Brammo - Shocking Barack
The journey to present our president with the most energy efficient electric vehicle in America
Follow our Journey
The Route
Starting in Detroit, we are going to trace the journey taken by the Big 3 automotive CEOs in 2008. Only we are going to get to DC on electric motorcycles at a cost of about $4 per guy.
Tomorrow it begins. Time to start building an industry that will make the world a better place. One mile at a time.
WE MADE THE NEWS!
We started the day with a quick interview with Fox news in Detroit. We’re not sure when it’s going to be on but we will post a link to their website as soon as we have it. It’s pretty exciting to see the level of interest and support so far.
AN IRONIC DEPARTURE GATE
Today we began our journey to Washington DC from the exact same place
the Big 3 CEOs started theirs–the private jet terminal at Detroit’s Wayne
County Airport. At first they said it was OK to shoot in the terminal, but
as soon as they found out what we were about they shut us down. Brian
suspects it might be because we weren’t properly attired, or because we
don’t play squash or have ski cottages in Aspen. So anyway, we found the
next best thing. An abandoned …
THANKS TO OUR FIRST SPONSOR
A plug for a plug. Zingerman’s was our first charging spot and will
always own a special place in our minds and in this journey. Is it just
us or does Zingerman’s look like a place that has been suddenly thrust
into the 21st century with that Brammo powercycle out front. The best of
the old school meets the best of the new school. Thanks again. Where to
next?
Brian and Dave
“WHO KILLED THE EV” NOT EXACTLY
A WHO-DONE-IT
While we were recharging at Zingerman’s, Jim Cousens stopped by–guy
who at one time owned the largest collection of vintage electric vehicles in
the world. Eye-opening conversation. EVs were prevalent around the turn of
the century, but disappeared when no infrastructure of plugs arose to
support them. With environmental issues making EVs the only viable
alternative for the future of transportation, why is the infrastructure not
being built to support them now? You don’t have to be a master logician to
figure out who stands to benefit …
HANGING WITH AUTOBLOGREEN
IN ANN ARBOR
Just dropped by autobloggreen and hung out with author/editor Sam
Abualsamid. Cool guy and seemed to dig the mission. Brian took him through
some tech stuff, then did a few speed runs down the street for the camera.
Brian and Sam were definitely vibing on the nerd stuff. I didn’t understand
half of what they said, but I assure you it was poignant if you went to MIT,
or U of M for that matter. Afterwards Sam let us plug into an outlet …
OK, so the goggles are all Sopwith Camel’d out. But we’re crossing
an ocean of doubt, so they kinda work. Or not.
BIG TIME SPECIAL EFFECTS
We have no budget. But that didn’t stop us from incorporating special
effects. Set up a still camera for long exposure, walk around the bike with
lights, and you’ve got this. Sort of looks like the scene in Indiana Jones
when they open the Ark. Only instead of crazy illuminated demons coming out,
these are rays of hope.
STRANGE BED FELLOWS
This is BRAMMO Lead Engineer Aaron Bland, with an Enertia powercycle
plugged into the wall outlet next to his bed. We’re not saying there was any
sort of inappropriate “interaction” between the two, but the bike would not
talk the next day. It didn’t say one word. Weird.
APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE CARBON AWAY
While filling up on some breakfast we saw these. Funny to think that
our entire trip to see obama will cost us about the price of four apples,
and zero carbon emissions.
HE KNOWS SOME PEOPLE WHO MAY KNOW SOME PEOPLE
First stop of the day was Adrian, Michigan. We met the mayor, Gary McDowell, who suggested we contact two Senators and a Congressman. We probed him to find out if any of the three were particularly susceptible to bribes, to which the Mayor replied “I’m not going near that with a 40-foot pole.” I think collectively we have like 84 dollars, but you never know, maybe one of the Senators is in a bind. Anyway, the mayor was very …
READ MOREAWARENESS OF EVs: UNDER CONSTRUCTION
When we emerged from Adrian City Hall there was a throng of people surrounding the bikes, including a bunch of construction workers, including one guy, John Lueder, who’s hardhat was covered with motorcycle stickers.
Choppers Inc, Wiseco Pistons, etc, etc. The kind of guy who wouldn’t be caught dead on an EV. Well one thing leads to another, and Brian hands him the keys to the Enertia. Then he was gone. For an uncomfortably long time.
And when he finally came …
INSTA-PRESS
By now everyone knows the internet has exploded the traditional news model.
And it’s mind-boggling to see how fast one net-savvy person can generate a story. While other reporters scrawled on pads of paper and snapped still photos, Adrian Telegram reporter Erik Gable stood to the side with a camera phone and a tiny digital audio recorder. MINUTES later, he generated a comprehensive article on the Telegram website. We weren’t even saddled up when the local story hit. http://bit.ly/1sAjVa Amazing. …
BIG OIL CLOUD-SEEDS SHOCKING
OBAMA ROUTE
Who has something to gain if this trip is a success? Pretty much everyone on earth, except oil companies. Who has something to lose? Oil companies.
So naturally, when we were hit by rain shortly after crossing the Ohio state line, we knew it was the result of a carefully orchestrated cloud-seeding effort on the part of big oil. We’re not sure which companies were involved, and we have absolutely no evidence, other than our rain-soaked clothing, but it’s painfully obvious …
WHAT DOES ENERGY EFFICIENCY HAVE TO DO WITH MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL?
At Energy Saver Advisors in Toledo, Ohio, the two are separated by nothing more than a pane of “low-e” glass. After letting us use the outlets in the lobby, Energy Saver Vice President Matt Simon treated us to lunch in what is easily the coolest office any of us had ever seen. The Energy Saver office not only overlooks, but is physically connected to the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tiger’s farm club) award-winning baseball stadium. No game was in progress, …
READ MORECHANNEL 13 DOES HARD-HITTING STORY ON BRIAN’S HAIR
The ABC affiliate in Toledo, WTVG, sent a news crew out to meet us and see the bikes. They learned about our mission, and Brian was kind enough to do some speed runs in the rain for their cameras. But the pivotal part of the interview took place when I pointed out how luxurious Brian’s hair was. I was counting on this comment putting him on his heels, but instead, he deftly launched an on-camera counter-attack, pointing out that …
READ MOREOUR FIRST “NO!”
Access to electricity is not a foregone conclusion. Running on sparks (the
electric equivalent of fumes), we pulled into a chinese restaurant in
Fremont, Ohio, but when we asked if we could plug in, we received an
unceremonious “No!” from ownership. And you know what; there’s absolutely
nothing wrong with that. We know we aren’t entitled to anyone’s
electricity. We’re grateful when we get it, and we’re not embittered when
we don’t. Now, if only legislators would get serious about a
recharge-friendly infrastructure. Lucky for us, another …
CAN A GUY TAKE A PEE?
We pulled into a gas station to use the facilities on the way to Sandusky,
only to realize the “bathroom for customers only” technically applied to us.
We were on electric vehicles, and therefore had not purchased petroleum
products. But the clerk was willing to overlook the fact and let us in.
And she was into the project, which was cool.
BANANA PANCAKES WITH A LOCAL LUMINARY
When we got to Sandusky, a town of roughly 24,000 people, we were invited
into the home of Mark Norman. We were told his home was styrofoam, so we
rode around looking for something that looked like an igloo. But as it
turns out, Mark’s home looks like any other, until you get the grand tour.
The entire thing is insulated with styrofoam, and decked out with the latest
electronically controlled heating and cooling gadgetry. We’re not talking
about programmable thermostats from Home Depot. Mark’s “control …
0 – 2 AT CHINESE RESTAURANTS
Our first declined request to charge-up took place at a Chinese restaurant in Fremont, Ohio. So when we pulled into our second Chinese restaurant in Lorain, OH, we were certain, based on the law of averages, that we’d get the green light. Unfortunately it was strike 2. Though the proprietor of this subtly decorated establishment seemed fine with the concept of us recharging, he claimed the plug attached to the front of his restaurant did not fall under his …
READ MOREUNLIMITED SUPPLY OF HAND WARMERS, COURTESY OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB
Throughout the cold wet trip we’ve relied heavily on little hand-warming packets placed inside our gloves. And there’s absolutely no danger of us running out of them, as several folks following the blog tracked our gps coordinates and sent us the addresses of retail stores along the route that stock the warmers. We feel the love. Literally.
UNCONSTITUTIONAL SCHMUNCONSTITUTIONAL
Throughout the journey people have been sending us all kinds of helpful
information. But we received a troubling bit of information last night.
According to Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution, the president
can’t accept gifts. Gifts like a BRAMMO Enertia. Anyone have any ideas how
to get around this? We can’t let a pesky little piece of legislation like
the United States Constitution stand in our way. Or, as Brian says, “Where
there’s a law, there’s a loophole.” Any insight from practicing lawyers …
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS. THEN AGAIN, SOMETIMES IT’S THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
On a street corner in the suburbs outside Cleveland we found ourselves down
to 1-percent of battery capacity. So we had no choice but to knock on the
door of the first house we came to, and opportunity answered in the form of
a sweet-yet-terrified octogenarian with a crazy Kaiser Wilhelm accent and
her hair done up in corncob-sized rollers. No doubt the translucent plastic
half-dome hairdryer she was sitting under before we got there draws more
current than our bikes. Anyway, after Brian charmed her …
BRIAN LEAVES ME FOR DEAD, GIVES INSPIRING PRESENTATION AT CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART WHILE I DIE (AS FAR AS HE KNOWS).
Since we only plugged in at the German lady’s house for a short time, I ran
out of juice right before we reached our intended destination–the
prestigious Cleveland Institute of Art, a well known cradle for some of the
nation’s most talented automotive designers. Casually placing the students’
education before my survival, Brian rode ahead, regaling the students with
anecdotes from the trip and insights about the bike while I (as far as he
knew) died a slow horrible death in the streets. Luckily, nothing
whatsoever happened …
RIDING THE HALLS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
The bikes charged overnight in a gallery space at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and when we picked them up in the morning they looked pretty cool against the wood floor and clean white wall space. Even better, the faculty let us ride them through the halls on our way out, and it was fun to see students and professors poking their heads out of classrooms and offices with quizzical smiles on their faces. It’s an experience only possible on …
READ MOREHELMET HAIR
It’s not the cold or the rain or the long miles that get you. It’s the inescapable fact that a helmet has turned your hair into a sickly, matted rat’s nest.
SCIENCE CENTER ACTUALLY A
RECTANGULAR REPOSITORY OF
REALLY COOL PEOPLE
Just as we thought the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame staff might be laid back, we suspected the folks at the Great Lakes Science Center would be a little neurotic. Wrong again. Science Center Vice President Blake Andres was one of the coolest people we’ve met in our entire lives, and his museum rocks significantly harder than its stressed-out neighbor. Not only did Blake let us plug in at an outdoor outlet adjacent to the center’s decorative pond, but …
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ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME ACTUALLY
A TRIANGULAR GLASS HIVE OF UPTIGHT
PENCIL PUSHERS
We thought it would be fun to drop by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and see what they thought of our journey. We figured any place that had plug-in devices like the Fender Stratocaster might be open to plug-in devices of the two-wheeled variety, and it seemed like the staff might have something in common with the musicians enshrined there–creative, open-minded, engaging, fun. Unfortunately, the people we encountered seemed about as “Rock and Roll” as tax attorneys. We …
READ MORECHIPS REDUX
Video of cop escorting When a CPD motorcycle cop pulled up and suspiciously
eyed the bikes, we were half expecting to be taken into custody. After an
awkward moment, I said “You’re looking at these like, ‘What the hell are
those things,” to which he replied, “What the hell are those things.” He
turned out to be a super-friendly and funny guy, and he had all kinds of
questions about the bike. Once his curiosity was satisfied, he offered Brian
a short clinic in police …
THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF
REAL-TIME BROADCASTING
When we decided to undertake this journey one of the goals was to generate
media-rich content the whole time. The primary victim of that strategy has
been Mike Gersten, who’s spent the entire journey in the back of the chase
van editing on his laptop. As of this entry, he is nearing the breaking
point, so don’t be surprised if the last video ever posted is an extremely
well-edited, cinema verite style piece featuring Mike killing us all in our
sleep.
NOTE: The official turn-around for …
WE ENCOUNTER A GREMLIN IN AURORA
If you’ve been following the GPS function, you’re probably aware that our
bikes are at a dead stop, right at the Aurora, Ohio police station. We
haven’t been taken into custody, and the bikes are not in impound. After
stopping to charge in Aurora we discovered that one of the bikes needed a
new motor controller, a small part that we can easily swap out (if we had
one.) Aaron had one Fed Ex’d from Ashland, and it’ll be here tomorrow
morning. The cool thing is, …
DYING OUTSIDE AURORA
Weird how a human being’s outlook tends to mirror the weather. Today it was cold and ominous and it rained the entire time we were riding. And it was starting to seem like this whole Shocking Barack thing was a doomed enterprise. What were we thinking? Were we gonna breeze into DC and do a little reverse presidential motorcade? Like, Brian and Barack on the BRAMMOs and me in the limo, and we all stop and change places every …
READ MORERESURRECTED IN SEBRING
The moment we rolled into town, Sebring felt like home. First there was the name of the small town grocery store where we recharged. The West Oregon Express. With BRAMMO headquartered in Ashland, Oregon, Brian couldn’t help but feel like he was in friendly territory, a feeling confirmed when the clerk happily let us plug-in on establishment’s front porch. While the bikes were charging we walked down the street to The Log Cabin Bar and Grill, where we were …
READ MOREGREEN MEETS BLUE AT HARRY’S PLACE
Recharged from both a mental and vehicular perspective, we crossed the Pennsylvania border in the rain and dark. And when our bikes were nearly drained we rolled up to a restaurant bar called Harry’s Place, in search of a plug. Proprietor William Myers let us roll our bikes directly inside the bar’s billiard area. We plugged into a wall socket also powering a video poker machine, it occurred to us that never before had two more different devices drawn current …
READ MOREDISASTER AVERTED
A few days back we learned the constitution forbid elected officials from accepting gifts. But today, @sefba, a helpful follower and astute observer of governmental type stuff, informed us that the President and Vice President are exempted from this strident no-gift policy. Even better, since Brian/BRAMMO are American, there is no limitation on gift value (the prez and vice prez can accept gifts from foreign citizens, but the value can’t exceed $250). Check out link: http://www.slate.com/id/1001949/ Thank you @sefba!
If a town the size of Sebring can install plugs along its streets to light trees during the christmas season, why can’t the nation do the same for EVs?
HERE LIES AN OLD FRIEND
On our way to Pittsburgh we stopped to pay our respects to a friend we’d both grown up with. A friend we met the first time we were buckled into the back seat of our mother’s cars, and really got to know on our 15th birthdays. Our friend lived a long amazing life, and thoroughly enriched our own lives along the way. But his time has come, and the world is moving on.
TERRIBLE TOWELS, REALLY GOOD CLAM CHOWDER
We rolled into Pittsburgh in the general vicinity of Heinz Field, where a Steelers game was clearly about to start since the place was a sea of black and gold. In a parking lot adjacent to the field there was a wild tailgate session in progress, a miniature city of custom RVs crawling with crazed Steelers fans. We rode into the lot on a pedestrian-only walking path, bypassing the guard at the lot’s chained-off main entrance, and asked the first …
READ MOREWHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS RIGHT NOW.
An astute shockingbarack follower recently voiced concern over giving the President an EV of any kind, citing George W. Bush’s ill-fated voyage on a Segway. But it’s pretty clear Barack Obama has skills beyond those necessary to inhabit the oval office. The guy plays hoops. Clearly he’s an athlete. And what this country needs right now, aside the rebirth of domestic manufacturing and a bunch of other really important stuff, is a Commander in Chief who doesn’t tip …
READ MORE
Funny drawing in Pitt men’s room. We’re all for shaking up the system, but this is a little aggressive.
This Steelers fan seemed like he would happily participate in any suspension test that involved running over people in Cleveland Browns colors.
YES WE CAN
Can we make it to DC? Can we really give a bike to Obama? From the outset we’ve asked ourselves those questions. But those aren’t the real questions, the big questions, the questions to which even an imagined “yes” generates goose bumps. Can Americans innovate? Can we create jobs? Can people go from A to B without harming the earth? These are the questions that matter, the real questions behind our trip. And since we are optimists, we decided to …
READ MORESIGN RIGHT HERE
This trip isn’t about Brian and I giving Obama a bike. It’s about America proving that the country is still creative (something it has always been), and that it can still do a lot with a little (something it hasn’t had to do for a long time). These bikes are from the whole country to Obama, so we’ve started inviting people to sign them wherever we go. But you don’t have to live along our route if you want to …
READ MOREwhat HE said
The motto of Carnegie Mellon University is a quote from founder Andrew Carnegie, “My heart is in the work.” Amen brother. We feel the same way. So it was particularly gratifying to share our work with some design students before we left Pittsburgh. As usual we showed up with little to no prior notice, so with the school’s design studio full of students and projects, we were relegated to a dumpster-laden back alley behind the department’s main building. But the …
READ MORECAFFEINE: LIQUID ATTENTION SPAN
Caffeine has become nearly as indispensable to us as electricity–it’s mostly caffeine that has kept Brian and I from riding into a ditch, or the grille of an oncoming Kenworth. So when Ken Zeff and Adrienne Zangrille, owners of Crazy Mocha, offered to hook us up with both forms of fuel, we were we all over it. With 25 locations, Crazy Mocha is Pittsburgh’s answer to Starbucks, only instead of all the stores looking the same, each has it’s own …
READ MOREPUMPING LITHIUM IRON PHOSPHATE
Southside Iron Works is an old school Pittsburgh gym that’s been in business 25 years. There are no fancy machines, no Aveda products in the locker room, no electronica being piped in through tastefully hidden speakers. There are rusty racks, worn carpet, and 9 million pounds in free weight. Hardly the place you’d expect to find a guy with loads of ideas about electric vehicles. But EVs are no longer a green issue. They’re a common sense issue. …
READ MORETHE TRUTH ABOUT COUCHSURFING
It’s safe to say that before this trip Brian and I would have found the term “couchsurfing” abhorrent. The idea of turning someone else’s sectional sofa into makeshift living quarters seemed a little invasive to both of us. Then there’s the fact that people’s homes seem to have their own unique olfactory signature. Not a bad smell, just a “them” smell. A constant reminder that you’re on foreign ground. Is it OK to set a glass down on the antique …
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WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO
Despite inclement weather, road weariness, and a few fleeting moments of self-doubt, our trip has been marked by warmth and laughter, and a strong sense of hope. But there was nothing hopeful about Monessen, PA, and as we rode past boarded-up businesses, crumbling homes, and the mile-long remains of a dead steel mill on the Monongahela River, it was hard to be positive.
1500 people lost their jobs here in July as faith in US-made vehicles evaporated, eliminating demand for the …
HAPPY FEET, AND A COIN-INDUCED
ECONOMIC REVELATION
A person’s mental outlook is directly attributable to the state of their feet. Just look at the Grinch. Shoes two sizes too small turned a benevolent dog-loving homebody into a psychotic sled-driving misanthrope, and were in fact the impetus for his devastating unilateral attack on Whoville. To avoid precisely this kind of podiatric disaster, Brian and I have gone to great lengths to keep our feet happy, swapping from sneakers to boots in the cold, and even resorting to gortex …
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THE SECOND REBELLION TO
COME OUT OF BERLIN, PA
As night fell we rolled into the historic town of Berlin, Pennsylvania in search of a charge. About the only thing open was a little place called the House of Miracles, an unlikely amalgam of coffee shop, religious book store and historical site. We plugged the bikes into an exterior outlet and ventured inside, where our senses were immediately assailed by colonial architecture, gregorian chant, and fresh espresso. The door was guarded by a life-sized Roman soldier, but the interior …
READ MOREAN UNLIKELY ALLY
It was still brisk at daybreak, cold enough to see our own breath, but by mid-morning the sun was high enough to warm us, not to mention set the gold and red leaves ablaze with light. As we raced through the hills it was clear that electric vehicles have no problem with steep grades. I asked Brian about that (he’s smart), and he explained that as the load increases on an electric motor, the toque automatically increases right along with …
READ MOREWE GET AMPERAGE FROM A FOSSIL FUEL FAN
Many people who’ve reached out and offered us electricity through the website are into things like alternative energy and sustainability. It stands to reason that green types would want to help out a couple of guys on electric vehicles. So we were a little confused when we pulled into the Leesburg home of Chris Smith. There was no recycled birdhouse. No tumbling composter. No found-object wind chime. But there was a Porsche GT3 RS with a roll cage, smart …
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AN ILL-CONCEIVED PLAN NEVER EVEN GETS
OFF THE GROUND IN WINCHESTER, PA.
We are no one. But George Washington was someone. So what if, on our way through Winchester, PA, we stopped at George Washington’s old office and tried to call Obama from there. Surely the Whitehouse has caller ID, and one can imagine a call from George Washington might carry serious weight. Yes, there are some obvious flaws in the logic. For instance, neither Brian nor myself can do a colonial accent. Plus if they quizzed us, like, “Which foot …
READ MOREWE’RE WELCOMED BY THE EVADC
Our next stop was Silver Springs, Maryland, just outside DC. It was hard to believe we were so close to the Capitol, and we kept peeking at the top of the trees, expecting to see the Washington monument poking out. But our destination tonight was not the White House. It was a restaurant called Fajita Coast, where we were invited to a dinner being hosted by the Electric Vehicle Association, a Washington EV club. The fact that electric vehicle clubs …
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DISCOVERING NO ONE HERE
WORKS ON SATURDAY
No one in government works on Saturdays. Actually no one works on Friday either, and from what we’ve heard, they take it kind of easy on Monday, too. But that didn’t stop us from making some preliminary calls. For the most part we got answering machines, but we did speak with an officer of some sort on the Department of Energy’s emergency hotline. We thought we had called a number for urgent business, but it sounded more of a …
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NOW THAT WE’RE HERE,
THE REAL JOURNEY BEGINS
We’ve ridden through big cities and small towns, past lakes and over
mountains, through rain, wind and sun, recharging in the homes and
businesses of generous Americans, and sleeping on their couches when we
needed a rest. Through it all the bikes performed superbly, hitting 70 mph
on flat stretches, and going hitting up to 50 miles between charges once the
batteries broke in. Aside from swapping out a motor controller, we were
mechanically trouble free. But as excited as we are to have covered the
distance, …
INVITE SENATORS OR CONGRESSMEN
FROM YOUR STATE
On Tuesday Brian and I will be on Capitol Hill, meeting Senators and Congressmen, talking about our journey and the future of EVs in America. Attach this video as you contact lawmakers from YOUR state and let them know that if they’re interested in a homegrown solution for the American transportation crisis, we’ll be on Capitol Hill Tuesday, at 2PM, on the Senate side. Thanks for your help.
WHO NEEDS A PLAN WHEN YOU
HAVE AN ANSWER?
So we’re not exactly the world’s slickest operation, and we didn’t really work the system or do lots of planning. How are you supposed to work the system from the side of the road in Lorain, Ohio, or on some guy’s pull-out couch in Pittsburgh, PA? We’re just happy to have clean socks. Anyway, a plan is what you make when you don’t have an answer. And that’s what these bikes are. A rolling answer …
READ MORETHE COUNCIL FOR “WHATEVER, DUDE.”
There’s no such thing as the CWD, but for us, today, that’s what the Council for Environmental Quality was. The CEQ is a division of the Executive Office and coordinates all federal environmental efforts. We got as far as the reception area, where a kind lady having noodles for lunch informed us that they could not help us get to the president or accept the bike on his behalf. Though very friendly, there was a strong hint …
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RAY OF HOPE GENERATED BY FANCY
SWEATERS QUICKLY EXTINGUISHED
BY SOILED SHOES
Shortly after we parked near the White House, a group of distinguished looking gentlemen wearing pleated slacks and government-issue White House sweaters gathered excitedly around the bikes. It seemed like this was exactly the kind of break we’d been looking for. We just needed to get the bikes in front of the right people, and now that we’d stumbled into this group of strolling Cabinet members, a meeting with Obama was a foregone conclusion. As I watched …
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WE RING THE WHITE HOUSE DOORBELL, AND
SOMEONE ACTUALLY COMES OUT TO MEET US.
After dozens of fruitless attempts to contact someone, anyone, who could get us in the door, we finally resorted to simply walking up to the White House and ringing the doorbell. Well, it’s not a doorbell in the normal sense. Sure, the button thing you push is almost exactly like a normal doorbell, but instead of a door, it’s mounted to a heavily-guarded iron gate. And instead of sending a melodic chime into the home of a …
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WE TRY LEAVING THE BIKE AT
A SHRINE TO THE PAST
Being the first American production highway-legal electric motorcycle seemed historically significant, so we decided to visit the Smithsonian Institute, and specifically, the Museum of American History, since that’s where they display transportation industry exhibits. Brian became hopeful as soon as we entered the building, because C3PO, the chattering gold robot from Star Wars, was on display- clearly the museum was open to accepting futuristic donations. But, as we soon found out, the Smithsonian is every bit as bureaucratic as the …
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WE TRY LEAVING THE BIKE AT
A BEACON OF THE FUTURE
The Secretary of Energy, Dr. Stephen Chu, was quoted recently as saying that if it was up to him, he would spend every penny of automotive funding on electric vehicles. So if the Smithsonian wouldn’t take the bike, maybe the Department of Energy would. We had heard they display energy-related things in their lobby, and the bike seemed to align with Secretary Chu’s thoughts on transportation. When we pulled up we saw security was taken very seriously at the DOE, …
READ MOREMEETING THE PRESS ON CAPITOL HILL
Well maybe we didn’t have momentum in government circles, but it was nice to find out we had a little momentum in pop culture. Thanks to all the people who’ve been following us and the growing popularity of the site, we landed an interview with a reporter from the Associated Press. There weren’t any Senators or Congressmen there, but a few of them sent staff members, who were kind enough to drop by and say hello despite the cold rain. …
READ MOREWE RECEIVE SOME PRETTY HUGE NEWS
Since we arrived in Washington we’d been pounding the pavement and banging on doors all over the capitol, right up to the White House itself, trying not to run afoul of the United States Secret Service or any other government agency in our attempt to get an electric motorcycle to President Obama. But at times it seemed like we had gotten nowhere. At least, that’s what we thought. Then, just when we were starting to reconcile ourselves with the fact …
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CRAIG MEETS WITH US SECRETARY OF
ENERGY AND SELECT CAPTAINS
OF INDUSTRY
As Brian and I watched a dialed, well-dressed Craig Bramscher effortlessly clear White House security and walk through the same type of gate we were nearly shot at, we had to admit that maybe we weren’t White House material. I have stuff on my neck and hands, and after two weeks on the road, Brian looked like he’d just rolled out of a cardboard dwelling situated underneath a highway overpass. Still, as much as we wanted to be on …
READ MOREWE GIVE A BIKE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
I never shut up. Brian, on the other hand, is pretty soft spoken. Which means that when he says something, it usually has substance. And his summation of how we finally gave Barack Obama an electric motorcycle is as humble and genuine as he is: “It isn’t a fairytale ending, but it’s real, and in the end, maybe that’s better.” Brian uttered those words shortly after we locked Barack’s bike to a pole at an undisclosed location in the Greater …
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What We're Doing
Our plan is to retrace the route of the automotive CEOs who went to Washington DC asking for government loans. But instead of looking for aid, we'd like to present President Obama with a homegrown solution to the transportation crisis. And instead of flying in a corporate jet, we're riding Brammo Enertia powercycles. We're just a couple of guys who work for Brammo, but we want to show that there's a better way to get from Point A to Point B. And we want to have a little fun while we're doing it. So join us as we surf from plug to plug in a quest to meet Obama, fueled by nothing more than electricity and the kindness of everyday Americans.
Help Us
Share an outlet
If you can give us access to a standard household electrical outlet, we can top-off and make it to our next stop. A full charge is only 30¢ and we're happy to reimburse anyone interested. So please email or tweet us so we can connect.
Share a couch
If you live along the route and we can crash on your couch or floor let us know. We'd be genuinely happy to meet and hang out with you, and we'd be considerate guests in your home. You can email us or use couchsurfing.com.
Help us meet the president
If you know Barack Obama, or you know someone who knows him, or you're friends with someone who knows someone who knows him, please contact us. We'd be grateful for any help you can give us in meeting him.
Contact the White House
If you'd like to see the White House accept a gift from the whole country, drop them a note.