The saga of my P85 is one of the longer ones:As try as Iight, I've not been able to recall how I first heard of Tesla. Our link to the Outside World is extremely limited: I get news on the Internet, and we receive The Economist news magazine...that's it. So I suppose that some time in early winter 2012 I read something there on how one car maker actually had out in the market. At any rate, I told my wife that one of the first things on my agenda when we went to visit her mom in Scottsdale last February was to visit Fashion Mall. That in itself was enough for her to come close to having cardiac arrest, as she knows how I detest shopping, and most especially malls. But the three of us went there - it was hours after the infamous "Broder"'article appeared in the NYTimes - and all of us were, as everyone of you easily can envision, utterly bowled over by what we experienced there. My response, though, was not to place an order....except tomy stock broker. I may live in the single most remote location of any Tesla (or TSLA!) owner, but in my prior lifetime, for decades I was an equities portfolio manager, and I was as attracted to the stock's long-term prospects as I (and all of us) are to the Model S itself. Now, my background is famously, or perhaps infamously, tied to long-term investing. To me, "short term" means 5 years. But to my father, "short term" meant selling within his lifetime (he NEVER sold, unless wiped out by margin calls, which occurred a few times over his seven decades of active investing. So, as might an Ent, he considered me hasty).But, as you all know, this year has been astonishing for Tesla Motors and TSLA. I has purchased the single single largest position I've ever done, and in an extremely short period of time, it grew to an extremely outsize fraction ofmy portfolio. So what to do? You can guess the rest: I carved out apiece, used the realized profits to pay for the P85 (and the short-term gains taxes), and continued to watch the stock outperform. Now back to the vehicle: getting a Tesla delivered to our part of Alaska was daunting. Perhaps more importantly, we really have little time to breathe, let alone "drive around" (for example, I did not see a traffic light from May 13 until last week). So we determined not to take delivery until the autumn, as after two decades in the Alaska Range, we finally decided we've had enough winters, and bought a house in Jenny's home town of Wickenburg, AZ. Hauled 26,600 pounds of, uh, stuff the 3,555 miles; got in Tuesday. TM had alerted us that Monday 14th was delivery date, but when they learned we were in AZ already, it Ppears to me that the Phoenix center was really happy to let my vehicle out the door a little early, since today they were also moving the Service Center to the permanent digs by the Scottsdale Airport...and why transport a sold vehicle twice in 72 hours?So, at 5pm, "Joules" showed up. I'm quite unready for it, as the only internet connection I have is through the iPhone (it's been h*ll typing all this!), and even after all these months on the forum, there is much that's unfamiliar to me. Joules is a green P85. No "+" for me: there is NO WAY I would want to abuse 21" rims on Alaska's so-called roads, particularly out where we live. A P85 by itself is exotic in the extreme for someone whose driving has been limited to four F-350s and F-250s, plus assorted excavators, loaders, skidsteers, Pisten Bullys, snowmachines, four-wheelers and dogsleds over the last decades. You all are (I hope) going to flip when you see how I'm going to personalize, Alaskan-style, the Model S........ 
Inaugural run, to Congress, sure was fast! And fun And quiet. And thank goodness the ordered 6-50 adapter showed up today also, two hours before the Tesla. But I've got to install the HPWC pronto. Just as soon as I unpack the rest of That Trailer. Our trip down this last week took on a different turn: we spent much of the miles plotting where to rest next spring on that truly Marathon Trip Back North never in my life have I paid so much (any) attention to the location of RV parks! I guess I am hoping to be the first to drive a Tesla all the way to Alaska. Stay tuned.
Inaugural run, to Congress, sure was fast! And fun And quiet. And thank goodness the ordered 6-50 adapter showed up today also, two hours before the Tesla. But I've got to install the HPWC pronto. Just as soon as I unpack the rest of That Trailer. Our trip down this last week took on a different turn: we spent much of the miles plotting where to rest next spring on that truly Marathon Trip Back North never in my life have I paid so much (any) attention to the location of RV parks! I guess I am hoping to be the first to drive a Tesla all the way to Alaska. Stay tuned.
