As my plane touched down in Ontario last night, the smoke, fog, and smog seemed to be lifting. People in the town of Hesperia seemed relatively calm, the CNN reports were becoming calmer, and the Santa Ana Winds were certainly becalmed. A blood orange sunset, the color of flame, was an unruffled reminder of the fires still burning a few miles to the Southwest.

According to Susan at the LaQuinta hotel, there had been a little bit of a flap last week, as a couple of fires had sprouted up near Interstate 15, they closed the highway, and 'evacuees' had started checking in at the hotel. Luckily, the excitement had passed, and my room was available.

Part of the team has been here testing for nearly six days, and it has been enormously productive according to team leader Paul Perrone. The focus has been on software - and thankfully not hardware - and the key areas of effort have been route re-planning and lane following.

The testing has proceeded at what is more or less a perfect site. In that vein, we need to thank a new sponsor: J. D. Pierce is a 'high desert' developer who has given the team the use of one of his properties. We have streets, curves, intersections, and stop signs - but no houses, traffic, or pedestrians. This has been enormously helpful to the team, and we'd like to thank Jay Pierce for his incredible generosity. Jay even came by to take a ride in Tommy Jr.

Testing wrapped yesterday around 9 PM. Dave Rubarsky finished 24 hours with no sleep as other team members - Janie, Pete, Mike - rolled in from Dulles airport. Professor George Cahen of the University of Virginia took the team to a late dinner as the group strategized on a testing strategy for the morning, and on setting up camp at the Victorville base.