Like Phileas Fogg, three friends from Utah are on a quest to undertake a trip that has never been done before.
But instead of traveling around the world in 80 days in a hot air balloon, Joshua Keeler, Joey Stocking and Adam Gatherum are trying to drive through all 48 states of the continental United States in less than 120 hours.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the three guys in their early 20s were somewhere in the Midwest after having left Maine Sunday morning. From New England, they headed down the East Coast and then circled back up through the South.
The three arent necessarily driving completely through every state, but they are at least driving through part of each state, and if successful they plan to end up Friday at the Four Corners, where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah meet.
Driving a 2005 Toyota Scion and using a global positioning system to document that they did in fact touch every state, they plan to make the 7,500-mile journey in an estimated five days, seven hours and 15 minutes.
That would break an old Guinness time record for driving though every state in the continental United States. Guinness no longer keeps record of or recognizes cross-country speed records in the interest of public safety, but that hasnt stopped the three men from Utah from trying.
We would really love to (break the record), said Keeler via a phone interview as the three were traveling through Wisconsin and heading for Iowa. Weve got a really good shot at it, and were really hoping for that. But when its all said and done, even if it didnt happen, to have gone through all of the states and everything will be really incredible.
They have also been documenting their trip on their Web site, greatamericanroadtrip.us, with pictures, progress updates and blogs.
Their Web site has brought them international attention and they have been fielding interview requests from places as far away as Europe and South America.
We had no idea, said Keeler. We set out on this and we thought this would be a fun way to spend a week and do something cool and hit all the states, which I think is something that were finding out that a lot of people would like to do or have done.
From the Midwest, they plan on heading to the Pacific Northwest before turning south and traveling through Nevada and California before turning again and ending up at the Four Corners.
Keeler said that so far they seem to be ahead of schedule.
We didnt really have an exact schedule. We had some places that we needed to be and some estimates, but we seem to be ahead of schedule right now and cruising along, said Keeler. Were pretty happy with the progress that were making.
Keeler said the idea for the trip came from his father, James, who planned the trip 15 years ago with two other friends in an attempt to break the Guinness record.
But James said his mother died right before the trip was to start and as a result it never happened. But James said he is very pleased to see his son now tackling the trip.
I am so thrilled that my son has taken the flag and run with it, said James, who has been tracking their progress and helping them field interview requests.
From the road, Keeler said the Scion has been holding up and hasnt experienced any trouble yet. He also said he bought the car because he thought it would be ideal for the trip.
When we decided we were going to do this, I set out to buy a car that I knew would be good for this trip, said Keeler. After looking around, it came down to the Scion. Its roomy for its size, and its got a lot of leg room so we can stretch out. It gets good gas mileage, and its got all the space we need. So it was just a real practicable road trip vehicle.
The trip has taken them to many places they have never seen, and some that they will like to see again.
Interstate 10, coming across the bottom of Louisiana, theres a big section of that thats going though the swamps for who knows how long above the water, said Keeler. That was really incredible. We were really impressed with that road and kind of decided we need to learn a little more about that when we get back.