Florida women drive 500 miles from Jacksonville to Key West in toy cars to 'save animals'

Two 29-year-old Florida women who have been best friends since Kindergarten embarked on a 500-mile journey together, and not by way of automobiles or other traditional forms of transportation, but rather motorized toy cars.

Cassie Aran and Lauren Lee have been doing challenges and documenting them on social media for years, including traveling 45 miles in Heelys and kayaking in a cheap inflatable kayak to an island in Tampa Bay, but this time they wanted to do the "next big thing."

The women initially planned to break the Guinness World Record for the longest journey in a toy car by driving down the coast of Florida from Jacksonville to Key West.

"We wanted to do something bigger than anything we've ever done," Aran told USA TODAY. "We've been best friends since Kindergarten so we've done a lot of crazy stuff together, but we wanted to do something just a little bit bigger."

Their TikTok videos documenting their road trip have amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

Fundraiser organized for Best Friends Animal Society

The drive would also be for a good cause as the women hoped to "save animals along the way" by organizing a fundraiser for Best Friends Animal Society. As of Friday, over $16,000 has been donated, surpassing the women's goal of $10,000.

"We shout (the fundraiser) out in our videos and are trying to do our best to help the Best Friends Animal Society... the main thing they do is end kill shelters and start more humane options," Aran said. "It's a big passion of mine personally because I have a rescue dog."

In addition to the fundraiser, the women will also donate proceeds from their merchandise sales to the Best Friends Animal Society, Aran said.

Guinness World Record wanted to make Cassie Aran and Lauren Lee pay an 'exorbitant fee'

Although the initial plan was to break the Guinness World Record, the women learned halfway through their journey that they would have to pay $16,000 to have their names in the records book.

"We received an email from (Guinness World Record) essentially saying it's free to attempt any record, but since we were raising money, it technically put us into a different category," Lee said. "We weren't just individuals doing this anymore, it put us into a corporate category."

The women had to decide between paying an "exorbitant fee" or helping the animals, according to Lee.

"We decided the animals were obviously more important than the title," Lee said. "It's something we can always do again, we love doing stuff like this anyways."

How did the idea to drive toy cars 500 miles come about?

The idea behind driving toy cars 500 miles originated from the women driving Barbie Power Wheels when they were girls growing up in New Jersey, Lee said. Their childhood experiences encouraged them to try driving in toy cars again, so around two years ago, they drove 35 miles from Tampa to Clearwater, she added.

Their 35-mile trip in toy cars from Walmart evolved into them driving nearly $1,800 toy cars together for 58 days straight, according to Lee. The two will finish their adventure on Saturday morning when they cross the finish line in Key West, where the city's mayor and commissioner will be issuing them a certificate saying they completed their travels, she said.

Cassie Aran and Lauren Lee aren't biting 'each other's heads off'

Lee called the experience with Aran "phenomenal" despite people leaving comments wondering how haven't "bit each other's heads off."

"Through all the years we've learned what each other needs in those moments of being tired, hungry, fed up or whatever," Lee said. "After a long day, we know how to keep the spirits up... I feel like we've communicated very well through the whole thing."

Aran said sometimes it did get discouraging because some days their on the road for 16 hours trying to make it to their destination, and "just everything's going wrong" from the car breaking to the battery going dead.

"Sometimes it can get scary or discouraging but then the other one always tries to pick the other one up," Aran said.

'It's about the little steps'

People can take away from the women's whole experience that they "don't have to make massive strides every day," Lee said.

"It's about the little steps that you take in those days on the way to your big goal," she said. "No dream is too big to achieve... we just took it day by day, anything is possible."

Aran said their journey should encourage people to get out of their comfort zones.

"I would love people to look at this and just do something that makes them a little bit uncomfortable," she said. "That's the only way to grow."