For about the next 10 days, this is my playground. ππππ£οΈ
Will post interesting bits of the trip as a thread.
Starting the trip off by making my first visit to the Garner, NC @Tesla supercharger. Follow @superchargefeed for crowdsourced updates on the status of superchargers coming online. See a map at supercharge.info.
Not the biggest fan of the Glenn Allen supercharger but the upside is that I can have this nice healthy lunch at @panera and update Tableau since it had hiccupped overnight. Thanks for the WiFi and food Panera!
#FSDbeta taking me right to the Garner, NC supercharger.
The Garner NC supercharger is located in a @scnbnc (Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ) parking lot. Yum.
New Bern, NC. 75 degrees.
Also New Bern
4 of the 5 new superchargers I've visited today have been at a Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ. This one is in Warsaw NC. it replaced the first supercharger that was at a hotel that clearly didn't want us there. Thanks @scnbnc. Great to see another chain being so forward leaning.
My 2018 tweet about visiting the zombie supercharger in Warsaw (it was still on but had taken it off the in-car nav so you had to know through other means that it was still live). The included link is a sad chronicle of the hotel hating on Tesla visitors.
Drive summary for Day 1 of my road trip. 547 miles. Tomorrow will mainly be South Carolina and Georgia. Then the East coast of Florida. Would be cool to say hi to @chazman when I go through Jacksonville Sunday night or Monday morning.
Starting day 2 with a stunning morning in Wilmington, NC. This is Battleship North Carolina in the background.
.@Tesla#FSDBeta 10.10.2 is such a life hack. With me supervising, it will drive me between Rockingham NC and Columbia SC on these rural roads. Beta really proves its value when driving long distances on unfamiliar roads. And @elonmusk and his team are just getting started.
Hello South Carolina.
A North Carolinian saw me supercharging and specifically stopped to ask questions about charging and how it works. So glad he asked. Had great 20 minute Convo. Told him it is about $8 to fill. His Malibu? >$50! Future EV driver now for sure.
Lexington SC -this is my 700tg unique supercharger location.
Thank you @TheSpinxCompany for putting a trash bin and squeegees at the superchargers in Orangeburg! EVs need to clean their windshield too. @Wawa and @sheetz, you need to do this too.
Day 2 is in the books.
Great meet "unprotected-left-turn" @chazman for a quick chat as I collect the superchargers around Jacksonville. If you're not following him, he makes some of the best #FSDbeta videos of anyone.
So this just happened between Jacksonville and Saint Augustine FL. Bang!!
Now that is quite the rig.
The Daytona Supercharger is right across from the Daytona International Speedway. I've been around that track at 140 mph. The banks are something else.
There are motorcycles everywhere here. This is why.
Met up with my good friend Barb and her husband Mark at the Kissimmee supercharger.
Day 3 is in the books. Now what to do about the delayed @SpaceX launch? Do I relax tomorrow and hope it launches Wednesday, or do I keep moving along? Decisions, decisions, decisions. Thanks again, @chazman, for taking some time to say hello.
I'm enjoying the day in Titusville while waiting for tomorrow's Falcon 9 launch. This is Canaveral National Seashore
#InternationalWomensDay is a good day to remember that I named my Tesla, Gracie, in honor of Grace Hopper, one of the many women who helped pioneer computer programming.
I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment contemplating how unbelievably fortunate I am to be at this spot right now, to have been born in America, been raised by amazing parents, got an amazing education, served for 33 years of impactful Federal service, and now pursuing my passions.
Oh no. Looks like I'll have to watch this closely for my return. At the moment it appears I'll be able to swing behind it by going up through the Tennessee Valley and then following it back to Virginia.
Today is about collecting the superchargers around Miami. This one is on the Florida Turnpike at the Fort Lucie travel plaza. Great to see so many chargers here for all EVs. This is also my 732 location, which puts me in 10th place in our little competition.
Drive summary for day 5. I had several great exchanges with people wanting to know more about electric vehicles and how they work. Pretty sure at least one will be purchasing an EV for their next car. Long day!
Day 6 of approximately 10. Gonna spend Friday hanging out with a long-time friend who now lives in Tampa. Still watching the weather closely and will adapt my return route as needed.
Flying with my lifelong friend Ted in his Cessna on a pretty bumpy day.
Crazy how big this storm is. I just drove through a squall line within a warning zone on the west coast of Florida while the same storm is pummeling New York and further.
Is this legal?
Day 8 is in the books. Was going to get the three remaining superchargers in Alabama tomorrow but decided to forgo those for now as I'm expecting to be in AL this fall. The trip is in its final stages.
When you really need @Tesla summon to work but it is disabled for some reason. The monstrosity doesn't have handicap plates or a placard...just a total selfish jerk. The hotel staff were like "we can't do anything about it." Lol. I'd have it towed if I had more time. @HolidayInn
Day 9 is in the books. Some gorgeous backroads but I also lost about two hours to traffic jams from crashes. #FSDbeta did great today, including some very long zero disengagement drives through complicated surface streets as I transitted from one Interstate to another.
These are the last three new-to-me superchargers of this romp around the SE USA -- Siler City, Mebane, and Durham North Carolina. Then a bee-line home.
Agree. The number of gasoline and diesel vehicles traversing, America's highways and byways hasn't seemed to change since I started this trip despite the explosion in gasoline prices. What does that say about us?
Final trip summary: 3,920 miles and about 1.1 MWs of electricity used. 96 new-to-me superchargers visited in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
β’ β’ β’
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
And the 2021 road trip begins. About 80 Teslas will converge on Custer at the end of the week for the @Tesla rally. It'll be nice to see everyone there.
Central Ohio is next. I've been trying to get to Chillicothe Supercharger for some time. The whole first part of my journey revolves around that location.
What will the final odometer reading be at the end of the trip? If my tentative route holds, it should be around 6,000 miles.
Don's FSD Challenge: A thread.
I'm quite proud of this work. It took a lot of effort to set up the framework and learn video editing and how YouTube works.
The result is this video grading the first run of a repeatable 100-mile FSD challenge loop.
The video is part of a playlist that allows you to see the entire run in real time, a condensed run that speeds up the boring stuff, the grading of the run, and an overview of the route.
Another playlist will capture key videos from all the runs I make as part of this challenge. It leads off with three videos describing the why and what of the challenge along with two videos of the 1st run.
Back in @meijer territory for @tesla superchargers. This one is in Gaylord, Michigan. This is a long stop because we are headed into the UP where there are no superchargers. We will get a little extra juice in Mackinaw at a L2 and then into the void we go.
Many thanks to the @MackinawCityMi for putting destination chargers at the marina!
We are doing a little bit of sightseeing of this beautiful city while giving ourselves a little bit of margin for our trip to Escanaba.
Roadtrip underway to attend @RebuildsRich's Electrified Garage grand opening in New Hampshire Friday.
I will be taking a circuitous route through long island and Massachusetts to notch up more superchargers. 1/x
2/ the roadtrip is not starting out very fun as I've been driving in this heavy rain the whole way. It appears to be moving at highway speed right along my route.
Autopilot intermittent
Very hard to see
Increased energy consumption
3/ East Brunswick, NJ just before midnight. 16 superchargers at the Brunswick Square Mall.
Thread 1/x About to begin a quick trip to Walnut Grove, MN. Who knows why that town might be a destination?
This will be a tough trip in the Tesla given our time constraints and the first trip in a long time where I feel an EV makes life harder. Follow the thread to learn why.
2/x This trip has all of the elements to make it difficult in an EV, even a 260-mile-range Tesla: 1) Wed evening family event back at dad's. 2) no superchargers 3) no destination chargers at our stopping point 4) we will need to add at least 120 miles of range using L1 and L2.
3/x The plan: 1) Start trip from MSP airport at or near 100% charge. 2) use the L2 charger in New Ulm to add as much range as possible. See the town. 3) use outlet at our Airbnb overnight for about 40-50 miles of range. 4) use the Tesla destination chargers in Morton on way home