The question of how this expedition came about is difficult to answer, as is the question of how its members avoid the soup line. Sam, who's lived in North Dakota most his life, and Jason, who lived there from 2000 to 2007, run a company called Yogaslackers, which has taught a few people how to do the warrior pose on a wobbly tightrope but, near as I can tell, has netted them very little cash, their Slackasana DVD not yet a blockbuster. They each earn a couple grand annually at odd jobs like modeling (Jason) and rigging rock arenas (Sam)—but never more than is needed to get to the next yoga workshop or adventure race. They travel in a rattly, candy-apple 1989 Ford Festiva spray-painted with the words PEACE and LOVE. While their dreadlocks come and go, their toughness is a constant. Jason has completed 30 adventure races; Sam, a dozen; and Paul has done a few with other teenagers on a team called Barely Legal.

Sam came up with the Big Idea three years ago. His vague hope was that kite-skiing North Dakota would turn wind power into a topic of conversation in a state that gets 90 percent of its electricity from coal. And so he and Jason set off on an attempt last winter. The wind showed up, but the snow disappeared after just 12 days, forcing them to quit. That they would try again was a given—undeterred, evidently, by the fact that North Dakota, cold though it is, averages only around 25 inches of snow annually. Paul, who's not from the state but was part of the original support crew, decided that freezing his ass off looked like too much fun to miss.

This year, 2XtM hopes to raise the level of discussion by getting serious media coverage. To that end, the education crew is very much on-message, prepared to show that North Dakota is "the Saudi Arabia of potential wind energy." (Not unlike Arizona, which has been dubbed "the Persian Gulf of potential solar power.") For good measure, the expedition's grub is organic vegetarian—gooey raw-food power bars for lunch!—and the team has turned down eight gear sponsors in favor of using earth-friendly equipment whenever possible. For example, Sam snowboards while wearing flimsy moosehide mukluks.

Despite these preparations, it's apparent that some details have unraveled or were never quite tied up. Jason forgot the climbing skins that would allow him to cross-country- ski on breezeless days. The transmission on the media truck blew out, leaving the team without a chase car until a wind-enamored stranger offered to loan them his family's Ford Expedition—for two weeks! And, most notably, the guys did not scout the course. All they've got is the folding highway map given free to tourists. They have no idea where the hundreds of barbed-wire fences lie. Every time they come to the edge of a land parcel, they have to gather up their kites, unclick from boards and skis, neatly roll up lines and fold canopies, clamber through or around the fence, then repeat the process in reverse with hands so cold they might as well be tennis rackets.