Green Chevy inspires scavenger hunt

There's nothing like a motoring competition to get this gearhead's blood flowing, and when it's a zero-emissions motoring competition, well, all the better.

Over the past few months, our team has been on the hop at the Olympics, shuffling movie celebrities, opera stars, athletes, government officials and plenty of other VIPs around the streets of Vancouver in our small fleet of Chevy Equinox hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric vehicles.

Fine and dandy for the big wigs, but we thought it would be fun to check the pulse of the masses roaming the streets, high on Olympic fever.

The challenge was simple. Find the best Canadian fan, the best non-Canadian fan, best pin, coolest fellow zero-emissions person and, with all those pesky traffic-enforcement folks around town, why not the best traffic-enforcement person.

Two teams: In one car was my wife, Lisa, as well as Alexandra Belfiglio, one of our drivers. The other team consisted of myself and co-driver Chris Morrow, CNN "iReport" reporter extraodinaire.

Chris and I met earlier in the week when I drove her to Whistler to interview gold-medal U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn. We shared a few good laughs about how we would offer Lindsey some ski tips. After all, I've been on water skis a few times and Chris knew a lot about "pizza and fries," the most basic of ski techniques.

And when one of the best skiers in the world answered Chris's question about what advice she would offer new skiers and Lindsey talked about "pizza and fries," we both came close to losing it.

Chris is one of CNN's "Live Eye" pioneers and with her savvy way of getting the hot skinny on anything, I felt Lisa and Alexandra -- the other team -- didn't stand a chance in our Great Olympian Fan Search.

Our starting point was the trendy Granville Island area of Vancouver and we had given ourselves just one hour to wrap it up at the Totem Poles in Stanley Park. Chris and I hit the deck running to a place called Atlantic Canada House where a line of about 200 people were patiently waiting to get in.

We managed to talk our way in with a promise of a short two-minute visit. Hey, when you talk CNN, scavenger hunt and a ticking clock, things happen. Once inside, we agreed Vancouver native Jessica Strotherd was our choice for Best Canadian Fan.

We fled Atlantic Canada House and a few minutes later ran into a trio of festive Slovakian revelers blaring a dented and tarnished brass horn. Noisy and rowdy, non-Canadian fans for sure.

Chris had an idea for the best pin that took us into the Omega Olympics Games Boutique in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. La-dee-da! More motor-mouthing, snapped a photo, ran the video and fuel-celled it down to Canada Place with our nonaccredited Equinox. Surely the cops would block our visit to the secured area.

"Take it easy Garry, don't get arrested, keep 'em calm, and try to get a laugh or two."

It worked, and as we left a trail of nothing but water vapor all the way to Stanley Park, Chris and I felt the victory would be ours. After all, the park would surely be packed with all kinds of zero-emission forms of transportation such as roller skaters, skate boarders and bicyclists. Bull's eye: a young Canadian family out catching some of the great weather on their bicycles. The father and three kids gave us the photo and thumbs up.

Soon thereafter, we spotted a gaggle of Australians and stuffed 12 of them into the Equinox. Careful, easy does it. Piece of cake. We put the final pieces of the challenge's puzzle in the bag as Lisa and Alexandra pull in.

We laughed, compared stories and pictures. Chris and I defended our choices but Beebop the Whale in the back seat seemed good competition for a couple of six-packs of Australians.

Lisa swooned about the handsome Canadian Mountie (policeman) who gave her his personal USA Olympic Team Security pin. And Alexandra found a trio of different Slovakian non-Canadian fans. The Slovakian fans were everywhere.

I suspect the team of Chris 'CNN' Morrow and Garry Sowerby might not have won the Great Olympian Fan Search road rally hands down, but "Green" Olympic spirit was alive and well, hydrogen powered or otherwise.

Garry Sowerby, author of "Sowerby's Road: Adventures of a Driven Mind," is a four-time Guinness World Record holder for long-distance driving. His exploits, good, bad and just plain harrowing, are the subject of World Odyssey, produced in conjunction with Wheelbase Communications. Wheelbase is a worldwide provider of automotive news and features stories.