Update from the center of Alabama

32 counties have fallen, and the second gas stop has been made, accruing 5:06 more pansy time.

We are roughly 1 hour, 45 minutes ahead of schedule, which allows us for three key delaying factors: potential traffic delays as we move into Birmingham, tornado warnings and storms throughout the state, and Dan taking the wheel, with his aching hip and AARP card.

Adam was a fantastic driver, lopping several minutes off of the projected times during each leg of the trip.

To Dan's credit, he can't be blamed for the slow-going traffic right now. We're pinned at a few miles per hour under the speed limit.

Google's traffic maps are not to be trusted. They've been wholly inaccurate so far.

I'm going to be driving the anchor leg, once Dan's shift is up. I still think we're going to finish this thing before the sun rises. Sunrise is at 6:17 a.m., which would be a finish time of 21:58. As I type this, traffic has slowed to its most glacial crawl, and we have also crossed into Shelby County (named after former Governor of Kentucky Isaac Shelby).

I think we've seen the worst of any traffic and tornados that might befall us, and I'm thinking that we're still looking at a 20-hour finish.

- Jim