Day 11: Flagstaff, Arizona, Route 66 and a Supercharger

The change is smooth. You leave the desert and the mighty canyon and slowly pine trees start dotting the land. First, sparsely, then ever more densely until you find yourself in the midst of an alpine pine forest. The heat is replaced by the chill of altitude and mist: two seasons in one day. Then you see it, a brown sign post with "Historic Route 66" written on it.

Route 66... The mythical westward road, the road of dreams and of an era. The road that all roadtrip lovers have to experience. The ultimate bucket list wish.
We start our Route 66 journey in Flagstaff, Arizona, a town that proudly celebrates the myth of the Road and of the 1950s when the Road was bustling with traffic and dreams. We seem to be in a 1950s movie set and quickly immerse ourselves in the surrounding mood.
Alas, for all my sins there's a Tesla supercharger nearby and we are swiftly transported back into the future when my EV-crazy husband pays his visit to the epitome of modern-age driving. Here we go again...

Day 6: Albuquerque and a supercharger

We hadn't been near a supercharger since San Marcos in Texas and that was a whole lot of miles ago. we stayed for the night in Albuquerque, curiously a popular surname in Portugal, and the Tesla owner and enthusiast I call husband of course had to go and check the local supercharger. I cannot say I was missing the vicinity of a supercharger but life as a Tesla-wife has such things. Besides, where else would I go?
A storm was looming (read big, scary, freaking storm) and the photo shoot had to be quick (we got to the hotel with heavy rain already falling).

Don't misinterpret me: I do like storms and I'm known for chasing them. The storm was my pretext for the Tesla geekiness not to last long so we could go somewhere else to enjoy the storm. Hm..."enjoy the storm", guess there's one Tesla-geek and one storm-geek in the family. O my...
PS - It was a mighty T-storm. Mighty.

Day 3: San Marcos, Texas

Because this year's roadtrip was not going to be prodigal in supercharger chasing moments (I mean, we were bound for the desert and who in their right minds is going to the desert?), we decided to make the most of civilized Texas before we headed to the deep, far West.

San Marcos was an absolute surprise: Tesla superchargers hand in hand with conventional superchargers. What a treat for the Tesla-geek aficionado travelling with me.

See what I mean?

Leaving Louisiana, Lake Charles

Pitch stop at Lake Charles, Louisiana, for a farewell to the welcoming state and a quick visit to the Tesla supercharger near the state border.

What amazes me as a newcomer to the wondrous world of Tesla and electric mobility is the quantity of superchargers that Tesla has available. I think Elon Musk is really into future-mode.

 Maybe one day charging stations will not be a thing of amazement but as natural an occurence as gas stations. Oh yes, and I'm still always mesmerised by my husband's geekyness as he stares, jaw-dropped, at something he has already seen a gazillion times.

See what I mean?

Baton Rouge, LA, and a buffalo burger

It was hot... very hot. We were tired... very tired. Going to Alexandria proved a long day of driving (conventional, as I now need to explain). It was the early detour to Sliddel then the hours-long drive to Alexandria and on our way back to New Orleans, where he had set headquarters for three days, we still wanted to go to the supercharger in Baton Rouge, the state's capital.

More than the driving, it was the heat that knocked us down. My husband drove us from New Orleans to Alexandria. I drove us back and for more than once I had to fight the temptation to doze off. Luckily we got to Baton Rouge unscathed and the supercharger made for a glorious "by night" moment.

The temperature was divine and nearby there was a gourmet burger joint where we were treated to our very first buffalo burgers ever: deliciously yummy (even for non burger lovers)!

It was another great day chasing superchargers. I might add further that Tesla knows where to place its superchargers. I mean, leaving the beasts charging while we indulge in buffalo burgers, how good does it get?

And what were we doing in Alexandria, Louisiana?

You know History Channel's "Cajun Pawn Stars?" Well, we're fans and I had a minor business proposition for them, a thing of long-lost pasts I wanted to get rid of with a major goodbye and good riddance! Since we were in Louisiana, why not go there? Besides, they have the General Lee at the door, that relic of a time EVs were not even a thing of science fiction and a proud symbol of Dixie. O, "The Dukes of Hazzard"... Who doesn't remember?

They were all there the DeRamus. Hospitable beyond words. For our amusement, they roleplayed being in the show and appraised what I had brought to sell. I got ten bucks out of the deal when I had asked for fifty cents! Who would have thought? What a great afternoon!

They showed us around, told us great stories and, hey, Jimmie DeRamus even played the mobster with this yours truly Tesla aficionado. Don't they look neat?

What a fabulastic break on a day chasing superchargers. Morning saw us in Sliddel, the evening would lead us to yet another supercharger. I'll get back to that shortly...
To the DeRamus family at Silver Dollar Pawn and Jewelry Center in Alexandria, Louisiana, our heartfelt gratitude for such warm welcome and a time well spent. We felt like royalty. To Jimmie, Tammie and Johnnie: thank you!

Slidell, Louisiana: Back to chasing superchargers

After all the merriment of the last couple of weeks (and the Creature giving autographs and posing for the cameras), I feel like going back to a past of wonders when Tesla came our way.

If you recall, we had just made it to New Orleans and, of course, having been to all superchargers from there to Florida, it was only expectable (notice I'm not saying normal...) that we had to go chase superchargers (some people chase rainbows) in Louisiana.

On this particular day, we wanted to go to Alexandria, LA, for purposes you'll later find out, so stay put. It so happens that Alexandria is some 200 miles/320kms, Northwest of New Orleans. Logic has it that if you want to go Northwest, then Northwest you go, right? Not quite so.

Chasing superchargers you sometimes find that the road to go from A to B also detours to Z. And so we detoured East and Eastbound we crossed Lake Pontchartrain on our way Northwest. Why East? Because, just after you cross the Lake, there's a supercharger in Slidell, what else?

And so, on the fine morning of the fine day I wanted to go to Alexandria I found myself on a spot on the map with a name slightly resembling "slider" (mine with cheese and a slice of pickled cucumber, please).

Mississippi burning

After Alabama there came Mississippi but, alas, this is a Tesla supercharger no man's land. The great State of Mississippi has no superchargers. A bit like Portugal, it is a no zone and I guess that, as in Portugal, Tesla owning and Tesla driving is only for the wild at heart or for the plainly insane.
So, no superchargers in sight, what's a Tesla-wife to do but kill time in selfie mode whilst appreciating some good ole southern hospitality?

And yes, it was burning hot down there!

Into Sweet Home Alabama

And now that the festive season is over and the new year is here in full swing, let's resume at where we were in our all-American road trip.
Leaving Florida on interstate 10 (boy were we eager to do interstate 10!) and having stopped in DeFuniak Springs, the last supercharger before the state line, we entered that Sweet Home Alabama (take a bow Lynyrd Skynyrd although my heart's a sucker for Kid Rock's All Summer Long...). It was going to be our longest stretch yet: out of Florida, cross Alabama and Mississippi to get to Louisiana, all in one gigantic, seemingly never-ending day.
Stiffling heat and the first and only stop in Alabama: Mobile.

And Tesla brightly anticipating that when you get out of Florida on I10 what you really want is get to Louisiana and you need to refuel somewhere in Alabama. Bang, enter Mobile. The heat was so insufferable I kept reminding Rev. King's line "sweltering with the heat of oppression" because only someone who has endured the heat of the Deep South can aptly define it. But the heat accounted for no one in sight which gave me five minutes of posing without the shame of being the ludicrous Tesla-wife.

I even did a Marie Antoinette... (good grief).

Well, "Vive la Révolution" and it's time to hit the road again and on to Mississippi.

Leaving Florida: DeFuniak Springs

On our way out of Florida, there was (as there had to be) a quick pitch stop at DeFuniak Springs. A quite rundown place that no amount of filters and cropping can begin to beautify. Neither can the pose of this here yours truly.

Until better knowledge, I get the impression you only go to DeFuniak if you must as in the case: you must because your batteries are kinda low and, hey, you need to get out of Florida. Also, a typical instance of my acting the Tesla-wife. Would I ever set foot in DeFuniak if Tesla hadn't made it to my life? Er... yep... I guess you've guessed...
For him it was another box ticked, though.

But ok, you have to give some credit to a place where the heat is so stiffling it acts as a natural vapoury filter (just check below to prove me right) and where the motto is that perennial epitome of originality "Where the past meets the future". Well, come to think of it, Tesla is, ideed, the future...

Ocala and Lake City, Florida

Second supercharger in one day. Ocala, of its name and grace. We stop. We take the mandatory pictures. We're off. Still, the day is not over yet. No, Sir, it isn't.
Highway 75 and, a few hours later, jackpot (not for me, mind you). Just before sundown there's Lake City and the THIRD supercharger in one, single day. We stop. There are Teslas charging and, to my alarm, there's a Tesla owner in one of the Model Ss. No need to explain what followed...

Being a Tesla-wife is, I tell you, an exercise in patience.

Still in Florida

Back to the past before the future.
We stayed in Tampa for the night and decided to go the extra mile the morning after to go to nearby Brandon, where there is a Tesla charging station. "What the heck", I thought, a tad weary of having embarked on a supercharger road trip, "as long as we move northwards and I have the chance to go and see the manatees somewhere in Homosassa or Crystal River, fine by me."

And so I thus found myself on another fine morning playing the patient Tesla-wife of a bloke flabbergasted at the astonishing quantity of superchargers all in one place.

I did get to see the manatees, though. Not all was lost but little did I know there was going to be another Tesla-moment before the sun was out...

Onward to Fort Myers

As I write this, it's the Day Before Christmas and I'm here reminescing about a time of summer when my husband and I were chasing superchargers on our U.S. coast-to-coast roadtrip. Much has happened meantime, particularly as regards the contents of our garage and what's parked there-in. Still, let's resume at where we were.
After Marathon, we did get to Key West and, on the way back to the mainland, we detoured to the amazing Everglades and, before we knew it, it was time to go back to finding more superchargers. Next, on the road was Fort Myers, Fl.

And, this time, the supercharger came with a bonus: a Model S charging and one of those moments one really feels a Tesla-wife.

After midnight tonight, the Tesla aficionado pictured above (literally in the dark as to this yours truly having a blog about things Tesla) is in for a surprise as this is my Christmas present to him. I think I'll text him with the blog's address and a note of Happy Christmas!

Miami-Marathon-Key West

There was a plan, a quite simple one, actually: to do the first leg of a coast-to-coast road trip. We would start the journey in Miami, have a viapoint in Key West and then circumdrive the Gulf of Mexico up to Texas to end in Houston, where we would resume the trip next year.

However, as it so often happens, plans are meant to be unplanned. My husband was considering placing an order for a Model X but the car was only going to be out in the market in October, which meant that it would take much, much longer to get to Europe and he was impatient. Besides, those falcon wings were unappealing to both of us and we could imagine that the price for a Model X was going to be, well..., ludicrous. Because I'm a sufferer of range-anxiety (I never let my tank below half its capacity), we thought the Thought: why not do as we had intended but with a twist? We would make our road trip based on the super-charger network that exists in the U.S., that is, we would coincide the stretches of the road trip with the super-chargers along the way. Long story short, there was a super-charger right in the middle of the Overseas Highway on our way to Key West.

And so, despite driving conventional, which I now know better to call ICE (internal combustion engine), we role-played owning a Tesla already and check if the planned coast-to-coast road trip was feasible on an all-electric vehicle. This is truly where the story begins and Marathon, Florida, was our first pitch-stop, or I should better say, our first super-charger stop.

My husband was the proverbial kid in a candy shop...