Day 2- New Mexico to Arizona, a cave and a volcano!
Another post since we are at the hotel and have service. This has been a really fun trip, but blogs are going to have to be flexible and irregular due to the car camping. I am guessing that tomorrow night will be "iffy" and the night after I am 90% certain we won't have service. We will see.
Day 2:
We woke up in Tucumcari and socially distanced a "hello" with the guy who was driving the other Model 3. We took off for Albuquerque, NM and charged up almost full because we were going on a detour for our main stop of the day. Even with charging almost full I still didn't have time to type the day 1 update AND get it posted. Supercharging is fast!
After Albuquerque we went to the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave. This place was VERY cool. We were able to hike all the way INSIDE the cone of the volcano- you read that right, we were INSIDE the volcano! It's "dormant" so there is no danger as long as you stay on the path. The hike is tough, it's about 1/2 mile long but the elevation increases a couple hundred feet in that distance so the entire trail is a pretty steep grade uphill. On the plus side, the return trip wasn't bad. This was made a bit harder for me because this was my first excursion of any significance since my ankle surgery. It's supposed to be about 40 minutes round trip; it took us about 90 b/c I had to stop a lot, but I did it and am super proud of myself! I JUST got to where I can walk on uneven surfaces near the start of 'Rona so this was a big deal. After the volcano hike you can go about 400 yards down another trail to the ice cave. I have to be honest, it was pretty underwhelming and the stairs are a bit treacherous, but the temperature difference in the cave was striking and it got us cooled off from the volcano hike. It was pretty neat that it was formed in the lava tube from the volcano and never gets above 31 degrees F in the cave; it's also included in the same admission price as the volcano, so you might as well. This is privately owned and the family is super nice. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it!
When we left Bandera we took the back roads to Gallup to charge up again and passed the continental divide on the way.
The Gallup charge station is in the parking lot of a Hampton Inn, but don't try to go in to use the bathroom. The girl at the front desk is snarky and rude, the bathrooms are locked and they won't let you in. This is the first place I have EVER stopped to supercharge where the business would not let you go pee, it's also the first business that has superchargers that I have ever been to where they were downright rude.
After Gallup we drove by the petrified forest (it was closed so we couldn't go in) then had another SC stop in Holbrook, NM. This was at a Burger King- I haven't eaten at a BK in years and forgot how good their sandwiches are.
From here we headed off to Flagstaff, AZ. On the way we rand into a swarm of giant bugs of some kind, it looked like we were driving through the plague of locusts. Seriously giant bugs hitting the windshield at a rate of 2 or 3 splats every second. When we got to Flagstaff to charge up I had to get out the ONR (a waterless car wash) and my windshield scrubbie (similar to what you find at a gas station, courtesy of Amazon) and clean the front window so Vanessa could see. Props to her for doing the driving today after we left Albuquerque. She EVENTUALLY figured out how to back up into a charge spot. :-)
We had another change of plans here- while we were at Tucumcari we discussed Meteor Crater. The woman who owns it (again privately owned) was really rude when I contacted her, so we decided to forget it and go to Grand Canyon instead bc I had never seen it from the ground (just flying over it). It turned out it would have been dark anyway when we got to meteor crater bc we got a late start and spent over 2 hours at the volcano (we ate there too), but had she not been rude we may have made more of an effort. We canceled this night at the hotel in Vegas, drove to the Grand Canyon, and plugged in at the destination charger at the Yavapai Lodge. This was amazing, we were actually able to see the Milky Way here! I haven't actually seen it before (at least not that I remember). We plugged in and charged to full while car camping again.
The numbers for day 2:
total time today: 14.5 hours (includes hiking)
miles driven = 617
miles charged = 815 (bc we charged to full overnight).
cost of gas: $79.93 assuming 25 mpg
cost of electricity: zero
Total miles driven: 1375 (credits and use of free destination chargers)
Total Gas Savings: $148.89
Be sure to subscribe to the blog (over in the column on the left) to get an email notification when I add a new post. You will need to confirm your email by clicking the link in a message from "feedburner." No spam involved, you should only get an email when a new post is made. :-)
For anyone interested in taking a ride or getting more info on Tesla's (or EVs in general) get in touch and I am happy to help. If you want to buy a Tesla, please use my referral code to get some fabulous bonuses- the program changes, but right now it is 1000 free miles of supercharging for each of us. Tesla Referral code: is valerie50080 or just click this link https://ts.la/valerie50080
Day 2:
We woke up in Tucumcari and socially distanced a "hello" with the guy who was driving the other Model 3. We took off for Albuquerque, NM and charged up almost full because we were going on a detour for our main stop of the day. Even with charging almost full I still didn't have time to type the day 1 update AND get it posted. Supercharging is fast!
After Albuquerque we went to the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave. This place was VERY cool. We were able to hike all the way INSIDE the cone of the volcano- you read that right, we were INSIDE the volcano! It's "dormant" so there is no danger as long as you stay on the path. The hike is tough, it's about 1/2 mile long but the elevation increases a couple hundred feet in that distance so the entire trail is a pretty steep grade uphill. On the plus side, the return trip wasn't bad. This was made a bit harder for me because this was my first excursion of any significance since my ankle surgery. It's supposed to be about 40 minutes round trip; it took us about 90 b/c I had to stop a lot, but I did it and am super proud of myself! I JUST got to where I can walk on uneven surfaces near the start of 'Rona so this was a big deal. After the volcano hike you can go about 400 yards down another trail to the ice cave. I have to be honest, it was pretty underwhelming and the stairs are a bit treacherous, but the temperature difference in the cave was striking and it got us cooled off from the volcano hike. It was pretty neat that it was formed in the lava tube from the volcano and never gets above 31 degrees F in the cave; it's also included in the same admission price as the volcano, so you might as well. This is privately owned and the family is super nice. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it!
When we left Bandera we took the back roads to Gallup to charge up again and passed the continental divide on the way.
After Gallup we drove by the petrified forest (it was closed so we couldn't go in) then had another SC stop in Holbrook, NM. This was at a Burger King- I haven't eaten at a BK in years and forgot how good their sandwiches are.
From here we headed off to Flagstaff, AZ. On the way we rand into a swarm of giant bugs of some kind, it looked like we were driving through the plague of locusts. Seriously giant bugs hitting the windshield at a rate of 2 or 3 splats every second. When we got to Flagstaff to charge up I had to get out the ONR (a waterless car wash) and my windshield scrubbie (similar to what you find at a gas station, courtesy of Amazon) and clean the front window so Vanessa could see. Props to her for doing the driving today after we left Albuquerque. She EVENTUALLY figured out how to back up into a charge spot. :-)
We had another change of plans here- while we were at Tucumcari we discussed Meteor Crater. The woman who owns it (again privately owned) was really rude when I contacted her, so we decided to forget it and go to Grand Canyon instead bc I had never seen it from the ground (just flying over it). It turned out it would have been dark anyway when we got to meteor crater bc we got a late start and spent over 2 hours at the volcano (we ate there too), but had she not been rude we may have made more of an effort. We canceled this night at the hotel in Vegas, drove to the Grand Canyon, and plugged in at the destination charger at the Yavapai Lodge. This was amazing, we were actually able to see the Milky Way here! I haven't actually seen it before (at least not that I remember). We plugged in and charged to full while car camping again.
The numbers for day 2:
total time today: 14.5 hours (includes hiking)
miles driven = 617
miles charged = 815 (bc we charged to full overnight).
cost of gas: $79.93 assuming 25 mpg
cost of electricity: zero
Total miles driven: 1375 (credits and use of free destination chargers)
Total Gas Savings: $148.89
Be sure to subscribe to the blog (over in the column on the left) to get an email notification when I add a new post. You will need to confirm your email by clicking the link in a message from "feedburner." No spam involved, you should only get an email when a new post is made. :-)
Vanessa's blog: Travel the World History
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