8230 Mile Furlough Inspired Road Trip

I made it home this morning at 8 AM after a grueling sprint home (from Utah to Virginia) in 2 days. I think I will just sleep for the rest of the day.

Some stats from the road trip:

• Log
  • 8230 miles (suppose I need to revise the title of the blog)
  • 62 superchargers
  • 21 days
  • 17 states
• Overnights
  • 6 KOAs
  • 3 Homes
  • 2 Parking Lots
  • 1 Hotel
• Activities
  • 10 National/State Park Hikes
  • 1 Glider Flight
• Damage Report
  • 1 stone chip to the windscreen sustained during the great Illinois crossing
  • 1 exhausted human

I’ve got 2000 miles ahead of me with 35 hours of driving and charging time. I should easily do this in three days, let’s see how close I can get to being home in two days.

Given that the COVID situation seems to be locking down the South reasonably well, I decided to go straight across the country, rather than stop into Texas. It would be nice to see friends along that route, but I think I might be getting tired of this adventure, and just want to B-line home.

Here we go!!

The morning hike through Bryce was a great way to wake up and start the day. It was chilly enough that I needed to wear a fleece. After a relatively quick 45 minutes of hiking around the vistas, it was time to hit the road.

Now, with Teslas, you enter your destination, and it automatically calculates and plans the most effective route, given how much charge you have on the battery. Many times the maps don’t seem to make sense and so far have put me on at least three roads to nowhere. But I am generally up for a surprise and unanticipated adventures. Today the car decided to get brave on me.

Leaving Bryce, I drove along this cool old back road called UT 62. I am guessing it was an old back road, given that I only saw three cars for about 30 miles, then there were the random cows grazing along the unpainted road. The route finally turns off on to, the sister to the ever boring I 80, the difference between I 70 and I 80 seems to be that 70 has more steep graded mountain routes.

This is where OTTO decided to get brave. The next available supercharger is in Green River, UT. Why is this brave?? Well, the car set out, saying that I could reach Green River with ~35 miles to spare. I have to believe that the calculation didn’t account for the steep climbs. It wasn’t long on I 70 before the computer started reporting that I had 32 miles range remaining and 46 miles to the charging station. Yeah me!!

To make matters worse, this stretch of the highway receives no cell signal. Oh, sure, let’s go ahead and see the temperature outside is a lovely 99 degrees. Hmmm, the smart thing to do is drop the speed to 70 (the limit is 80), this starts to help things a bit but still coming up short on the destination (now 25 miles away). So I slow down to 65-60 (depending on if there are trucks behind me). Then the real miracle kicks in, uphill climb rewards you with downhill regeneration.

I’ve never thought the regen, made a notable difference in the range, but today, it was enough to get me to the charger with 30 miles to spare. The lesson learned here is perhaps the car is smart enough; after all, it knew it was using a lot of electricity to get up the mountain and would make up for it on the way down.

So I pull into Green River. Usually, the charging stations are next to a restaurant; in this case, it was next to a rather substantial museum dedicated to the John Wesley Powell River History. If I had gone into the museum, I am assured that it would have contained everything I needed to know about Green River. I had to skip the opportunity but it did really look like a very nice museum.

I ran into another Tesla road tripper; he was from San Francisco and on his way to Monument Valley. He had convinced his wife to let him take a similar road trip that I am doing, the difference being he needed to come home after a week, he also hadn’t turned his model 3 into a micro- RV (but he was curious).

The rest of the drive was pleasantly uneventful.

I had not originally planned on hiking the Arches, but I am super glad I did. Despite the 105 degrees of Utah goodness, the park was fantastic, offering great vistas and relatively flat (yet hot) hikes.

The Arches

Today’s objective is to get to Bryce by sunrise, then to the Arches, and lastly, a night shoot for one last attempt at capturing these dark skies. That’s a lot for one day, but it is the last day of hitting landmarks before seeing how quickly I can make it make to Virginia.

Bryce Canyon

I believe morning hikes in the desert are preferred over afternoon hikes, on account of the mornings being a cool 54 degrees, and once the day gets going temps are hitting 105+ degrees. Added bonus, the crowds are significantly smaller.

Ah, this little post-quarantine adventure is coming to an end. Leaving California and deciding on how to get back is on my mind now. But before I start the cannonball run home, I have three more parks that we’re part of the original itinerary: Zion, Bryce, and Dead Horse (all in Utah).

Driving up from Joshua Tree to Cannonville was reasonably uneventful, resulting in opportunities to hop out and get artsy.

So this middle of nowhere photo opp was brought to you by the ”National Trails Hwy” on North Amboy Rd. in the Mojave Desert. Why did I take all these pictures on this mystery road? I think the better question is, why in the world did Tesla think this was a great route? What did the alternative look like??

Turning off the road from nowhere, I see this vast solar array. It is crazy bright and apparently deadly to the local birds, getting fried by the intense light/heat. I’ve seen so many alternative forms of energy farms out west – massive wind farms everywhere; they are so ubiquitous, I haven’t bothered taking pictures of them (but they are everywhere!).

The other thing I didn’t realize is that there are many mini-vegas towns scattered throughout the Nevada desert. There was that odd town West Wendover and then Carson City; it has its casinos. I even found this strange Buffalo Bills with a roller coaster – who rides a roller coaster in the middle of the desert? Well, you do, of course, if you are ever in Primm Nevada.

Then there are these ”out of the blue statues” on Kelso Cima Road. There is literally nothing around except these seven figure sculptures. Wrote down the name of the road to try and figure it out some time.

Getting into Cannonville means passing through these little towns, many seem to be struggling with these economic or COVID times. But in the end, you see these beautiful Red Canyon formations.

The sky is super dark up here, got to practice trying to take night shots of a constellation. My first attempt is below, I may not have the equipment to do this right, but I am reading up on the technique. The pictures won’t do the view justice – it really is like looking at the universe from the moon.

Next up: Hiking in Zion

I am not sure which is a better way to envision Joshua Trees – is it Paleolithic or inspiration for Dr. Seuss’ Truffula Trees? A little bit of both, but it’s not just the trees that make this park so beautiful; the rock formations are otherworldly.

The time to see Joshua Tree is a sunset. I made my way to the end of the park’s road to the Key’s View, where you can see across to Palm Springs. Now the only thing that can break the majesty of this place would be, oh, I don’t know, perhaps bees. Not like a couple buzzing around, more like BEES, WHERE DID ALL THE F’ING BEES COME FROM‽

Apparently, these ”Aggressive Honey Bees” are a natural occurrence in the summer months as they are thirsty for water. A couple of hikers were being chased around by the stingy critters of honey goodness. One was receiving more attention than the other as her backpack was covered in bees. I tell them not to swat at the buggers but to keep walking. The backpack was still an issue, and I asked what she had in there – ”oh, a couple of apples” – hmmm, good luck with that. These bees are such a thing that they are closing campgrounds because of them – take that COVID, more competition to ruin people’s fun.

So anyway, to recap: go at sunset and heed the bees.

1987 U2 put out ‘Joshua Tree,’ and a smash hit. However, I prefer the older stuff like ‘War’ and ‘Boy,’ they were less preachy than they are now. Nonetheless, I’ve always wanted to see what Joshua Tree was all about.

So here I am, sitting in 105 degrees of bone dry heat at another KOA (I am now officially a regular camper, I expect to receive my merit badge soon) —a complete contrast to Pacific Palisades and Malibu. Thinking to myself, maybe I should have just stayed in the guest suite of this beautiful home, with an incredible friend enjoying amazing meals in LA. But nooooo, reality hits, I need to come home eventually, and I still have at least three more landmarks to hit.

Before leaving town and starting to make my way East, I had breakfast at a great beachfront restaurant, catching up with another old friend from XM. Unlike Lee, the last time I saw Sandy was at the end of the XM years, as Sirius was taking control in 2008. We both had tons of life experiences over the years since the XM days, and it makes me happy to see good things happening for good people.

Sandy is a brilliant media exec, managing artist relations and development deals. The move to LA is the perfect place for her. The lifestyle and work-life balance are exactly what she needed. It is undoubtedly enticing to consider living in southern California, perhaps that would have been the right move 12 years ago.

I also have a few high school friends that made it out to this part of California. I wasn’t able to catch up with them, either being busy or wrestling with the COVID illness and lockdown. Meeting up with two out of five friends is good enough for me.

So tonight, I am planning to hike and photograph sites at Joshua Tree National Park. Found a Mexican Restaurant called Felipe’s that is supposed to be legendary with a hibiscus margarita that can’t be missed.

Stay tuned

After a fun weekend hanging out with the Bay Area Johnston’s, it was time to hit the road. Time to visit LA friends before starting the return trip.

Stopping off at a charging station is typically someplace near a restaurant or gas station. But on the way down highway 5, I found a test concept facility in Kettleman City. There had to be about 40 bays, with solar panel roofs, a cafe with vending machines. They were peddling merch too, which is hard to find in a COVID world. Picked up a snazzy Tesla hoodie.

Now, highway 5 is far from scenic—lots of farming and feedlots. I wanted to be on the PCH. So, I made a right turn to see Santa Barbara and drive the 1 to LA.

A long time ago, I had driven along the PCH through Monterey and Carmel; it would have been a gorgeous drive from San Francisco to LA. Maybe next time. So much of this trip is about seeing things and going places where I’ve never been.

I suppose you haven’t made it “officially” cross country until you feel the sand between your toes. I pulled over to Zuma beach – wish I had picked one of the beaches with the surf vans set up, but they were super crowded. (#nocovid)

The surf beaches were super crowded too – which may have been due to California locking down the state again that morning – everyone wanting to get one last wave in. The regular beaches weren’t that bad in terms of “social distancing,” but then again, it was a Monday.

I roll into LA, charge up the car in Santa Monica, and start looking for a host gift for my friend who is putting me up for a couple nights – feeling like wine is the right thing. I find a wine specialty shop, however when I get there they are doing curbside pick up only. Ugh, not sure what I want, I move on.

Oh, look a Trader Joe’s! Pullover hops out, mask on, let’s see what they have. Okay, so if you think this is a story about grocery shopping, well, no…

I have my hostess gift in hand and head out. It was great to see my old friend and her son. We prepare to go to dinner when I realized I couldn’t find my wallet. Ugh!!!

For the next 12 hours, I am checking the transactions on my accounts. I’ve never lost my wallet before, so I decided to be safe and start locking out the cards. Now I am concerned that I need to drive back across the country without a driver’s license. Ugh!!!

Finally, I can call Trader Joe’s, and sure enough, I dropped my wallet next to the register. I suppose I was concerned with the COVID procedures and not wanting to be late; I didn’t realize my wallet was missing. There aren’t many things more concerning than realizing that you don’t have money or a driver’s license to get home.

I’ve had a great time catching up with an old friend. I am having breakfast with another old partner in crime tomorrow before heading to Joshua Tree. Not sure what this place is all about aside from the U2 album. We will see…