Tesla Model 3

We rested well at the Sprinhill Suites and headed off in hope of making it home in one day. Karen really isn’t well and is sleeping 20 out of 24 hours each day. I’m keen to get home.

Tulsa to Van Buren

We headed off and got the benefit of well maintained toll roads again. After rejoining I-40 the going wasn’t as comfortable. The cars navigation wanted me to charge at Ozark which is just beyond Van Buren. Since we knew we could make the stretch from Brinkley to Van Buren without stopping it seemed to make more sense to stop at Van Buren instead. This turned out to be a mistake, I should have trusted the navigations suggestion. The vehicle indicated it would take 40 minutes to charge to get to Brinkley. This is too long so we left after just 7 minutes of charging and headed to Ozark.

Van Buren to Ozark

It was just thirty minutes to Ozark. The Ozark supercharger is the best we visited the entire trip. Its located at a Travel Center, so close to bathrooms and a convenience store. What set this station apart from others is that the truck stop also added both trash cans and windscreen washing squeegees. Some locations have trash cans, like Buc’ees, but this location is the only one I have visited ever that had a way to clean your windscreen. This is something almost every gas station provides to their fossil fuel customers. It is really a needed convenience for electric car drivers as well.

Ozark to Brinkley

Now we are back in Arkansas we can cruise in comfort on well maintained highways. This leg was quite long at 1 1/2 hours and I was happy to stretch my legs at Brinkley.

Brinkley to Jackson TN

It was a great feeling cruising by the “Welcome to Tennessee” sign. The welcome was brief as we were on I-40 in Memphis a black mercedes travelling at very high speeds cut across several lanes and almost side swiped us. I saw the vehicle in my peripheral vision and swerved out of my lane to avoid a disaster. I assume the driver was running from the law. Karen wasn’t sure how we weren’t hit by the car it came so close. Welcome back to Tennessee indeed. A 20 minute charge at Jackson gave us enough energy to get home.

Home at last – almost 4,000 miles driven!

We arrived home at 9pm. We had no milk to make a cup of tea and I was too tired to go by the store. I looked at the trip meter. We had driven just shy of 4,000 miles. We used over one megawatt of electricity. Our efficiency of 272 Wh/Mile was pretty good given we travelled very fast on some interstates. 272 Wh/mile equates to 3.6 miles per kWh. We averaged just over 300 miles per day, that’s a lot of driving.

Supercharging is about six times more expensive when compared to charging at home. On our last trip to Florida we saved quite a bit charging at hotels. On this trip there were very few hotels out west that provided complementary EV charging, the ones that did had expensive accommodation. We never had the benefit of charging at a hotel destination charger the entire thirteen days we were on the road. I suppose there are just fewer EV’s in the wilderness out west.

The car was charged by 2am the next morning. It was ready for another road trip. We will give it a wee while before embarking on our next road trip. Our thoughts are to go to Niagara Falls in the fall and maybe go to Maine as well.

Tucamcari to Amrillo

We didn’t make it to Amarillo as we had hoped for yesterday, which means we are at least two days from home. We headed straight out after breakfast and our first stop was at Amarillo TX. This was a quick 16 minute charge and bathroom break.

Amarillo to Shamrock

We drove directly to Shamrock where there is a neat retro gas station and Route 66 Museum. The Museum was open being a weekday and we grabbed an ice cream and got some Route 66 stickers. They have a map where you put a pin where you live and I had a hard time squeezing my pin. The staff said they remove all pins each January and start over. So within 5 months middle Tennessee is already filling up with pins! There was a separate world map for international visitors to the museum.

Shamrock to Weatherford

This leg was a short trip to Weatherford. I prefer quick stops rather infrequent long charges, you get less stiff with a walk every 2 hours or so. To get to Oklahoma City I didn’t need to charge very long, just 11 minutes.

Weatherford to Oklahoma City

Another quick leg and we arrived at Oklahoma City at about 5pm. If we stayed here for the night it would doubtful we could make it home tomorrow in one day. However the next stop along I-40 is over 2 hours away at Van Buren Arkansas. To get enough energy to make it we would need to charge for 50 minutes using the V2 charger here in OK city. We chose to drive to Tulsa which is about half way but we would need to go on a 30 mile detour. I can drive that 30 minutes in less than 50 minutes. After a few minutes of charging a few cars left and I decided to move my car so I wouldn’t need to share charge with my neighbor. This shaved 10 mins off the charge session.

Oklahoma City to Tulsa

I remember the roads between Van Buren and Oklahoma City were absolutely awful, this route to Tulsa was very different. Many of the roads were toll roads and they were maintained much better. In addition the speed limits were 80 rather than 75 so we were able to make rapid progress to Tulsa. One of the tolls read your license plate but a few we did have to stop and pay cash.

The supercharger at Tulsa is awesome with 24 V3 stalls. Tulsa also has another supercharger location with 8 V2 stalls. So much better than the chargers at Oklahoma City. I did a long charge session so we wouldn’t need to visit in the morning. The city of Tulsa looks like a really nice place, good call not staying at Oklahoma City which isn’t very attractive looking.. We booked a room at the Springhill suites. The best Hotel we stayed in the entire trip and was inexpensive at $120.

Albuquerque Service Center

I headed off to the Tesla Service Center north of Albuquerque at 8am. It was just five minutes from the Hotel we stayed in. When I arrived I saw just six Tesla’s plugged in charging and not much else. It didn’t look very open. I approached someone at the Service Center and they asked how they could help. I asked if they were open to which he said no, not yet. I explained what was wrong with our car. They had no techs at the service center so he couldn’t offer any service at all. He said any garage can remove the broken Aero Shield until I can get to a Service Center. I asked if there was any problem driving without the Aero shield and he said that if road debris hit the drive unit, which would now be exposed the repair cost could be high. He directed me to a Service Center at Santa Fe which he assured me was open.

Albuquerque to Santa Fe

We checked out of the Hotel and headed for Santa Fe. This started to feel like a wild goose chase. We supercharged at Sante Fe and discovered the Service Center is twenty miles north of the city. Just like at Albuquerque. Are Tesla favoring low rent districts?

Santa Fe to Cuyamungue

We set off for the Santa Fe Service Center. We headed into Santa Fe and out the other side. I joked we were headed for the mountain range ahead of us. Turns out it was no joke. we climbed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and crested the pass. This felt very very wrong, what on earth was a Tesla Service Center doing out here? We descended the mountain and into a valley arriving at a town called Cuyamungue. We found the Service Center and were greeted by Brian. I explained our dilemma and he said he would fit us in given we were on the road. After checking the vehicle in he asked us if we were up for lunch. “Yes” I said somewhat surprised. Brian explained that he would drop us off at the Casino next door for lunch and we could call when we were ready to return. What great service!!!

I remarked how far away from Sante Fe we were and Brian explained that due to dealership laws in New Mexico prohibiting Tesla from having a Service Center in the state, Tesla could only build a service center on Tribal Lands which were exempt from the regulations. This explained why the Albuquerque Service Center is also out of town, on tribal lands also. Now it made sense.

This is the first time Karen and I have ever visited a casino! It certainly was very glitzy. We found a restaurant upstairs. We had the best Mexican food we have ever had. Much better than the famous restaurant at Sedona. This is what authentic Mexican tastes like. Yum! It was only $30 for the two of us.

We called the service center. A Model Y pulled up to pick us up. The Tesla employee offered us a demo drive. We respectfully declined; he was clearly crestfallen. Tesla are pushing people to take demo drives. Our car was ready in under two hours after arriving and we thanked everyone for a great job and headed back on the road. The car was so much better, the car drove so quietly now. It felt like we had found an oasis in the Arizona desert. The day started off very shaky, but now we had just had the best Mexican food ever and the best Auto Service ever. Thank you Tesla Santa Fe and the Nambe Pueblo Tribes at Cuyamungue.

Cuyamungue to Santa Rosa

It was such a relief to be able to travel at normal highway speeds without the prospect of having to pull over and duct tape the car again. It was just a short hop back to Santa Rosa, we didn’t have to back track through Albuquerque, there was a more direct route. Finally we were back on I-40 heading in the right direction.

Santa Rosa to Tucumcari

After a short 14 minute charge at Santa Rosa we headed to Tucumcari the next reasonably sized city along I-40. Once we arrived we found ourselves charging in the Holiday Inn parking lot and decided we had had enough fun for today and reserved a room while supercharging. Tucumcari is a city which serves truckers and the gas stations had large parking lots for the truckers to park up. The Holiday Inn looked a bit worn out from the outside, but they had renovated the rooms well and the room was one of the best we had had. It wasn’t cheap however at $181.

Page to Flagstaff

We headed off first thing from Page AZ. My intention was to get to Amarillo TX. I knew we could make it home in two days from there. Karen’s health continued to deteriorate so I was keen to make quick progress home.

As we were travelling down US 89 from Page to Flagstaff an SUV behind us started to flash their lights at us repeatedly. Thinking this was some sort of road rage I ignored the flashing lights. The trip to Flagstaff was very pretty, I was glad we came home a different route.

Flagstaff to Winslow – Vehicle breaks down

After supercharging at Flagstaff we joined I-40 for the 1,500 mile trip home. Not long after getting up to speed I started to hear a strange noise from the car. I assumed it was the road surface and continued on. As time went on the noise started to increase until it got to be very noisy. We were going to have to pull over. I saw an exit ramp ahead and pulled off. We had arrived in Winslow AZ. I pulled over at a disused gas station to examine the car. I saw the Aero Shield under the front of the vehicle had come loose and was catching the wind at speed forcing the shield into the ground. I went to the gas station on the opposite side of the road and bought some duct tape and taped the shield up best I could.

So there I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona much like the lyrics from the Eagles song “Take it Easy”. I suppose I was running down the road and my load did loosen.

Winslow to Holbrook

We rejoined I-40 and to my suprise the duct tape stopped the Aero Shield from rubbing on the ground. I inched along at 60 miles an hour. We didn’t need to charge at Holbrook but I wanted to inspect the duct tape job to see if it was OK to go faster or not. We stopped at the supercharger and when I looked at the repair job it was clear that after just 35 miles of driving the duct tape was not going to survive the journey home. It had already started to come loose. I added more duct tape until I had none left.

Holbrook to Gallup

As we drove on at 60 miles an hour I realized we would have to get the car seen to. We simply weren’t going to make it home. The question was where? When we arrived in Gallup to charge I contacted the closest Tesla Service Center in Scottsdale AZ. They were not very helpful, simply confirming I could take my car to any Tesla Service Center. I pushed them to let me know where on my way home to Tennessee the closest one on I-40 was. They indicated Albuquerque or Santa Fe. So off to Albuquerque it is, its on the way home anyway.

Before leaving Gallup I called by a gas station and picked up a monster sized roll of Duct Tape and reinforced the failing repair best I could.

Gallup to Albuquerque

We drove carefully to Albuquerque and charged at the supercharger there. We also visited WalMart to get Karen some Mucinex to help with her cold. She slept most of the journey today.

I looked up the address of the Service Center. It is 20 miles north of Albuquerque in a city called Bernalillo. That seemed like an odd location, why not locate it alongside the other car dealers in the city? We drove to Bernalillo and found a hotel to stay the night. Being Memorial Day the service center wouldn’t open until the next day. The Service Center opened at 8am. I negotiated a late checkout with the hotel to give us time to repair the car before heading out. We had until 2pm to check out the next day. Tomorrow promised to be an interesting day.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Grand Canyon. Karens’s health has deteriorated and we discussed returning home. Our original plans were to go to Utah next and see Zion National Park among others and work our way home via Colorado Springs. Instead we agreed to one more destination before returning. We chose to go to Page AZ which is just over 138 miles away, but more importantly two thousand feet lower in elevation to help Karen’s breathing. The most direct route to Page is through the Grand Canyon Park, so we had to set off early to beat any long lines of people trying to get into the park. I was sure to top off the cars battery the night before so we could head straight out.

We got to Page by midday, Page is one hour ahead of Grand Canyon so we did lose an hour on the journey up. It is close to where the time zone changes so the car, phones and our watches could not agree what time it was. We reserved a room at a hotel when we arrived but they were not able to accept early check-in, they said not to come back until at least 3pm.

Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam

We examined the map and decided to look at Glen Canyon Dam. As we were driving we saw a sign for the Horseshoe Bend Overlook which is on the Colorado river. We pulled over, the overlook is on Tribal Lands so we paid a $10 entry fee. After parking we discovered the overlook was a 1 1/2 mile walk, and it was 90 F. Karen chose to remain in the car and I headed off with plenty of water and my hat.

If you look closely enough you will see at least three faces on the rock face. I can find three can you find more? This was a totally unplanned stop, I didn’t even know this is where this famous portion of the Colorado River is. Nice to come across stuff somewhat at random, it is more satisfying that way. The little white specks on the river are people floating downstream on kayaks. This overlook was a high one for sure at over 1,100 above the river.

Then we continued our way to to Dam.

The color of the water is gorgeous. We took in the dam and it was still too early to check-in into the hotel. We looked at the map in the car and saw a small town with a marina on the lake. We headed towards Wahweep.

Wahweep Marina and Lake Powell

To our surprise the Wahweep recreation Area is a National Park. We used our senior pass to get in and drove to the first overlook. Wow, just wow, the view was stunning. The blue water against the red rocks was very photogenic. Lake Powell water level is very low, about 150 feet lower than normal at 30% of capacity. This water level is considerably up from where it was this time last year.

We could see the Marina and drove down there from the overlook. You couldn’t really see the marina once you got close and we lost our interest. The overlooks were the real prize here. We didn’t realize it but we were just 1/2 mile from the Utah state line, so we didn’t quite make it to Utah. So close.

Midpoint of our trip

This point marked the end of our outward journey and from this point forward we would start our journey home.

For our first full day at the Grand Canyon we took one of the parks shuttle buses. Many of the viewpoints are only available by shuttle bus during the high season. This prevents the parking lots or pull-overs from overflowing with private vehicles allowing more people to enjoy the sights.

We got to the park at 8:30 am and took the sights in until just after 1 am. With our Senior Pass we can afford to leave the park and re-enter later in the evening.

The views are stunning and each view point was unique in its own way. As we were sitting on the bus we saw a couple get on with T-Shirts advertising a High School in Hendersonville where we live. We asked them if they were from Hendersonville and the surprise on their faces was amazing. What a small world.

Here are a few select photos of the Canyon.

When we got back to the Hotel in Tusayan I took a quick trip across the road and charged at the Grand Hotel so we would be ready to start another day. The Supercharger station was empty when I was there for a quick top off. The setup at the Grand hotel is awesome. Twelve Supercharger stalls and beyond that nine Tesla destination charging stations.

On the second full day at the park we took a different bus route. We left the park fairly early and came back in the evening for some sunset views as well.

The drive from Sedona to the Grand Canyon is relatively short at about two hours. I planned a charging stop at Flagstaff and we also picked up some supplies at WalMart. We arrived quite early and were lucky to be able to get an early check-in at our hotel. The staff were very helpful and let me know I could use electrical outlets on lamposts in their parking lot to charge our car. I discovered that the 120v pigtail Tesla supplies has a ninety-degree at the plug which turns the cable in the wrong direction for the recessed sockets. I now know that I should carry a short extension cord with a straight plug for such situations. We relied again on the supercharger in town. We booked three nights to be sure we had time to take in all the sights. We waited until the line at the entry gate was relatively short, the National Parks Service has a webcam on their website for you to monitor how busy the gates are.

This is the first time for us to see the Grand Canyon and my big takeaway was how incredibly deep it is. Karen said it is mind bending. It’s very wide as well at eighteen miles but I have never seen a sheer cliff a mile tall. It has to be seen to be believed, photos can’t express the scale of the canyon. It reminded me of the Wile. E. Coyote and the Roadrunner cartoon, that’s a long way to fall.

Karen has developed quite a bad cough along with congestion. I suspect this might be associated with the higher elevations. Tusayan where we are staying is 6,612 feet, the south rim of te Canyon is 7,000 feet. I noticed that my breathing has become more difficult. At the end of this road trip series of posts I will detail the data from my Fitbit which shows that my respiration and resting heart rate has increased and oxygen saturation decreased.

After returning from the Grand Canyon I ran over the the supercharger across the road to top off the battery for the next days adventures.

We woke up and realized we didn’t have to pack and jump in the car for another day of driving. Sedona is a really beautiful city. It is very clean, strict building codes have even made MacDonalds change the color of their arches from yellow to green. One feature of the city that is awesome is that there is not a single red light in the city, all intersections are roundabouts and traffic just keeps moving. When exiting a business one can only turn right should you wish to turn left you use the next roundabout to do a U turn. Well designed city. Most of the restaurants are high quality and we had excellent food the whole while we were there.

I took a walk from the motel to Bell Rock and walked up to the base of the rock. There are trails that go around the base of the rock, however we had booked a tour of the area in the afternoon so I headed back.

The tour we took is a tour of the Sedona area on a Mercedes open air vehicle. When we arrived the host informed us that we were the only ones to book the tour at that time, so we got a private tour. In addition traffic was unusually light so the tour guide added extra stops in like a trip to te airport where you can see the whole city below you, the airport is built on top of a mesa.

Just outside the city limits a home has been built on top and into a mountain. The only way in is via cable car from the driveway hundreds of feet below. This structure has many residents of Sedona upset that this was allowed to be built. Unlike buildings within the city limits it uses bright primary colors like red and blue in contrast to its surroundings. If you look closely at the silver oval in the photo you will see the cable car cables

Later in the day we went to Tlaquepaque which is a neat shopping and restaurant precinct built around an old tree sanctuary. The buildings were built around the trees resulting in some bizarre situations where a tree grew up through the roofs of structures. We ate at a famous Mexican restaurant there called El Rincon Restaurante Mexicano. I preferred the meal we had at Pisa Lisa the night before.

Gallup is 6,467 ft in elevation and we could tell our breathing was more difficult. According to my Fit my blood oxygen levels are lower, resting heart rate higher and respiration rate went up. We are heading to Sedona next which is 4,350 ft in elevation so we should breathe easier tonight. On the way to Sedona we visited the Petrified Forest National Park.

Gallup to Holbrook

We had read that the most interesting parts of the Petrified Forest are on the southern section so we decided to drive past the forest to Holbrook and double back to the southern entrance. We topped off our charge at Holbrook. When I plugged in at Holbrook the charge rate was very poor for a V3 station. Then I realized this station had been expanded and they had both V2 and V3 charging equipment. I unplugged and moved to a V3 stall. Much better.

Petrified Forest National Park

This was the first National Park since leaving home four days ago. It finally feels like we are arriving rather than just travelling. The drive from Holbrook to the park was very desolate, as we entered the highway a sign said that they did not patrol the road at night or during storms, in other words you are on your own. The forest was very interesting, many of the landscapes looked like moonscapes.

Petrified Forest to Flagstaff

The forest was very interesting and relatively quite, no crowds. We set off for Sedona with a top off at Flagstaff. We could have made it on the charge remaining but I prefer to have extra when I arrive at a destination to give you some touring miles before you need to charge. We stopped at the V3 station in Flagstaff, there is aV2 station but it didn’t make sense to go to an old location. We charged for just 13 minutes.

Flagstaff to Sedona

As we were charging at Flagstaff I visited the Circle K next door to use their facilities. They were disgusting, I felt I could wait the extra 58 minutes to Sedona to avoid catching who knows what. This turned out to be a questionable decision. Just as we entered the interstate I was experiencing a “personal emergency” and we pulled off at the first exit and found a port a potty at a local park. The port a potty had just been delivered and was pristine. So much better than the Circle K bathrooms. Refreshed I got back into the car and Karen said that the road we were on was rated as one of the most pretty drives in the US. So we did not get back on the interstate and take the scenic route. What a delight this drive was, it certainly lived up to its billing, what a happy accident this was. When planning a trip it’s important to have a plan in case your plan doesn’t go according to plan.

Arrival at Sedona

We arrived at Sedona and checked into the motel. What a fantastic location with the best views we could have hoped for. The motel looks old from the outside but they did make the rooms modern and we enjoyed our stay. This is the view that greeted us from our motel window.

Car looses its brain in Autopilot.

As we jumped back onto I-40 I put the vehicle in Autopilot for the long drive ahead. Within a few minutes the car slowed and simultaneously tried to change into the passing lane as it was braking. I aborted the maneuver and put the car back onto autopilot. This problem repeated which was annoying but then the car did something quite dangerous, as it was returning to the right hand lane it suddenly slowed and returned to the passing lane, the car behind must have been very confused. This could have caused an accident. I stopped using Autopilot after this, even cruise control only was unreliable. t puzzled me what had changed from the first two days where Autopilot worked very well on the interstate.

At our first stop I cleaned the windscreen and all the cameras thoroughly. Unfortunately this did not fix the issue either. As a last resort I re-calibrated the cameras. I have not used Autopilot since re-calibration, I just don’t want the car doing something crazy while we are in the wilderness with no cell signal. I may not use Autopilot again until we are close to Nashville again. I suspect a camera maybe going bad requiring service, something I don’t want to do while on a road trip.

Amarillo to Tucumcari

The cars nav indicated we could make Santa Rosa in one charge. I chose to stop sooner to top off at Tucumcari. This allowed me to drive as fast as I needed rather than eek out a few extra miles. There must have been over fifty miles of wind turbines, Texas have a massive amount of wind energy.

Tucumcari to Santa Rosa

The landscape has now changed from Texas ranch lands to a mesa landscape with much less signs of civilization. We have now entered a true wilderness. It is very eerie.

Santa Rosa to Albuquerque – Navigation mis routes us to wrong supercharger.

The suggested charging stop at Albuquerque was a few miles off the interstate. When we plugged in the charge rate was very poor, it suggested a fifty minute charging session. The station we were routed to is a 150 kW V2 charging station. I knew from planning our journey we should be at a 250 kW V3 station. I looked how close alternate stations were and just a few miles down the road was a V3 station with plenty of open stalls. I unplugged quickly and went down the road saving at least 30 minutes. I have no idea why the Tesla navigation routed me to a busy V2 station when a lightly used V3 station was available and closer to the interstate. Elon there is a glitch in the matrix.

Albuquerque to Gallup via “Route 66 sign” at Grants.

The wilderness continues as we climb through mountain passes into Gallup. About half way to Gallup we stopped at Grants. Grants have erected an elaborate sign that one can park your car under for a Route 66 photo opportunity. This is no doubt an effort to save the city of Grants from becoming a ghost town. After I-40 took all the traffic off route 66, many of the cities that grew up around the trade the traffic brought have fallen on hard times and are sad looking. Let’s hope this sign can save Grants.

When we stopped at the Gallup supercharger we didn’t have to look too far for a hotel for the night. The Supercharger is in the parking lot of a Best Western.