I pulled into Princeton Kansas, just short of four in the morning, and found a gas station. I had received a text from Rachael a few minutes earlier, that stated they had the rooms, and I should park in the Denny's parking lot, and call her when I arrived. Just knowing we had one of the five cars safely in Topeka, made me breathe easier.
I called Boone to check on the rest of the group.
"Where are you guys?"
"We just finished taking pictures at checkpoint #2 in Chelsea."
"Boone! that's like only forty miles in!"
"I know, and it's been a rough forty! Darren took about thirty minutes longer than us to get to checkpoint #1, then when he finally showed up, he realized that he lost his cell phone, and wanted to go back home to find it. We told him if he turned back for his phone, we were leaving him!"
"Then why did it take so long to get to Chelsea?"
"The Dakota is using battery up like crazy, the lights were going dim really quick, so we pulled over and tried to wire up the alternator, by looking up details on Dale's smartphone. We figured out enough to full-field it, and hooked it in with his electric fan toggle."
"Alright, well, I'm about an hour or so out, Rachael and Dad are already at the motel, so I'm going to try and join them. Call if things go sideways on you!"
"Like it can get any more sideways?"
"C-mon Boone, this is Drag Week, you know it can!"