Day 18 - A good alternative plan

Leaving Sandia Hills under beautiful clear skies we stopped for a quick charge in Albuquerque we set out for another one of the towns in the Route 66 song, Gallup NM and then onto the next stop in the song Flagstaff, AZ.  The Tesla folks who set up the Supercharger network seem to have been set up according to an old song.  They are big on pop culture.  The volume control on the sound system even goes to 11 so it is louder than other car’s stereos. 

As we go west the vegetation becomes more sparse by the mile

Today we wanted to go to Chaco Canyon to see the cliff dwellings but we were foiled by a lack of chargers or by our lack of foresight in purchasing the model with a bigger battery.  At the time we bought the car this trip had not even occurred to us so rather than spend the $10K for the battery with a longer range and better acceleration we took the advice of a Tesla owner Larry met while riding his bike that suggested that the extra range and speed was overkill.  When planning the trip the extra battery capacity and a second inverter seemed like they might have been worth the extra expense but then we might not have been able to afford the trip.  In either case Chaco Canyon would be not on our agenda so we picked the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park and it was great proving that there are all kinds of options for fantastic things to do in this country.  

The Painted Desert has amazing colors and rock formations and we spent a good deal of time there.  There were storms brewing on the horizon with lightning and thunder they never really got us wet beyond some sprinkles. We just can’t believe that we are still being visited by the rain gods.  

A couple of views ot the Painted Desert.  It was different everywhere you looked

There are also thousands of petroglyphs in the park.  This is called Newspaper Rock.  I assume it will be renamed in the future when newspapers are all out of business.

We had a nice dinner with a great waiter in Flagstaff and true to form ended up setting up our tent in the dark.  Also true to form the KOA campground has really crappy Wi-Fi.  For those of you who want to know how to do bandwidth hungry stuff at a KOA campground it pays to be an older guy who on the way back from the rest rooms in the middle of the night found that nobody else was on so the speed is much better at 2-3 am.

Statistics Corner

States involved: The next state added to our list is Arizona.  We are getting far from the East Coast which is obvious as the vegetation gets sparser and sparser.  Arizona however is confusing as they do not do daylight savings time so we are effectively on Pacific time BUT not when we are on Navaho land as they do follow daylight savings.

Charging 

Albuquerque, NM 15 minutes were all we needed as we had spent the night hooked up in Lori and Alan’s garage.

Gallup, NM – Here we met a nice couple driving back to San Diego from Kqnsas City that told us how to pull up Waze on the browser screen although it will not do directions it gives all the usual Waze information on hazards and police.   

The Gallup stop was very welcoming to Tesla owners.  Some motels don't even give there own paying customers free breakfast.  We didn't test whether this was poor wording or they meant it for us

Holbrook, AZ – Aargh for us, good for the family with small kids in the other Tesla for whom Burger King was a good option.  Worst Supercharger placement yet.

Holbrook was full of dinosaur statues.  Here are some examples of the dozens in town.  Every store had several out in front.

Flagstaff, AZ - We are charging overnight at the campground

Regular Features

Song of the Day: Against the Wind by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.  While we didn’t get wet the wind was at times hard to stand up against the wind.  It would also apply to the tenacity of the trees that inhabit some of the ridges.

Coolest Car of the day: Lousy day for cool cars. This is the best and it is a mess

 

Church of the day: Bad day for church pictures too.  This one dominated the town but was off in the distance.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry - The colors of the Painted desert.

Coolest Thing of the Day -Michelle - It is 3am and not a good time to ask her.