caliber is an event in itself. Dr. Ferry Porsche, the founder of the company is famously quoted as saying “I could not buy the car of my dreams, so I decided to build it.” This is what the Porsche represents, dreams. Since a young boy I have dreamed about taking a cross country road trip in a car like this, with the sound of the engine and the open road. Win or lose (unlikely), this will be an experience that I will remember forever.

Can that be said for a bus, a coach class ticket, and a cab ride? I doubt it.

With due diligence, I write this post from a Chilis in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, en route to a training session in Newport Beach, CA. Obviously I am taking to the friendly skies in an effort to get their quickly, but I can’t stop but wonder how many more memories I would gain if I was in the Porsche.

Expect more posts of the smack-talk variety in the coming days, but I will end the post with a single question: Despite the final result of the competition, have I already won?

Aristocrat Motors and Sleepyhead Beds

Our Mercedes-Benz dealerships,  in conjunction with Sleepyhead Beds, a Kansas City based nonprofit organization,  will be holding back to back weekend Bed Drives to benefit children in the metro area that do not have a bed to sleep in at night. Currently, this represents 1 in every 42 of our area kids.

We NEED any and all of the following:

1. Volunteers! We need help loading and unloading beds, sterilization of donations, and drivers.
2. Beds! We will be accepting full and twin size mattress and box spring combos.
3. Bedding! We need sheets and bedding for twin and full size beds.
4. Pillows! We need them, but they must be NEW IN THE PACKAGE pillows.
5. Monetary Donations! Every $40 donated is a bed-equivalent.

Bed Drive #1:

Saturday, September 10^th, 2011

Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City

13851 Madison Avenue (1/4 mile east of 135^th and State Line, on Hwy 150)

Kansas City, Missouri 64145

8:00 AM – 12 NOON

Bed Drive #2:

Saturday, September 17^th, 2011

Aristocrat Motors

9400 w. 65^th St.  (Exit I35 on 67^th Street go west to Carter, north on Carter and East on 65^th (follow signs)

Merriam, KS 66203

8:00 AM – 12 NOON

For more information on the bed drive, to volunteer, or schedule a drop-off or pickup of a donation, contact:

Monica Starr

Monica@sleepyheadbeds.org

816.547.9965

For more information on how the Kansas City Area Mercedes-Benz Dealers are participating, contact:

Robert Hellweg

Robert.Hellweg@soaveauto.com

913.677.7414

Some other Questions you might be asked…..

How does a child get a bed?: We have no formal application process. If a child needs a bed and we have it, the child gets the bed.

Delivery?: We will pick up and deliver beds and bedding in the Kansas City metro area.

Sanitation: Each mattress is fully sanitized before it leaves our facility. We use SteriFab, a non-residual, biodegradable sanitizer that is effective against fungus, mold, mildew, bed bugs, dust mites, fleas, lice, ticks and more. It is one of the only non-residual sanitizers labeled for use on mattresses. We also clean each mattress with a special UV vacuum.

Tax Deductions: All donations to Sleepyhead Beds are tax deductible.