The Tesla Journey from New Jersey to Key West

 

This was our first long trip in our Tesla Model 3 . We have had her for more than two years now but we never went on a road trip for a while now. Or maybe it was the fear of superchargers . 

We had originally booked flight tickets but Covid 19 made us rethink . We knew that going to a touristy place , let alone Florida was risky . But we decided to take the plunge anyway because our hotels were booked and we really wanted to get away . 

We planned to start our drive on December 18th ,  Friday. In our earlier road trips , we never booked hotels on the way. We would reach some place and decide to call it a night . But with Covid and all the uncertainties this year , we booked the first stop at Rocky Mount, NC.  It was a 7 hour drive and we planned to start from home at around noon . But Praan had a class test which he had to take and the teacher assigned it late. We finally started around 4 pm . 

We did a few mistakes in the first leg of our journey but we learnt from them . For one, we trusted the Tesla map which suggested the first charging point at Baltimore MD. But the temperature was very low that day and I guess we were going over 80/90 mph and the battery lost charge much more than we and the map expected. The map kept giving us warnings and asked us to drive at an optimal speed. Around the time we crossed the Delaware bridge, there was a lot of traffic and it dawned on me that we should be charging the car now rather than being stuck in the traffic. It would also be risky with not having enough charge . Supercharging was mostly good and we got to stretch our legs but we realized that some superchargers are of lower power and then it takes ages to charge . 

The rest of the first leg was smooth , except when we got into the Virginia Expressway and again the Tesla map could not figure it out. We reached the hotel (Residence Inn, Rocky Mount ) close to midnight or maybe later . There was a supercharger right next to the hotel and we used it before we started our travel next day. In hindsight, we should have looked out for destination chargers in the hotels that we stayed. Most hotels have them , we never bothered to check or ask because we did not think of it until later. 

The next day was uneventful too . We started our ride to Walt Disney Resorts, Orlando. We stopped for supercharging and also at Chick-Fil-A's because Nanch and Praan were crazy about it . We reached Orlando by evening and called it a day.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Diary of a mommy

  To my dearest Jimba , A long long time ago , I used to jot down things that you did to make me smile. I am going to start doing that again. You are now a tween. I know that kids are always babies to a lot of mommies. But I cannot express my thanks and gratitude to The God Almighty for making me your mommy. The way you said today that you will always be my baby , that you will always play with me , that you will always be my jimba .... it makes me want to cry. Knock on wood for making you so loving .  Today you told me that I am a cuckoo head and you love me for that. You said that I am the only mother who must enjoy playing with her son so much. I do not think so. I think a lot of mommies enjoy that but I do not know why I love it so much . Is it coz I never played much when I was your age? The thing that gives me most happiness is to play outdoors with you. I sometimes cry when I think of you leaving for college but I think I will travel then . Or find something that interests me. 
Read more

Tesla Journey from New Jersey to Key West (#2)

  The next morning we woke up very late to refresh ourselves from the long drive. The rest of the day was spent exploring Disney. We walked around the resort , then we hopped on the boat and went to Disney Hollywood. We had the tickets but got the cards and scheduled the park visits. We went around the skyliners. It was nice to have a day with no agenda in mind.  The next morning Praan and I were all set to go to Kennedy Space Center.  Nanch could not join us , he was not on vacation and was working from the hotel. We had booked a tour and the bus picked us up at Disney Swan Resort.  (https://www.grayline.com/tours/orlando/kennedy-space-center-central-florida-everglades-airboat-tour-5873_30_12130_1271/) The first stop was an airboat ride on the St. Johns river. It was nice , but contrary to my expectations the weather was cold.  Made a mental note to carry a jacket with me in Florida. We did see a lot of flamingo's , the American bald eagle, cows grazing in knee deep water with all
Read more

Now and Then .

  Growing up, I never thought I was different or odd. But now I ask myself many times if I am? Do everyone go through this ? I never had any dreams or ambitions as long as I can remember. I daydreamed a lot . I talked to myself and dreamed but those dreams were not about going places or being someone . It was small dreams , talking to people having fun etc.  I did not realize it back then but I never put an effort to study either. I slept very early every night , I read a lot of novels and do not remember studying or working hard. But I got good grades. It could have been the school I went to. We had good teachers and we were not encouraged to mug up which worked in my favor . For the Class 10 board exams, I was the top scorer even in a state level. That sounds good , doesn't it ? Except it had its flaws. Until today, I have never put an effort into anything and it never affected me until I realized that it did in a hard way. When I started work , I barely knew programming language
Read more