Unusual supercharger activities?

[green1]

How to spend the time at a supercharger? Sure there's the usual restaurants, picnics, playgrounds and shopping malls, but what about some more unusual activities?

While we were at the Kelowna supercharger a couple of weeks ago we did an escape room at a place across the street called "Exit" (We escaped!). Was a lot of fun, and the 45 minute time limit was perfect for a supercharging session.

What other neat and unusual activities have people found to pass the time at superchargers?

 

[John Stuckey]

The 66 Auto Museum near the Santa Rosa, NM SC is a lot of fun if you like old cars.

 

[ChadS]

You can base jump off the ~500' bridge next to the Twin Falls, Idaho SC. It only takes a few seconds.

At the West Yellowstone, Montana SC you can visit the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. (You might want to hurry through a bit to avoid hogging the charger).

 

[ggr]

Lone Pine has the Film Industry Museum. When I was there, one of my passengers was in the film industry, and he was really excited that they had one of only 5 special cameras that had ever been built. It's a small but very interesting place.

 

[RobertSeattle]

Not unusual, but if bugs are out, I often spend a couple minutes getting the smashed critters off my front and windshield with a kit I keep in the frunk. I also keep a Frisbee or soccer ball in the frunk so my kids can entertain themselves.

 

[wycolo]

LUSK Wyoming:

Bring your basketball since there is a nice hoop setup right next to the SuperChargers. Also an indoor swimming pool but I've never tried to weasel my way into it what with being a day tripper and all.
--

 

[green1]

Not unusual, but if bugs are out, I often spend a couple minutes getting the smashed critters off my front and windshield with a kit I keep in the frunk. I also keep a Frisbee or soccer ball in the frunk so my kids can entertain themselves.

Not necessarily what I was going for with this thread, but I'm curious what that "kit" contains as I've found it rather challenging to de-bug the front of the car.

 

[thecloud]

The Atascadero City Hall (a couple of blocks away from the SC, on the other side of the street) has guided tours and a small museum with some interesting local history. The 100-year-old domed building was heavily damaged in a 2003 earthquake, then rebuilt over the next 10 years.

 

[NikeWings]

Geocaching

 

[dgpcolorado]

The Green River UT Supercharger Station is located at the John Wesley Powell museum, with a number of displays about the history of the area. It is also right on the river in a park setting and it is pleasant to sit and watch the river. One of my favorite Supercharger stops because it is so pleasant and peaceful — which is not how I would describe most of them.

The Pendleton OR Supercharger Station is at a casino. The family area of the casino complex has a multi-screen movie theater as well as a game room for kids (to keep them occupied while the parents lose money in the casino, I presume). Very nice restrooms.

Moab UT is right in the center of the town and is a ten minute walk to a supermarket. I always bring my own food on trips, as opposed to eating at restaurants, to save money — it would seem that I am the only one at TMC who does this — so a supermarket is very high on my list of amenities.

 

[CuriousG]

You can base jump off the ~500' bridge next to the Twin Falls, Idaho SC. It only takes a few seconds.

So the next 40 minutes or so is time cleaning your undergarments.

 

[green1]

I always bring my own food on trips, as opposed to eating at restaurants, to save money — it would seem that I am the only one at TMC who does this — so a supermarket is very high on my list of amenities.

You aren't alone! We just did a 2 week trip, we had a grand total of 5 restaurant meals. (2 lunches, 1 breakfast, and 2 dinners)
We discovered yet another advantage to electric vehicles. We have a 12v cooler, in ICE vehicles you can only really run it while you're driving because you won't be able to start your car if you leave it on overnight. In the Tesla we ran it for 2 weeks straight. Some of the food we left home with, fresh produce, cheese, sandwich meat, etc, was still good when we got back home at the end of the trip. We were never able to say that in an ICE, at best the cooler seemed to buy us 2-3 days on the road.

 

[bluefuego]

You aren't alone! We just did a 2 week trip, we had a grand total of 5 restaurant meals. (2 lunches, 1 breakfast, and 2 dinners)
We discovered yet another advantage to electric vehicles. We have a 12v cooler, in ICE vehicles you can only really run it while you're driving because you won't be able to start your car if you leave it on overnight. In the Tesla we ran it for 2 weeks straight. Some of the food we left home with, fresh produce, cheese, sandwich meat, etc, was still good when we got back home at the end of the trip. We were never able to say that in an ICE, at best the cooler seemed to buy us 2-3 days on the road.

Out of curiosity - which cooler do you recommend? And did you really leave it plugged in to the car overnight? If so, what effect did that have on your range come morning?

 

[Weezer Fan]

Not necessarily what I was going for with this thread, but I'm curious what that "kit" contains as I've found it rather challenging to de-bug the front of the car.

I have no idea if it works, but I just read on a Facebook post yesterday that dryer sheets are good for removing bugs. The person that posted it lives in the south and said they use the sheets to get love bugs off the grill of his car.

 

[green1]

Out of curiosity - which cooler do you recommend? And did you really leave it plugged in to the car overnight? If so, what effect did that have on your range come morning?

We have a Coleman powerchill cooler. And yes, we left it plugged in 24/7 for 2 weeks straight. That said, we had to run our own power line straight to the 12v battery because the normal 12v outlet in the car turns off when the car does.
As for range, not all that much effect, one night we lost 15 km range overnight, but another night we only lost 8. I didn't even pay attention on any of the other nights as those were the only 2 nights where I was worried about the range the next day and couldn't plug in.

 

[evp]

There is, of course, the Computer History Museum -- in the parking lot of which the Mountain View CA SpC is located. Go there with an empty battery, you'll need the full hour to wander thru the exhibits (and the SpC is quite busy, perhaps due to being located next door to Google). If you're lucky you'll get there for a demo of the Babbage Difference Engine. As I remember the story, it's on loan from Nathan Myhrvold who financed the construction thereof by the British Science Museum on the condition that they build another one for him.

The Babbage Engine | Babbage Engine | Computer History Museum

 

[aesculus]

Lone Pine has the Film Industry Museum. When I was there, one of my passengers was in the film industry, and he was really excited that they had one of only 5 special cameras that had ever been built. It's a small but very interesting place.

Also good there are the Lone Pine Smokehouse for BBQ and if you are doing the film thing stop in the Mount Whitney Restaurant and see all of their movie posters for movies in the area. The Alabama Hills behind Lone Pine were in about every western every made.

 

[WentOffGrid]

There is, of course, the Computer History Museum --

It's an amazing place, with some really knowledgeable volunteers rebuilding/restoring old mainframes and such.
VCF (Vintage Computer Festival) is also held there. Worth the trip if you are into seeing the old machines from which most technology we take for granted today was developed.

 

[Lanny]

Something that @delanman does that is a nice help is that he gets out his detail spray and microfiber cloths and cleans the Supercharger stalls while waiting. Thanks, John!