View of Infinium from the Lead, with Chase and the Semi Trailer in tow.

Lower surface of Infinium sits while the team charges at LeRoy JrSr High in LeRoy, Illinois

Team members (bottom to top) Eric Relson, Gerald Chang, Santosh Kumar, Dylan Keefe-Reitzell, and Sudeep Rohatgi hold the upper surface while charging at Saint Joseph’s High School in South Bend, Indiana.

After an abbreviated race day, the team is now in LeRoy Illinois, between our checkpoints of Effingham, IL and Bloomington, IL. In the morning, the team opted to start the day late for strategic reasons, then took advantage of the early afternoon to perform modifications and maintenance on the suspension and motor.

We set out from Effingham at 2:30 PM, but were met with cloudy skies and scattered showers. However, we were able to navigate the showers thanks to our Meteorologist, Chris McMeeking. On Tuesday afternoon, heading into Effingham, we managed to dodge storms on our way into the checkpoint:

The team dodges storms on its way into Effingham, IL (represented by the red dot on the map)

Tomorrow we will leave for Bloomington, IL with a careful eye on the weather. We hope to avoid any further rain while crossing back into Indiana and Michigan.

After a full day of racing, the team has arrived in Effingham, Illinois. The team left Fort Wayne, Indiana at 8:12 AM (we had to observe the final 12 minutes of our checkpoint to start the day) and arrived in Kokomo, Indiana at 10:40 AM.

While at the checkpoint, the weather crew successfully launched a weather balloon from the weather vehicle. Thanks once again to Ford for providing us with a F-150 Platinum to transport our weather equipment, and to InterMet Systems for providing our team with the radiosondes launched by the balloon.

The team prepares to lift the upper surface at the control point in Kokomo, Indiana.

Rachel Unger stretches after her stint in the solar car while Sudeep Rohatgi readies himself for his turn.

After leaving from Kokomo, the team drove to Terre Haute, Indiana, arriving at 3:45. Leaving Terre Haute, the team drove towards Effingham, Illinois, with an eye on storms to the west and south of Effingham. Fortunately, the team reached Effingham minutes before 5:00 PM, avoiding all traces of rain.

We would like to thank the Knights of Columbus in Effingham, Illinois, where we have currently set up camp for tonight. They have graciously allowed us to inhabit their parking lot, where we will prepare for the next day. Tomorrow’s route takes us from Effingham, Illinois to Bloomington, Illinois, then on to Kankakee, Illinois, and finally towards South Bend, Indiana.