July Trip 2014: PART 4 - We've Come a Long Way, Baby

I met my lovely wife as a freshman at Ithaca College.  We just celebrated 19 years of marriage (2 children, 4 addresses and 6 cars ago) and since her parents still live near Ithaca we've made the trek back up South Hill several times since graduation.  Our school song (LAME though it is-- aren't they all??) starts with "high above Cayuga's waters" and the view lives up to the lyrics.

Plus, as every IC grad knows, it is WE who get to look down on Cornell University.  Literally.  (My wife is the "black sheep" in her family-- her siblings went to the cult across town.)

19 years after graduation, it was time for a victory lap.

July Trip 2014: PART 3 - My Gorges Car

Another peaceful upstate New York morning tickled the grass and swaying treetops outside the bedroom window.  We wanted to take the kids hiking in one of Ithaca's "gorgeous gorges" parks-- something we'd done many times while dating in college-- so they could get a taste of the natural beauty the glaciers left behind.

The trip to Ithaca would be less than 20 miles (so not a challenge to the Tesla).  It would also be a quiet side trip mostly out of the public eye, but especially at this-- the Tesla excels.  The car is arguably most impressive when there is no one else to impress.

July Trip 2014: PART 2 - Electric Cowboy

Dawn slowly clawed free from the darkness and glimmered in through the window of my wife's childhood room.  Coffee wafted under the closed door as we roused ourselves in the quiet solitude of a upstate New York.  On the edge of the field by the warehouse our grey Tesla merged with the mist.

Pondering the days' activities over breakfast, I was eager to walk down to where Serena was hobbled to a plug and waiting.  She'd be ready for some fun and I was tickled with the possibilities of whooshing all that California horsepower through a sleepy farm community that had never seen an electric car that didn't fit under the Christmas tree and come with a remote.

It isn't about showing off, it's about showing the possibilities... and sometimes a glimpse is all it takes to put wondrous plans in motion.

July Trip 2014: PART 1 - Sticking to the Plan

My dream as a teenager was to be an automotive engineer.  Specifically, I had a strong interest in the nuances of crash testing and materials (as they related to that balance between weight/safety and strength/energy absorption).  I made it most of the way through high school before I realized there was a fatal flaw in my plan:   I can't do math.

Fortunately I parlayed all those hours watching television into a career-- and now I rarely have to do math.  BULLET DODGED!  But then I bought a Tesla...  which is much smarter than me... and math becomes an integral part of trip planning.  Lots of it.  Lots of planning... and MATH.

Had I done it correctly or was another fatal flaw about to be revealed in my plans??

July Trip 2014: Introduction - Off Tesla's Grid

Winter has established a foothold here in Western Pennsylvania and we've already been pummeled by our first couple storms.  Over Thanksgiving weekend we made a trip up to my wife's family home in upstate New York and because of the quick turnaround and cold weather we opted to take our Chrysler.  It made the journey just fine but the fact that we took it speaks to a glaring (in our usage) hole in the Tesla Supercharger map...  and brings me to the subject of my next series of posts:  Traveling off the Supercharger routes.

Fortunately for me, we've already done this trip with the Tesla.  Whew.  No "extra" road trip needed!  Back in July we loaded up Serena from stem to stern (what other car can claim that capability?!) and headed out straight through the heart of Pennsylvania where no Tesla support can be found.  

My Baby Gets Back: Torklift EcoHitch Review

A famous group of doped up exercise freaks has been celebrating zero emissions cross country travel for well over a 100 years now.  For much of modern history the participants have also enjoyed their own version of “Supercharging” along the way-- but supposedly the Tour de France organizers frown on their creativity.  Despite assurances that it’s returned to sobriety (like, for reals this time) I can’t spur myself to care anymore post-Lance Armstrong.  My own excursions on my 2 wheeled range extender are more modest and much shorter than traversing France.   If I’m honest they are probably not free of emissions either as all sorts of vulgar grumblings tempt my lips on the steeper inclines.  Among the hills of western Pennsylvania where our home is nestled, prudence suggests we start our trips from elsewhere...  which nearly became a stumbling block to our Tesla purchase.

Some Graphic Content Ahead

I spent the morning hanging out at a body shop recently (ooo... yes... that IS a teaser, but you'll have to wait to find out why-- but my Twitter followers know already). The guys there spend their days fiddling and finicking as they sort out cars that have been "modified" in accordance with the laws of physics. Their ultimate goal, of course, is to recreate a car so perfectly that even its owner can't tell where it was previously damaged. Ah... but there's a dark art to this far deeper than you might realize. The art of knowing when to stop trying to make something better-- or, as one of fellows said (quoting someone else I wasn't attentive enough to recall): "The enemy of good, is great."

 I think Tesla tried for great when they developed Version 6.0 firmware, but I'm reluctantly going to say that after all the build up and hype, so far, it is merely good. GASP!! What?? How dare I!! Let me show you what happens when the "the clock" popped up next to my "T".

The Winter War - Equipment Check - Part 2

My son is greatly amused at the title I gave to Part 1.  But as a midnight road warrior for years now, thanks to my "day job" in TV news, I'm constantly battling home on the lonely, dark, unplowed streets and highways of Pittsburgh in my trusty Subarus.  Arriving home safely, with many an appreciative grin at my faithful AWD vehicle du jour, I'd convinced myself that I'd never buy a car without AWD.

The Tesla blew that notion all to hell.

When I was in high school in Stuttgart, Germany, I was a very active skier.  Being out in the snow was a natural place and I spent many hours on ski slopes and traversing countries to get to/from ski slopes.  More often than not I was on a bus (definitely the way to travel when exhausted from a week of skiing) but sometimes not.  As every skier knows, packing for a trip is more than just shoving extra turtlenecks and socks into a bag, it's about preparing your equipment and getting repairs done before discovering at the top of the ski lift that your binding won't catch.

Back in those days I often found myself behind a '70s era BMW 7-series, a car so malevolent in snow that its attempts at homicide were only tempered by the application of snow tires.  The steering wheel was a completely optional accessory in Winter driving as most directional changes could be made with the gas pedal alone.  Little did I know it, but a lesson was learned, combining those two activities...  and here we are.

Spouse Stalking on the App

I recently came into an iPhone through work and it was a massive upgrade from my humble Tracfone.  Yes, a Tracfone.  I can hear the snickering and chuckles from here, thank you.  I'll have you know the Tracfone was $7 a month and over the life of my teenager (I first bought the phone shortly before his birth)and that amounts to nearly $20,000 less in cell phone bills compared to a smartphone.  And I survived.  And so did my family. Meanwhile, guess where I spent that savings!

I've finally been able to experience the Tesla App as intended and... how can I say this diplomatically...  YOU PEOPLE have been holding out on me!  I've used the Chrome browser extension since we bought the car and thought the ability to see where it was on a map was pretty cool, but the app has REAL-TIME tracking overlaid on a Google Earth image!!  What, the WHAT??

Model S(teppenwolf)

My favorite car commercial-- FOR YEARS-- was one for the Dodge Viper.   It was spectacularly cool, with Steppenwolf blaring and really innovative video color effects (for the time).   Check it out... then I'll explain:

Everyone always compares the ride of the Tesla Model S (with the air suspension-- which I don't have, actually) to a "Magic Carpet Ride" as you whoosh about silently.  And I have wanted to recreate that commercial using a Tesla ever since my first ride.  One quiet night at work.... I found a few minutes to make one...  Wanna see??