By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-815410.mp3
Dallas, TX – This weekend, CARPOOLS across the nation are setting out for Washington DC and the Obama Inauguration. KERA's BJ Austin says one Fort Worth man is signed up, and leaves tomorrow.
Steve Lerma of Fort Worth got a ticket to the Inaguration and was trying to figure out how to get there when he came upon an Austin company called Trip Verde. It's putting together carpools to the Inauguration, and the company's Marianne Linde says this nationwide carpool is the biggest event they've organized since the company's start-up last May.
Linde: We felt initially, going in, that we would probably do well with folks that lived east of the Mississippi, but we currently have people registered in the system from more than 40 cities across the United States and Canada - as far away as Toronto to Irvine, California.
Steve Lerma says a CARPOOL to the Obama Inauguration is fits right in with a new "green" attitude.
Lerma: I am a very big green proponent. I use bio diesel in my truck. I have a wind generator at my house. The houses that I build as a homebuilder, I try to make as energy efficient as I possibly can. So, I think it's just the perfect opportunity for me to keep exercising what I believe in.
Lerma says he's driving a seven passenger van that'll be FULL: three people from Austin and then passengers in Oklahoma City, Memphis and Chattanooga.
Lerma: It's gonna be fun for the people who are gonna be going. You know, we may even stop in Graceland -see Elvis Presley's house. You know it's gonna be an adventure.
Riders starting in Fort Worth will pay around 170 dollars each. The cost is based on the cost of gasoline and miles ridden. The driver makes the cost of gas, plus a little extra. Lerma says he'll be staying on the couch of a friend of a friend's brother once he arrives. But he says he wouldn't miss this moment in history.