I decided my first ever test drive of a Tesla Roadster should be on a 900 mile road trip. <=Was this a good idea? 
Here's my new car as of 8:30pm yesterday.
I got up at 3:45am to go to work like every other Wednesday. Then.... I purchased my plane tickets, left work a bit early and took an UBER to the airport to fly to San Jose. I landed at 4:40.
Alex the seller was held up until 7 so I took a nap on an outside bench of Arrivals B. Perfect weather for a snooz.
He picked me up he went over things with me. I left San Jose at 8:30pm
Heavy on the pedal left me needing an intermediate charge.
Plugshare only found non-working or incompatible chargers and I was scarce on miles.
When I landed in Orland to use the Berry? restaurant roadster charger it was about midnight, they were closed, it was off.
My range showed 30 miles (about 10%) when got there. When I restarted the car I saw 7 miles, and.... I started to be highly concerned. (It switched to standard but I was too tired to understand).
Plugshare showed me the next place and that's when things got desperate. With my last 7 miles, Google sent me in a big HWY loop looking for an RV park that was right near where I already was. I was too tired to disobey her directions.
When it was apparent google was bringing me nowhere I parked in town and went off on foot to look for an outside outlet.
I only later, when all the police came, realized I was 200 ft from the Berry restaurant I started at.
My wall outlet 15A mobile charger saved me, I found an outside plug at a closed gas station from Midnight until 4.
It is not listed on plugshare but it is in front of the Chevron near that Berry Restaurant.
Then to add to my fun, my phone died and was on a forever bootloop. I have 3 backup batteries and a charger and now my phone dies.
The first police car came, then a second police car came. They were all very nice but very thorough in checking me out. They are in a quiet town with nothing going on... Except me. I had the whole Orland Police force. Once they were convinced I wasn't up to shenanigans they all wanted to talk about the car. I was doing everything I could to keep my eyes open.
After they left I took a nap on the asphalt next to the car on the red Delta Airlines travel blanket I brought with me. They said they'd keep an eye on me while I slept. Nice guys and girls on the force here.
There I was sleeping in front of my car at Chevron in Orland, Ca.... No miles, no phone, and now I can't get the trunk to close.
I set my phone sitting on the hard cold ground next to me and after a couple hours it was stable enough for google to show my next exit number and approximate location of the hotel before dieing once again.
My plan was to see if the charger came on when the building came on but decided to chance it when I had 51 miles range and only needed 30.
For four hours, I drove 45 miles an hour on cruise control. I was passed by everyone... including a 1978 Datsan and two guys on a moped going to Colorado to return a lost briefcase (dumb and dumber reference)
And then things got scary. On I5, with 13 miles left to go... the roadster changed from 31 miles range to O miles range. .
I made it but I wasn't convinced I would, pulled right in without a problem. Thank you Tesla engineers for giving us a conservative margin.
The battery percentage read 7% when I finally got to the hotel after 5am.
Plugged in from 5:30 to noon, 7 hours with 48KW raised me from 7% to 87%
The bright side is I'm concentrating all my learning curve into this weekend so I should be a pro after this however..... I'm not sure EV is the best way to travel. So many limitations on where to stay, where to go, constantly monitoring and budgeting miles.
I don't like driving slow but it seems to have dramatic effects on energy usage.
My CAC was 186.6 before leaving San Jose and now reads 184.3 the next day and less than 200 miles.
My hard top isn't on completely, I'll have to figure it out after I get a new phone and some sleep.
More to come but hopefully nothing to write about.
Gary
Here's my new car as of 8:30pm yesterday.
I got up at 3:45am to go to work like every other Wednesday. Then.... I purchased my plane tickets, left work a bit early and took an UBER to the airport to fly to San Jose. I landed at 4:40.
Alex the seller was held up until 7 so I took a nap on an outside bench of Arrivals B. Perfect weather for a snooz.
He picked me up he went over things with me. I left San Jose at 8:30pm
Heavy on the pedal left me needing an intermediate charge.
Plugshare only found non-working or incompatible chargers and I was scarce on miles.
When I landed in Orland to use the Berry? restaurant roadster charger it was about midnight, they were closed, it was off.
My range showed 30 miles (about 10%) when got there. When I restarted the car I saw 7 miles, and.... I started to be highly concerned. (It switched to standard but I was too tired to understand).
Plugshare showed me the next place and that's when things got desperate. With my last 7 miles, Google sent me in a big HWY loop looking for an RV park that was right near where I already was. I was too tired to disobey her directions.
When it was apparent google was bringing me nowhere I parked in town and went off on foot to look for an outside outlet.
I only later, when all the police came, realized I was 200 ft from the Berry restaurant I started at.
My wall outlet 15A mobile charger saved me, I found an outside plug at a closed gas station from Midnight until 4.
It is not listed on plugshare but it is in front of the Chevron near that Berry Restaurant.
Then to add to my fun, my phone died and was on a forever bootloop. I have 3 backup batteries and a charger and now my phone dies.
The first police car came, then a second police car came. They were all very nice but very thorough in checking me out. They are in a quiet town with nothing going on... Except me. I had the whole Orland Police force. Once they were convinced I wasn't up to shenanigans they all wanted to talk about the car. I was doing everything I could to keep my eyes open.
After they left I took a nap on the asphalt next to the car on the red Delta Airlines travel blanket I brought with me. They said they'd keep an eye on me while I slept. Nice guys and girls on the force here.
There I was sleeping in front of my car at Chevron in Orland, Ca.... No miles, no phone, and now I can't get the trunk to close.
I set my phone sitting on the hard cold ground next to me and after a couple hours it was stable enough for google to show my next exit number and approximate location of the hotel before dieing once again.
My plan was to see if the charger came on when the building came on but decided to chance it when I had 51 miles range and only needed 30.
For four hours, I drove 45 miles an hour on cruise control. I was passed by everyone... including a 1978 Datsan and two guys on a moped going to Colorado to return a lost briefcase (dumb and dumber reference)
And then things got scary. On I5, with 13 miles left to go... the roadster changed from 31 miles range to O miles range. .
I made it but I wasn't convinced I would, pulled right in without a problem. Thank you Tesla engineers for giving us a conservative margin.
The battery percentage read 7% when I finally got to the hotel after 5am.
Plugged in from 5:30 to noon, 7 hours with 48KW raised me from 7% to 87%
The bright side is I'm concentrating all my learning curve into this weekend so I should be a pro after this however..... I'm not sure EV is the best way to travel. So many limitations on where to stay, where to go, constantly monitoring and budgeting miles.
I don't like driving slow but it seems to have dramatic effects on energy usage.
My CAC was 186.6 before leaving San Jose and now reads 184.3 the next day and less than 200 miles.
My hard top isn't on completely, I'll have to figure it out after I get a new phone and some sleep.
More to come but hopefully nothing to write about.
Gary
