Day 6 - A Study in Contrasts

Today the rain gods could not decide what to do with us but mostly treated us well because we are growing wise to there tricks.  We have learned that dark clouds rolling in towards us means not to venture out for long hikes.  We stayed with shorter, more frequent hikes every time the rain left and never got very wet but were limited in dinner choices to the 2 places closest to the charger as it was clear we could not go far and remain dry.  With a quick sprint at the end we did get into Blaze Pizza where we got a good pizza.

Only a few days into the trip and we already want to be in different states

 We also had a great lunch at the Service Station in Bryson City which is a funky little town that comes highly recommended by us. We improved two trip metrics today having a much better meals and getting to our night stop before dark. We are learning!

Bridge in Bryson City

Michelle liked the area so much she looked at real estate in the park.

Today's activities centered on Smoky Mountain National Park which continued our exploration of the Appalachians.  Our hikes went primarily to waterfalls today and they were all very different ranging from high volume over a wide area to a low volume thin one that cascaded for some distance down a tree covered slice in the rocks. It was incredibly beautiful again up in the mountains especially on the eastern end.  As soon as Larry commented on how few people there were in these Eastern parks suddenly there were full parking areas.  However a good friend of mine has told me on more than one occasion that the vast majority of people in the national parks never venture more than 500 feet from the road and that was true today as we saw people only on the shortest, widest trails.  Most of the time we were completely alone.


Now about the title.. There is only one road that traverses the park.  The eastern end starts in a Cherokee reservation which means there is a very large Harrah’s casino you get to drive past before going into the protected, serene park.  This makes you thankful for the national park system but nowhere near as thankful as you are when you see the other side.  I have been to Vegas and Myrtle Beach both of which in my mind lack for class but neither of those prepared me for Pigeon Forge, TN.  I counted seven go-cart tracks alone along with countless dinner theaters, amusement parks and souvenir shops.  There was one crazy thing after another but nothing could compare to this crazy ride where 6 people are lifted up in a sling.  While I was wondering just what they planned to do with them they just dropped them and they dropped straight down until the line holding them caught them and left them swinging and screaming.  I could hardly drive I was laughing so hard.

Views from Pigeon Forge

Regular Features

Statistics Corner

States involved: We added Tennessee to the list of states

Final mileage for the day TBA 

Charging 

Wytheville  VA  60 minutes   

Asheville NC 1 hour

Song of the Day: Shucking the Corn – Flatt and Scrugs.  In the visitor centers there was plenty of discussion of the Indians and the white settlers finding that corn was the best crop to grow in the hills.  The white folks used to make it into moonshine besides.

Coolest Car of the day: Not a good day for cars.  The best we could do was a red, yes red again, '71 Olds 442.  No picture again either.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry

The best part was Indian Falls

Indian Falls - the largest one

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle
The snake she found.  As evidenced by the picture it was not easy to spot.

The snake is in there

Day 5 - The Rain Gods Become Fickle

It was bound to happen sometime.   The rain gods did not dump anyhting on us for the first 2 days of the trip and then yesterday were kind enough to only rain while we were in museums or at dinner.  Today they fired a warning shot at us when after a 2 hour hike the ski opened up just as we got to the parking lot so s sprint to the car saved a complete soaking.  Of course we did not heed the warning to give up and go home so as we were pulling into  our campground at about 10:30pm we got to set up the tent for the first time in both the dark and a downpour.  Luckily there was a roof over the picnic table which of course got moved so our tent was able to be setup under cover.  We stayed dry so the weather gods will no doubt try again tomorrow.

Another pattern is developing where we intend to get going early and don't which may have a lot to do with the other pattern of getting to our nightly destinations later and later each day.  We have gone from 9ish to 10is to 11ish.  At this rate we will be getting in just in time for breakfast soon.

Enough of our struggles with weather and time schedules.  One reason we are late is that that we are packing in a lot each day.  Today we set out for a drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway and drive we did.  The Tesla charging issue dictated that we actually had to leave the parkway for a bit to recharge.  While the car recharged we stopped into the nearest restaurant for some so-so Chinese food.  We should have realized that we should not get Chinese food in North Carolina but no BBQ places were near the Supercharger.  Then it was back to the beautiful Blue  Ridge Mountains.  As always pictures of mountains pale in comparison to the real things so I won't include too many of them even though we took dozens.

Blue Ridge Mountain overlook.  You can see why they are called blue.  According to the signage along the trail it is due to organic molecules being lost from the plants during the day

There are aliens watching along some trails

Statistics Corner

States involved: We added North Carolina to the list of states

Final mileage for the day 506.5  kWh used 151.8  

Charging 

Wytheville  VA  60 minutes   

Asheville NC 1 hour

Regular Features

Song of the Day: We listened to mostly classical music and while there is not a clear winner for song of the day we agreed that Mozart is the best composer to accompany a drive down wooded mountain roads

Coolest Car of the day: Again it was late in the day just as we were leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway for good. when there was a bright red Jaguar XKE convertible stopped on the side of the road.  The hood wasn't open so maybe it was still running.  No picture though so you will have to imagine it for yourself.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry

We took a nice hike in the morning and part was through a large meadow  which was full of butterflies.  I chased them around for a long time trying to get them to sit still for photos without much luck but I did get one.

The one butterfly I got to stay still long enough

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle

Michelle enjoyed the walk but wants everyone to know that in general she thought there was too much driving, too much rain, the meals sucked.  There was no breakfast at the hotel, and as noted above started late so ate granola bars for breakfast.  This was followed by the aforementioned crummy lunch which was followed by eating peanut butter on pita bread in the drizzle because the Supercharger was nowhere near a decent place to eat and as already mentioned we were already quite late so could not stop.

Day 4 - National Park #1- Shenandoah

We had trouble getting our act together to get out of the DC metro area and into the mountains but after a good breakfast of eggs, fruit and toast courtesy of our host Bill and some warm goodbyes we did finally leave.  Of course we needed to make our first course deviation from the planned first stop in Strasburg VA which was supposed to because we did not have enough juice left in the car to make it there so we made a little detour to take on some energy.and then juiced up in Strasburg and also stopped at Food Lion for picnic lunch stuff.  

There are a few advantages to being my age and one is getting a permanent pass to all the National Parks for a mere ten bucks.  We spent the day meandering through the park and took a couple of beautiful short hikes.

After a stop in Waynesboro for a very good dinner at the Green Leaf Grill we went to find a bed to recharge our bodies and an overnight charge for Hobson.  Speaking of Hobson it is time to share some of what we have learned about Tesla life on the trip.  First it turns out that our EZ Pass did not work.  I had had a failure in the past the one time I used it but I chalked that up to the outside temp being below 0.  The first inkling that something was amiss was at the Supercharger in Delaware when another guy charging his car saw my transponder and asked me if it worked as his had not coming up from DC.  As all the sensors were pass under with no lights I actually did not know but got one of those bad feelings which was confirmed by the lack of any charges on my account.  So now NY, NJ DE and MD will send me hate mail.  A quick internet search by Michelle revealed that the windshield has some metallic component that blocks the transmissions.  Thanks for letting us know Tesla.  I have now, too late, relocated it behind a plastic cover in the car’s nose.  Second, we have not yet had to wait at a Supercharger although everywhere but Strashurg there has been at least one other car there,  Third,. Predicting energy use in the mountains is problematic.

Statistics Corner

States involved:

We never left Virginia today so no new states were added.

Final mileage for the day   

Charging 

Woodbridge VA  40 minutes   

Strasburg VA 1 hour

Lexington VA  40 minutes

Roanoke VA - Overnight

Regular Features

Song of the Day: Shenandoah by Paul Robeson as not in Slacker.  It tried out every version they offered and they were nowhere near as good so even though I didn’t hear his version it still wins.

Coolest Car of the day: although I had pretty much given up on this category today but we parked for dinner on the street in front of an unlabeled building.  However it had in the window a couple of 90’s Porsches with an 80’s vintage one next to it.  On the other side of the door in the window were two nice 914s and a 924. Behind those I spotted a 70;s 911.  Looking deeper  behind the 911 there was a gorgeous red 358 convertible and a baby blue 70’s bug/  They were all in show condition!  The356 wins but on most days any of these would have won.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry

I am a sucker for waterfalls and the one in Shenandoah that we hiked to was a great one but watching the turkey vultures play in the updrafts at the top of Stony face Mountain was great.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle

Michelle loved driving through the park, the waterfall and especially conversing but not really communicating with a Chinese women on the hike back from the falls.

Day 3 - Happy Birthday America

A Day of Celebration

We wandered back down to the mall in DC after dropping Geoff and Lori off at the Nationals game to find our great parking spot from yesterday available again.  What a great city!  We then wandered down the parade route to get a picture of Michelle with Einstein so she can show her students that she has met great scientists.

Michelle and one the giants of science

We then went back to the parade route and a parade showed up a little while later.  The parade organizers did a great job of spacing the music and the HS bands that marched were uniformly fantastic and had fantastic uniforms.  The rain held off for the entire parade but started as soon as it ended.

The Kissmobile which somehow I never knew existed

One of the many bands

The Hare Krisna float

Everyone in Washington then queued up at the museums to get dry only to find they had to wait in long lines outside. The Hirshhorn Gallery had no line so we ducked in there.  We both find contemporary art is a hit or miss proposition and this collection certainly has both.  Michelle spent her time watching a film of a Rube Goldberg type maze that included lots of pyrotechnics and lots of water rather than the usual balls running down ramps.  Larry only had to watch it once but Michelle kept falling asleep so spent most of the afternoon trying to see the whole thing.  Larry's favorite part was the Robert Irwin exhibit which he visited while Michelle slept.

While in the museum the rain diminished to drizzle and we ventured out for an early dinner as we had missed lunch.  We had dinner and an even bigger dessert at Clydes.  We then went back the car grabbed out chairs and heading off for the concert on the Capitol lawn.  We then had contact with two miracles.  The first Miracle was us seeing one of Smokey Robinson's band members drop his umbrella.  Michelle ran up to return it to him and he thanked her but did not offer us backstage passes.  The other was that the rain ended just as the music started.  There was an all-star lineup that perform predictably well.  At about 9, just before the 9:09 start of the fireworks low clouds rolled in to make them a lot less spectacular than they might have been.

Statistics Corner

States involved:

No new states today

Final mileage for the day 49.8  kWh used 12.6

Charging
None needed

Regular Features

Song of the Day:God Bless America by Kate Smith.  A great song about a country that is still great despite what Donald Trump says.  No country is perfect but we are glad to be US citizens.

Coolest car of the Day:  I got locked out of the house early in the morning so wandered around the neighborhood for a little over an hour and found a VW camper.  Maybe next trip will be in one of them.  

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry
While the parade and concert were both top notch I loved the Robert Irwin exhibit.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle

Day 2 - On the Mall

A Day in Metro DC

We wandered down to the mall in DC with our friends Lori and Geoff to find it both set up for holiday entertainment and still setting up for an even bigger party tomorrow.  The booths on the mall were divided into a California culture side and a Basque culture side.  Since we are heading to Cali soon enough we spent most of our time on the Basque side where they demonstrated their versions of bowling, handball. dance and music along with art and culture exhibits.

Basque dancers.  Thy had bells on their backs that they rang as they wallked.  They were amazing but the picture does not really convey that

Geoff, Lori and Michelle waiting for Larry

We then went back to base at Bill's house and cleaned up to go see Larry's three year college roommate who he hasn't seen for an estimated 37 years.  It was great seeing Jim again and meeting his wife Sara.  His sense of humor has not diminished a bit over the years and he is even smarter than he was then, and he was really smart then.  We are certainly hoping to see more of them in the near future

Statistics Corner

States involved:

Only new place is DC which is not truly a state and they are not happy about paying taxes and having no voting representatives in Congress.    

Final mileage for the day 87.8  kWh used 27.3


Charging
None needed

Regular Features

Song of the Day:Child in Time by Deep Purple.  Since I am visiting my long lost roommate I wanted to pick a song that we liked at Amherst.  There are a few songs that were favorites during those years but none of them capture the music milieu of the time like a long song with lyrics that were inane while trying to convey deep meaning and whole sections with the lead singer just screaming.

Coolest car of the Day:  Bill Yeagley's '86 Lincoln.  Just because no other good cars were seen and this beast has only gotten uglier over time.  The windows don't open and it needed $700 worth of work to just get through inspection so he must love it.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry
While the botanical gardens were nice and the Basque band was great fun, seeing Jim again was the highlight of the day for me.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle
The botanical gardens.

Day 1 - The Northeast Corridor

We are off!

The day started early.  We said goodbye to a half-asleep Julia and backed out of the garage at 4:59am.  The first stop was at the Crape's in Fairfield where we had a very good, healthy breakfast but could not stay long enough to go water skiing.  Karen's studio is strating to take shape in the backyard.  It looks like it will be beautiful, lots of windows and a soaring ceiling.  

Our first Supercharger stop went fine except for the ineffective sign (out of the 4 spots there were 2 non-Teslas) that marked the parking spots had a cement base that was so close to the road that we couldn't open the hatch and get out the chairs to sit in while the car charged.

In Delaware the Teslas were arranged patriotically for the 4rh of July weekend although they did not get the colors in order

Our break from the routine of high speed driving interspersed with Eastern corridor holiday stop and go traffic was a regrettably short visit to Annapolis, MD which has the shipshape Naval Academy, a suitably colonial capital area and a quaint district of historic houses.  It would have been nice to stay longer.  I think we will be saying that of a lot of places we visit over the next weeks.

Naval Academy Chapel










My cousin Janice Buxbaum graduated in thay first class with women.  I have always admired her for blazing that trail.  The training at the USNA is difficult to begin with but doing it as a women in one of the most entrenched male bastions seems beyond normally heroic.  They may be celebrating now but not many were celebrating then.










Bedded down finally much too late but our host Bill Yeagley was just so entertaining it seemed silly to go to bed.  Looking forward to to the next two days in Washington, the site of our honeymoon many years ago.

Statistics Corner

States involved:

MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA  16% of the states in the whole country in one day!  Of course we hit the 2 smallest and made just a glancing blow at NY but we cross 7 borders.

Final mileage for the day 506.5  kWh used 151.8
Interesting Note: Until you drive an electric car you really don't understand just how much energy a car uses!  This car is twice as efficient as even my VW diesel which gets 50mpg but the power we used today to drive to Washington would run our house for over a week.

Charging
Geeenwich CT  40 minutes
Newark DE  40 minutes - lunch
Bethesda MD  1 hour - dinner

Regular Features

Song of the Day:Garden State Stomp by Dave Van Ronk - I can never drive through Jersey without thinking of this.  A song with all the names of the places you are driving through is perfect for a road trip.

Coolest car of the Day:  Being a beautiful day on a holiday weekend we saw lots of cool cars including a Ferrari California, a couple of Tesla Model Xs, and even a '55 T-Bird  but this Studebaker wins easily.  Note that the truck in front is also a Studebaker. 

Coolest Thing of the Day - Larry
The already wonderful doorways in the Historic area of Annapolis decorated for the 4th.  See one example below.

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle
The entire time in Annapolis was great.

Day 0- We Prepare

DAY 0

The route is planned to the mile at least until mid-August.  The car is washed and vacuumed.  The luggage, or at least the stuff we thought to pack is stowed and it all fit.  That might be a credit to Tesla luggage space or our forgetting something really important but it looks good.  By morning his electrons will have all been promoted to higher energy states and at 5:00am we hit the road.  We don't know how we are going to publish this if we don't have an internet connection but we have many hours of highway driving and battery charging to figure that out.  

While I assume we will make the trip without the car dying on the side of the road that assumption comes with hours of preparation.  Driving a car that can only get recharged at certain places is not a slam dunk endeavor.  There are people and places we would have liked to have seen but cannot reach.  Even with those limitation we will be seeing lots of great people and lots of really cool places. Truthfully I don't think we could pack much more into this adventure than we are going to.  The folks and one special dog in Nebraska are going to have to wait until they get more chargers in that area for us to visit and we will see Nashville some other trip.

As far a Hobson goes this will mark the first time he has been into any state but RI, NH or MA.  Not only has he only made local trips but he is a car of privilege!  Until now he gets washed routinely and has never even spent a night outside.  Another spoiled brat thrown into the cruel world!   Luckily for us he is an American car so like most Americans cannot speak a foreign language.  That means the Japanese car and the German car that sit outside so he can be in the garage can't tell him about how it feels to have sap, bird poop and this year, tons of gypsy moth caterpillar droppings, raining down on you.  We also have Italian and French cars so I will bet he is looking forward to being able to chat up the female Tesla's at the superchargers especially as handsome as he is all cleaned up.

Enough for now see you on the road.