After two nights in Madison we left this morning for Minnesota. Last night we had dinner at Graze, where fresh local veggies, local farms, and the catch of the day (trout last night) grace the Graze. Graze is the right half of a building which joins with Letoile, its more “upscale” (and $$$$) sister.

Farm-to-fork emu sausage and roasted vegetables

  

DAY SEVEN   (5/08)

On May 2 I’m “lighting out for the territory.” While it doesn’t promise to be an adventure with the moment of Huck Finn’s, I find the odd thrill in this prospect just the same.  We’re heading West in a Model S and testing the pros and cons of electric travel across the country.  We’ll use the 440-volt DC Tesla supercharging stations for the most part, but may make use of 220- or even 110-volt recharges along the way as well, depending upon location and need.

While we’re seasoned travelers, my wife and I are essentially retired, well into our seventh decades, and both fond of and spoiled by our creature comforts.  As odd as it may sound, the idea of stopping every 150 miles for anywhere from a half hour to an hour to top off my vehicle’s batteries appeals to me.  Before a recent Tesla trip from Greensboro, NC to Savannah, GA, the prospect of such stops held all the appeal of a Gatorade/Miralax prep. But I’ve found that these recharging stops are often located by lunch spots and/or Barnes and Nobles stores, like the one in nearby Burlington with its Starbucks cafe. And stopping for a half hour or so gives travelers an opportunity to explore, take a snooze, grab a quick bite, and build up a pleasing association of a route taken.

The initiative for this trip was a chance to hear my son Sam Gingher’s piano performance at the Krannert Center at UIUC (the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbaba on the evening of May 5 (Sunday).  Lizst’s Dante Sonata and Czerny’s Sonata no. 1. We’ll leave the morning of May 2 (Friday) and plan to drive far enough northwest to spend the night and complete the journey to Illinois the following day. Then we’ll hear my son’s concert (along with Alexandra Nawakowsi’s soprano voice…if I got the name right?) We’ll plan to stay Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights, then head out first thing after breakfast Tuesday morning.

I was concerned that this trip might not eventuate, because the morning after we returned from Belize, I backed the car out of my garage and noticed immediately that something was amiss. The car felt and sounded clunky, but I suspended my disbelief for three yards or so, stopped the car, and noticed a back streak on our cobblestone drive––tire rubber. I had a flat.

The good folks at the Tesla service center in Raleigh had notified me that there were nails in two of my tires and that the tread was low in the two rear (powered) wheels’ tires. I got this message in the Belize jungle and emailed back with a request that they let me find some tires in Greensboro. I’ve a friend and fellow Tesla Model S (P85) owner in Boone, NC, and he was using 21″ Contis instead of the standard Michelins. Boone and Blowing Rock, where we live sometimes, gets cold and sometimes snowbound during the winter, but from what I’d learned Ronald was able to get by with his tires better than I had with the Michelins, which are racing flats without the kind of “rude-duty” tread needed in ice and snow. I’d gotten trapped in my driveway this past winter in Greensboro––though admittedly it was a hard winter for us this year––and didn’t want to run into the same problems eight or nine months hence.

But now I as in a time trap with regard to our trip. With a bit of luck I was able to find a tire company here in Greensboro (Discount Tires) with some bright, resourceful folks at the helm. To get the tires in time to make my trip to hear Sam I wound up having to overnight the tires at $100 each. Long story short, John at Discount Tires was able to get to the job as soon as I had the car towed (on a flatbed truck, as req’d) there. While the two was scheduled for 8am it was closer to 10am before the truck materialized. But once there the driver was friendly and no-nonsense. He wanted to make sure our driveway could handle 17,000 lbs. (most of the load is in the front of the truck), so I watched as he drove in. How I go on…haven’t even finished packing my camera gear and clothes yet but am anxious to leave a bit of a record about this journey since the folks at the Raleigh dealership––well, Vito, you for sure!––want to follow it. Long story cut shorter than short…that should’ve been my intro. There were some snags. After four tires were replaced, the left front tire proved to have a slow leak. It was noticed at ProTint, where Aaron caught the fact that right front was at 44 psi. and left front at 24.

From right front to rear front after change-out! John at Discount, is I think the head honcho at the dealer. In any case––after pulling the right front off for a water bath leak test (earlier job) and determining is was aok pulled the left front off and repaired the faulty tire in short order. The leak was around the pressure sensor(s) in the tire.

Aaron at ProTint managed to get all the windows tinted with their PhotoSync product and some “self-healing” Excel Ultimate armor over the hood and front doors. There are some barely noticeable bubbles in one place on the armor, but he says they should disappear within 10 days or so.

A few evenings ago (4/29) as I was backing my Tesla S out of the driveway I hadn’t gone more than a foot or so when I noticed the P85 was groaning, the steering wheel essentially locked, and five alerts were going off. (The one not shown is “stability control disabled.”)

I got a brief “coolant low” warning as well. I called Tesla, and they promptly recommended I call in a flatbed truck from the service center in Raleigh. Meanwhile, we rebooted the vehicle. The first reboot was effected by simultaneously pressing the two controls above the scroll wheels on the steering wheel. The screen goes dark in a few seconds and then one waits for the screen to come back on. When it does, then press the scroll whees simultaneously and go through the same process. The car became fully functional with no groaning or locking. It seemed “as usual”/no problemo at that point. But there’s a tight team at Tesla service.  They responded promptly the next morning after I called them, and Vito De La Bruzzo said they’d stay up all night if they have to making sure the vehicle was absolutely road-worthy, before the trip. So Taylor came with a flatbed truck in less than two hours on May 1 and promised to have it in my driveway early the next morning.

DAY ONE (5/2)

Today, 5/2, Raleigh Service Ctr’s Taylor came by at 7:15 am (!)––amazing, had mentioned we wanted to get away as early as 7 but surely by 8––with Model S already unloaded and thoroughly road-checked or rude duty West. With him he had a multi-document of the many checks they’d made for which I signed. No charge. They’d done a safety inspection for about $20 ($10 more than for bare bones safety check because I had installed tinting, for which there’s an additional annual charge).

I remember Taylor because he and fellow specialist Javier, as part of Tesla Mobile Ranger Service in North Carolina, had appeared one Tuesday morning last November. In a few hours they had replaced three coolant pumps (one for the power-train and two for the battery). No charge whatsoever. On the invoice beside “Pay Type” is written “Goodwill.” Not long after, Taylor migrated to Norway for six weeks to work with Tesla there. (The Tesla Model S is currently Norway’s best-selling car.) Memo: must find rear 21″ snow tires for Tesla, 3rd party or Ebay.

This day we used Superchargers (SCs) in Rocky Mount (NC), Glen Allen (VA), Bethesda (MD), and Hagerstown (MD). Had a nice conversation (during most of our meal!) with waiter and  eco-enthusiast Taylor Rowles. Hip, forward-thinking fellow whom I promised to send an email. Which I will if I can but unearth the note on which it’s written. For this stop and available menu, we recommend the stir-fried seafood with a glass or two of the Liberty School Cab. Crashed at a very comfy Residence Inn. Lots of driving, dog tired.

DAY TWO (5/3)

We use SCs in Somerset (PA), Cranberry (PA), Macedonia (OH0, and Maumee (OH). Had a fabulous glass noodle with brown sauce and squid dish at Bangkok Kitchen in Maumee. Paid a $5 cover and brought in a nice bottle of Pendulum red wine. Lots of driving, dog tired.

DAY THREE (5/4)

Marathon of driving in a last-ditch effort to make son Sam’s concert at Krannert Center (UIUC). Near perfect acoustics here–so fine that Eugene Ormandy used to fly the entire Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra there to record. Sam is stage manager there, in addition to his teaching and church gigs he does to support himself on the way to his DM in piano performance and composition. We visited SCs in Angola (IN) and Mishawaka (IN), then on to Aurora (IL). We changed into concert-goer clothes in Aurora. By now had less than two hours to make it to Champaign. En route to Normal for one last top-off we were really pushing it and had the misfortune to be hindered by a half-hour or so of gridlock in which we traveled maybe a quarter mile at best. It was after 3pm now, and we’d reached Sam by cell and knew he’d be on-stage at 3pm. He’d urged our driving safely and assured us that the concert would be recorded. All too soon I saw that after topping off, the best we could do was meet Sam and his brother Rod at the university president’s house for a celebratory glass of wine. So it was a bittersweet reunion in that we’d missed his performance. The performance had brought the house down, according to what we heard from Cheryl Snyder, Jeff Magee, Mike Ross, and Sam’s mentor, Tim Ehlen! I suspect Alexandra’s did as well…stunning aria from Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” at Pres. Easter’s home.

That night Susan and I celebrated with Sam, Rod, and family at Bacarot, a wine-bar-cum-restaurant downtown. Sam, Mujin (Sam’s sweet, gorgeous, wonderful mate) and Rod stayed up until after 4am! Rod has ample cause to celebrate, too, as he’s just about to receive his Master’s degree in engineering!

DAY FOUR (5/05)

It’s nearly 1pm now, and I’m ringing Sam to meet him and Mujin for lunch. It’s Monday, and most restaurants are closed. We ate at a so-so sushi restaurant in downtown Urbana. We took Mujin back to their apartment. She has her hands full running a lab just now and is so busy that we’ll have to miss her lovely company tonight, I fear. Looks like the three of us will be going to a restaurant called Tony’s. Meanwhile, Sam took me to a hotel/conference center with an exterior outlet just barely close enough to reach the car. Only 110-v, however.

Back at the end of February we made a Tesla road trip from Greensboro, NC to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. We traveled via Tesla superchargers from Burlington, NC to Rocky Mount, Lumberton, Santee (SC), and Savannah (GA). Emboldened by that trip and knowing I needed to be in Urbana, IL on May 4, I decided to use Illinois as a launchpad for a trip further West.

The superchargers pump 480-volt direct current directly to the flat, huge lithium-ion battery pack inside the case that provides the car with structural support and a low center of gravity. The trick is to charge the car to about 80% capacity––or 212 miles between Supercharger stops. That way each stop only takes 20 or so minutes. (The last 20% would take about as long as the first 80% because of the requisite decrease in charging current to top-off cells and insure battery longevity.)

In this relatively new era of popularized electric automobile travel, some of us have witnessed “range anxiety” up close. What I’ve discovered on this trip is just how useful Tesla Model S’s onscreen graphic range predictor is. Here on the Illinois Tollway and elsewhere one finds 55mph speed limits everywhere while folks are driving, minimally, 70mph.