Two best friends are driving toy cars from Independence Hall to Niagara Falls hoping to set a world record

Many a momentous journey have begun at Independence Hall — the founding of a republic free from British rule, the finalizing of documents that would govern our nation for centuries, and the longest ever distance traveled in toy cars.

Last month, childhood best friends Lauren Lee and Cassie Aran, both 32, kicked off a planned 700-mile toy car trek to Niagara Falls in front of the hallowed brick chambers. If they make it all the way, and submit all the required evidence, they’ll be crowned Guinness World Record holders.

They’re also hoping to raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention along the way.

Lee and Aran have traveled from Philadelphia, over the Ben Franklin Bridge and through New Jersey to the Newark area by way of sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails. But they have miles — hundreds of miles, not to mention roadside chickens, overgrown shrubbery and unfortunately-placed garbage cans — to go before they rest. In all, they’re expecting the toy car odyssey to take two months.

Lee and Aran, best friends since kindergarten, grew up cruising around the block together in toy Jeeps.

“We always wanted to take it further,” Aran said.

But, under the watchful eye of parents, that wasn’t an option.

However, they never lost those adventuresome spirits. In the years that followed, both became travel influencers, living on the road full time. Lee clocks in at more than 300,000 TikTok followers while Aran maintains 1.2 million.

They’ve traversed the country, but, about five years ago, their minds wandered back to those languid Florida days tooling around in the little Jeeps and the untested limits of the adventures the tiny automobiles could take them on.

So they started with a cautious three-day journey from Tampa to Clearwater, about 35 miles, in toy Jeeps. It was a success.

Afterward, Lee thought: “Let’s actually put some brain power into this.”

In 2024, they endeavored on a two-month, roughly 500-mile adventure from Jacksonville to Key West. They selected a pair of mini battery-powered vehicles from Freddo Toys, and though the cars sputtered to the finish line, they made it.

That was their first stab at setting a Guinness World Record, but, due to miscommunication, they had to abandon the record attempt.

This time around, they’re determined to succeed, armed with a notebook to collect witness signatures and GPS trackers to log their miles.

“We feel so much more capable this time,” Aran said.

Though Aran attended Rowan University, the pair selected the Philly starting point because it was one of the few multistate stretches that offered mostly contiguous sidewalk, bike lanes, and trails.

The route is somewhat of a Google Maps marvel. The duo spent two weeks in a real car charting their journey and dropping pins to generate a custom path.

In terms of the pace, it’s a leisurely journey, Aran said, as they’re averaging around two miles an hour and traveling about 20 miles a day — on a good day.

Their path is riddled with obstacles — fire hydrants in the middle of the sidewalk, deep puddles, and mosquito and twig-riddled trails.

“It’s one thing to see the sidewalk driving by it,” Lee said. “It’s another thing to come face to face with it in something this big.”

The journey has unintentionally served to raise awareness for how inaccessible some stretches of Philly and New Jersey are for those in wheelchairs, they noted.

Some obstacles have relatively easy workarounds. When it rains they hold umbrellas. But, if it downpours, they surrender a day of progress so as not to risk a breakdown. At night they break out the headlamps and lanterns. They also wear light-up scrunchies on their arms and wave them in the air so people in cars can see them at crosswalks from such a low center of gravity.

Others impediments present bigger challenges. In a set of cars designed for a fraction of this much mileage, mechanical issues are practically inevitable. Freddo Toys mechanics have guided them in resolving a number of problems so far including rewiring one of the cars when a pedal snafu snapped a wire.

“After they taught us how to splice wires we started feeling a lot more confident,” Aran said. “They could walk us through that. Maybe they can walk us through anything.”

The destination of Niagara Falls was in consideration for a while, but became an even clearer choice after Aran witnessed something chilling at the falls a few months ago.

While on a camper trip across the country with her boyfriend, she witnessed an apparent suicide attempt.

“After that we had to take a lot of time to get our heads straight,” Aran said. “That was just something that is hard to describe how you feel after you see it.”

Because she was filming for her social media channels, she inadvertently caught the incident on film and provided the footage to the local police. They told her this was a fairly common occurrence at the falls.

The duo decided to use their journey to raise awareness and money for suicide prevention. Their fundraiser for “To Write Love on Her Arms,” a nonprofit which helps people afford and get connected to therapy, has raised more than $8,000 so far.

In addition to the cause, Lee and Aran said they hope their journey moves people to think outside the box once in a while.

“People’s boxes get so tiny and you have no idea how tiny your box is until something or someone blasts it open,” Lee said. “That frame of mind can really get you so far.”