(soft gentle music) (soft gentle music) - I don't have words for this place yet.

The day's just getting started.

(soft gentle music) (wind blowing) Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

(excitable whispered noises) (cars buzzing) (Sophie whisper-screams) - [Brendan] I think we have to go the other way.

- The signs all say not to approach the elk, so I'm not approaching the elk.

We're going to play a game of I Spy.

How many elk can you find?

(wind blowing) (soft gentle music) The answer was a lot.

A lot of elk.

I think there are eight elk.

You're supposed to back away from the elk, but if backing away from the elk means backing off of the Grand Canyon... Oh gosh.

- Did you see me?

I was here.

- [Sophie] Oh.

- I think I got something, but I didn't want to move too much.

- [Sophie] Sure.

- [Brendan] Oh my God.

Oh my God.

(gravel crunching) (gentle upbeat music) - [Sophie] I spy a squirrel, and I spy a Brendan.

(gentle upbeat music) (cars buzzing) Every angle is a good angle for the Grand Canyon.

Can I tell you some stuff about rocks now?

- [Brendan] Yeah, sure.

- Okay.

(lively upbeat music) Someone just said I have a nice voice.

Maybe I need to have a cold all the time.

[Mimicking congested voice] Welcome to the Grand Canyon.

[Mimicking congested voice] The Grand Canyon!

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and averages about a mile deep.

It spans the length of the Colorado River that flows through it, and that river carved this canyon over five million years.

Water is so strong.

(raven caws) The crow agrees.

Or is that a raven?

Hm, that's a raven.

The Grand Canyon is wide, 18 miles in some places.

Because of that, you might think that the river must have also been wider at some point.

But no, the Colorado River has always been about the same width.

The bigger width of the Grand Canyon comes from erosion from rain and snow over many, many, many, many, many, many years.

The canyon is five million years old, but the rocks are much, much older.

That top layer of rock, the newest layer is 270 million years old, and the bottom layer is 1.8 billion years old.

(lively upbeat music) Geologic history.

All right, so let's talk about the Feds.

The federal government owns the river and the shoreline in the Grand Canyon itself, but most of the south rim of the Grand Canyon is owned by three indigenous tribes: The Navajo, the Hualapai, and the Havasupai.

The Havasupai peoples' arrival dates back to the 1300s, making them the only group of people known to have continuously lived here.

They still live here in the Grand Canyon.

Before them, earlier people lived and hunted and gathered right here, like literally here.

These are ruins from the Ancestral Puebloan people from the 1100s.

Now, before them, the earliest evidence of human activity in the Grand Canyon dates back 12,000 years.

It's not this bench.

I wonder if this bench will be here in 12,000 years.

(banjo music) "Duck on a rock?"

Question mark.

Is literally what the sign says.

That was exactly what we said when we walked up to it.

We look for patterns and shapes and recognizable objects and things, right, like clouds.

This was named by early explorers as the "Duck on a Rock".

Does it look like a duck to you?

(duck quacking) Will it look like a duck in 50 years?

Will it look like a duck in a hundred years?

I don't know.

Only time will tell.

Not a native species.

(soft gentle music) (soft gentle music) (insects chirping) What a day.

Thank you, Grand Canyon.

(wind blowing) (soft gentle music) (graphic whooshing) (soft gentle music) Yesterday was one of the best days of the whole trip.

It was so awesome, and I mean that in the literal sense of the word.

There was so much awe all day, all day long.

From the moment we got there in the dark to midnight last night when we were stargazing in the dark skies, the most stars I've ever seen and the most quiet I've ever experienced.

I could only imagine it was like to live before lights, before electricity, just to be in a place and to know that place.

We have, quote, modern amenities that make our lives easier.

The trade-off, I think, is connection with this earth.

And what better example of this earth than the Grand Canyon?

The layers of rock are referred to as an open book because you can read time passing.

To me, the Grand Canyon is a perfect example of all the different lenses with which you can be a scientist and all the different lenses with which you can encounter the world.

You've got the lens of geology, biology, and ecology, the lens of an artist, the lens of a historian, the lens of a storyteller, and you get to choose at any given moment which lens you want to put on, and then you get to connect them and you get to see this multifaceted, sparkling, spectacular, starry network of these places that are wonders of the world.

So I'm going to enjoy (chuckles) the trees and the sun and the water and the Grand Canyon before we completely shift tones by the end of the day and end up in Las Vegas.

(lively upbeat music) I've lived in cities for so long that I call myself more like a city kid or a city person, but I don't feel that sense of home in cities the way I feel when I'm in the woods.

Trees and this woodsy, wooded woods.

(chuckles) - This trip, it's been eye-opening and heart opening, connecting with time.

- [Sophie] And what are we doing in such a short amount of time for us?

The earth will continue to be here.

And if we want to be able to have the next 12,000 years of humans visit the Grand Canyon, we do need to change our behavior because the way we're going, we won't be able to do that.

We have a tremendous responsibility.

- Asking ourselves how we best honor our (finger snapping) briefest of moments to share this earth.

Vegas, baby!

(funky upbeat music) - Immediately sucked in, like a moth.

(funky upbeat music) They are quite impressive, these buildings.

We've been seeing a lot of things at grand scales on this journey, and this counts.

There's more to Vegas than the Strip.

There are kids in Las Vegas and we're going to meet some tomorrow.

(upbeat synth music) We're stopping at Galaxy Theaters for STEM Movie Saturdays where they show science films.

Today, they're screening "Science With Sophie".

(upbeat synth music) Big seats, wow.

- They're really nice.

- They're really comfy.

- [Announcer] Welcome to our STEM Saturday movie experiences that we show here at Galaxy Theater.

This is an extremely special one.

Season 1 of "Science With Sophie".

How does that sound?

(audience clapping and cheering) (playful upbeat music) - Science is all about observations or noticing things with your senses.

So listen with your own eyes, smell with your own ears, look with your own nose.

You know what I mean.

(audience clapping and cheering) - We're going to open it up if anybody would like to ask Sophie any questions.

We've got a microphone.

I'm going to run it around.

- [Sophie] Or I can just run around.

That's fun for everybody who's filming.

Okay, questions.

Hold on.

- Ooh.

Well, first of all, I'm glad you think it was silly.

I love making people laugh because it's fun.

And from a brain perspective, when we laugh, it lets us be a little less stressed out, and that means we're more open and we can learn some stuff.

As long as we're all laughing together, then we can all learn together.

- How big of a mess do you make?

(audience laughing) - I love that question.

As big as I can get it.

- What's your favorite part of being a scientist?

- My favorite part of being a scientist is being able to talk with you and meet all of you and share my excitement about it with you.

- What's your least favorite part about being a scientist?

- Ah, great, great follow-up question.

Things go wrong a lot in science.

Has anyone ever heard that before or experienced that if you've ever done an experiment and it doesn't work?

It's frustrating, right?

Shout out some things that it makes you feel if an experiment doesn't go well.

Sad.

Sad, angry, overwhelmed.

But whenever things go wrong, it's an opportunity to learn something.

So I try to keep that in mind, even though sometimes it's just really frustrating and hard.

- Is it hard being a scientist?

- Is it hard being a scientist?

Sometimes, yeah.

Yeah.

I think anything that you do in life is sometimes going to be hard.

Yeah?

Does anyone agree with that?

Yeah?

But I think that things that are hard are worth doing.

Oh, it was such a joy to see you all and meet you.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

- [Kid 1] Why can't we sniff butts?

- Why can't we sniff butts?

Let's...Let's talk about it.

You want me to sign it?

- [Kid 2] Yes, please.

- What is your name?

(lively upbeat music) - Bye.

- Bye.

(Sophie chuckles) That was so cool.

I personally really needed that.

To get to be in a room with all those families and hear them laughing and get to answer their questions, (exhales) that was the perfect reminder of who I do this work for.

What a great way to end this trip.

I'm so glad we got to make this stop before we went home.

All right, let's go.

(lively upbeat music) Good morning.

Today is the day we go back to Los Angeles.

The final day of this road trip, we will have made it coast to coast to coast in an electric car.

It's hard to believe the trip's almost over, but we got a little bit more driving to do, and then we're going to get right into Malibu, dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean, and make it official.

(upbeat blues organ music) (upbeat blues organ music) What a perfect way to end the "Great American Electric Road Trip" with a stop at Route 66.

The mother road, the most famous road in the country.

Built in 1926, Route 66 connected Chicago to LA and literally and figuratively paved the way for the classic American cross country road trip.

Route 66 was a symbol of ingenuity, and I think that same spirit will drive it into the future.

What if this whole thing was an electric highway?

That future is closer than you might think.

There are people working on electrification of Route 66 so that families can make these iconic American memories with renewable energy.

Sounds like I need to plan another road trip, but I probably need to go home first.

- [Brendan] Next stop?

- Los Angeles.

I almost said New York City.

- [Brendan] You ready to be back?

(Sophie exhales) - [Brendan] Loaded question, I know.

- [Sophie] Yeah.

As much as I want to keep adventuring, I do feel ready to take a rest.

How about you?

- [Brendan] My enthusiasm for adventuring has not waned, but my physical enthusiasm for doing this needs a recharge.

- [Sophie] Last charge of the trip.

- [Brendan] Last official charge.

- [Sophie] Charging.

All right, here we go.

(bright upbeat music) We're less than 20 minutes away from the end of this road trip.

- Malibu.

- All the way to the coast.

- Yep.

- Yes.

- Where we get to meet our friends.

- [Sophie] It's funny coming back here.

We've been in, on this road a number of times because we live here and so this is like, "Oh yeah, well, we're just back.

We're just back now."

- Right, yeah.

(Sophie laughs) - We just drove, you know, we just drove home.

Did we ever leave?

And I feel really accomplished.

We got to do the biggest experiment I've done yet.

- It started with you deciding you were going to do this and then all the other people who came on board.

- [Sophie] Yeah, and all the people we met along the way.

We are told right now that we are really different, but across the board, everyone we met, we have a lot in common.

People want to help make the world better.

- [Bit] How often are we all guilty of assuming we know something about a culture that we really don't?

- We can create the conditions for young people to be so empathetic, to love each other so hard or they want to do something in order to change the world.

- If we use our voices, maybe like everybody would hear us out and like try to like come together and stuff.

- Take a time in every once in a while, you know?

- There's ups and downs.

Nothing's ever perfect.

- Every new thing has growing pains.

The good news is we're working on it and we're working pretty fast.

- The passion that we have for what we're doing, there's no question in my mind that we will be ready.

- We could stay on the road forever and keep meeting people and finding amazing places and just do that.

- [Brendan] That's a great segue to Season 2.

- [Sophie] So we're going on another road trip?

(Sophie laughs) All right, here we are.

Ah, we did it.

I'm going to have to repark.

(bright upbeat music) Yay.

(friends cheering and laughing) Hello.

Hi!

Hi!

Hi!

(friends cheering and clapping) Friends.

Thank you for being here and for being something to come back to.

You all make it feel like home.

So, to you.

Cheers.

- [Friends] To you.

- [Sophie] Cheers!

- [Brendan] Ms.

Shrand?

- [Sophie] Yes.

- [Brendan] Sorry we have beach business.

You have to dip your toes in the Pacific Ocean.

- [Sophie] Oh yeah.

("Born to Roam" playing) ("Born to Roam" continues) ("Born to Roam" continues) ♪ Get on your feet ♪ ♪ There's sites to see ♪ ♪ Rolling hills or city streets ♪ ♪ Ocean to ocean and all in between ♪ ♪ It's out there just ♪ waiting on you and me ♪ - [Sophie] We've done so many wonderful things.

I feel so lucky.

They have surprised me.

They have been wonder-filled and beautiful and peaceful.

Can it be done?

Yes.

Look, we're doing it.

Can it be fun?

Mostly.

Does it have to always be fun?

Maybe not.

Maybe there are times where it could just be a lot of feelings.

Maybe sometimes you just got to get through it.

(singers vocalizing) (singers vocalizing) What a privilege it is to reconnect to the planet that sustains all of us.

I found myself just wanting to shout, "Thank you," to like everything.

And of course, knowing the science makes it even more amazing.

(bright music) That's what I hoped to find on this trip.

And I found it.

And there's more to be found.

(bright music) (bright music) (poignant music) (flag flapping) (poignant music) It is salt and it is flat.

Welcome to the Bonneville Salt Flats.

(upbeat blues rock music) Less than a year later, here we are at the Bonneville Salt Flats to watch the team that we met in Ohio race the bike they were building when we met them.

You're here.

- We're going racing.

We spent two and a half, three years to get to this moment and to be on the salt flats.

That's the fun part is that struggle of learning and of overcoming all those hurdles, and we just kept going and none of us quit.

We're the youngest group out here, but the best part about the salt flats in Bonneville is everyone is here to help each other succeed.

You come out here and you race just because you get salt fever and you want to go fast and everybody on our team has got that now.

I think electric racing's just going to keep going up and up and it's fun.

You get off that line and you're going, right?

We only need a mile or two to get up to top speed.

Everyone else is using five to six.

I think it's pretty cool.

- [Sophie] Cool.

- Let's go fast.

(upbeat music) (upbeat rock music) The Buckeye Current racing team broke the world record as the fastest electric motorcycle in its weight class.

(upbeat rock music) Soon after that, Laura raced a bike on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

- I just went 133.

(bike droning) This is like everything I ever wanted to do.

Now I want to go faster.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music) - [Sophie] Support for this program was provided in part by Vela.

Vela connects families and founders in the indie education movement where families take charge of their children's education.

Learn more in the Vela app or at vela.org.

Cool jacket!