Day 5 Santa Fe, NM

In the historic Don Gaspar Inn breakfast is served from 8:00 to 9:30. Since we arrived late, we got up late, but we didn’t miss breakfast although all of the other guests had left for the day. We enjoyed our breakfast sitting in a sunny garden patio, sipping coffee on a gorgeous sunny morning. 

It was a short walk to the historic town plaza, and there was so much to see on the way. We walked through the State Capital sculpture garden, went inside the San Miguel Church (oldest church structure in USA c.1610) and the Oldest House Museum. The highlight of the walk was visiting the Loretto Chapel and seeing the Miraculous Staircase. 

“Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby-looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was constructed by St. Joseph himself, as a miraculous occurrence.”

The staircase is quite beautiful and the craftsmanship is amazing. There are no nails and no center support. It is like the stairs just float up a ribbon of wood.

The center of town is the The Plaza. Local musicians and artists fill the plaza selling pottery, paintings, sculpture and other crafts. On the north side a covered walkway is filled with Native American artists, each with a small blanket covered with silver, turquoise and stone jewelry. Each artist engraved their initials into the piece to insure authenticity. We chatted with the artists who were happy to explain what was involved in creating their unique crafts. Gina had to be dragged away before she squandered the entire souvenir budget.

We escaped to The Shed for an authentic Santa Fe lunch of chicken enchiladas “Christmas Style” (with both red and green chile) made with blue corn tortillas, served with pinto beans and posole (a pueblo stew of Nixtamal corn, lean pork, coarse red Chile, garlic & oregano). The heat of the red and green chile accumulated during the meal to a subdued inferno. We liked it so much we bought a jar to bring home.  The meal was better than any Mexican food we have had in San Jose.

After a little more exploring downtown and shopping we made our way back home. We were so full from lunch we skipped dinner and went to bed early.

Trip Stats:

Today: 0 miles  0 kWh . 0 Wh/mi

TOTAL: 1339 miles  432.5 kWh  323 Wh/mi 

Day 4: Sedona, AZ to Santa Fe, NM

Before we set out on our long day of driving to Santa Fe, we took a hike from Paul’s house to the Sedona Airport Vortex. This is a red sandstone dome with a 360 degree view of Sedona and the surrounding area. 

“A Vortex is a place in nature where the earth is exceptionally alive with energy.  The term Vortex in Sedona refers to a place where the earth energy swirls and draws to it’s center everything that surrounds it like a tornado. At these magical sites, trees often exhibit this swirling or twisting of their trunks due the powerful vortex energy at the core of a Sedona Vortex.”

After charging up with vortex energy we said goodbye to Paul and Colleen and started driving to Santa Fe. We had to slow down in Winslow Arizona cuz it's such a fine site to see, just as it was 10 years ago. Yes, we are those tourists.

We have started getting into a rhythm of driving for a few hours then charging for 30 to 60 minutes. While the car is charging we take a walk and perhaps shop or get a bite to eat.

The last two days we have traveled 900+ miles but we don’t have those “stuck in the car, unending road, sucking those gas fumes blues”. We have fallen into a pleasant relaxing rhythm of driving for a few hours then charging for 30 to 60 minutes. We always take a walk and combine that with a little shopping, snacking or browsing.

Despite all the jokes about RANGE ANXIETY (fear of running out of energy before getting to a charging station) we have just had 2 times where our car told us we had to slow down to make it to the next charging station. Both times we had joined a high speed flow of traffic and decreasing our speed for a bit corrected the situation. I guess we can’t drive coast to coast at 90 mph.

There is a trade off between charging just enough to get to the next station under ideal conditions, and charging a bit more to have extra energy for driving faster or taking a detour to see something interesting. If you drive faster you get there sooner but then you have to charge longer. In a gas car you can rocket across the country just stopping for fast food and gas. In the Tesla you have to relax and smell the roses.

Trip Stats

430 miles 137 kWh  319 Wh/mi  today

1339 miles  432.5 kWh  323 Wh/mi  TOTAL

Day 3: Monrovia, CA to Sedona, NM

Today is a driving day. We are traveling from Monrovia, CA to Sedona, AZ to visit our friends Paul and Colleen.

Paul and I (Gina) met on the first day of my first software engineering job, and we have been friends ever since. For both of us it was our first job out of college, and we shared an office for several years. Cohesive Network was a startup and the whole team was like a big family. Many of us are still in touch with each other today.

Paul and Colleen are outdoor enthusiasts (and that is putting it mildly). Paul proposed to Colleen in the middle of a multi-day climb up the face of Half Dome, and a few days ago they spent their 12th anniversary skiing in Tahoe. Two years ago they bought a beautiful home in Sedona with a view of Thunder Mountain (that the Disneyland ride was named after). They like to take visitors on their “Neighborhood Circuit” which involves hiking, climbing, caving, repelling, with incredible views and experiences.

After a long day of driving we arrived in Sedona. The sunset as we drove in was spectacular. Paul BBQed salmon, veggies, and the works. Colleen made “tres leches con tres bayas" which was delicious. We ate and drank and talked till midnight. It was a wonderful evening.

Trip Stats:

481.9 miles  165.7 kWh 344 Wh/mi  today
909 miles  295.5 kWh  325 Wh/mi  TOTAL

Day 2: Morgan's Wedding

We fell in love with Morgan all over again. 

We haven't seen her since she was 5 years old and today she married Bryce in a beautiful rose garden wedding. She was radiant, stunning, graceful, relaxed, kind, and loving. But most of all, she seemed totally in love with Bryce. She looked like she was walking on clouds.

Morgan’s mom is Marie, Gina’s best friend from high school. 

Marie and I met on the first day of high school and have been friends ever since. We had every class together freshman year, and may have been the only two Puerto Rican girls in our high school.

I saw Marie for the first time in 12 years at beginning of the wedding as she walked up the isle. Marie saw me for the first time at the end of the wedding as she was walking down the isle, and she just stopped, came over and hugged me. It was overwhelming, we were crying it was so wonderful to be together again.

Because Marie was the mother of the bride, I knew she was going to be very busy and I was expecting minimal time with her. But I was seated at table #1 next to Marie just a few feet from Morgan…what an honor. It was so easy to fall back into comfortable conversation and begin to catch up on the years we were apart.

We had a wonderful time at the wedding and reception. We danced and laughed and talked to Marie and Mogan's friends and family. We are looking forward to seeing Marie and her husband Vince again in New York in a few weeks.

Trip Stats:
29.8 mi  10.6 kWh  355 Wh/mi  today
427.1 mi  129.8 kWh  300Wh/mi  TOTAL

Day 1: San Jose, SLO, Monrovia

To lug, or not to lug, that is the question. We traveled by train in Europe for many weeks with just a carry-on bag. Now we have a carry-on bag just for snacks. Good intentions of leaving early were thwarted by the final 90% of packing, changing the sheets, doing a last load of laundry, and tidying up so we can come back to a clean house...which is really out of our control because Michael and Michelle are taking care of the house and dogs. The hardest part of leaving was saying goodbye to the dogs because they don’t understand how long we will be gone.

We were backing down the driveway when we heard what sounded like someone throwing a bucket of mud on our car. We believe we witnessed a miracle...because it was either the first flying ostrich or Big Bird that blessed our vehicle with half gallon of holy poo. We rinsed off the car and took it to the car wash, which added yet another delay.

On this trip we are going to reconnect with friends we have not seen in a long time. But after a 3 hour drive and a 1 hour charge, our first stop was in San Luis Obispo with friends that we see regularly. Jeanie, Julie, Kelly, Nancy and Nic joined us for a long happy Bon Voyage lunch at Luna Red located next to the Mission de Tolosa in the heart of downtown SLO.

Back on the road we continued listening to “S Town” an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Brian Reed about an email sent to the staff of the show This American Life asking them to investigate an alleged murder in Woodstock Alabama. This real life story is engrossing and fascinating. Tom’s reaction was “perhaps we should swing by S Town for lunch” and Gina’s reaction was “make sure we are going nowhere near that town”. Lets see what happens when we travel through Alabama.

We drove by an ostrich farm outside of Solvang and wondered if this was the home of the miracle bird. After another 3 hours driving and 1 hour charging we arrived in Monrovia (near Los Angles). We are here to attend a wedding...but more about that tomorrow.

Trip Stats:

397.3 mi  119.2 kWh  300 Wh/mi

2017 USA Tesla Road Trip

On Friday we start our Road Trip around the United States traveling 8000 miles in 7 weeks. We will be visiting family and friends as we travel through 30 states.

Our trip planning is a bit complicated because we are driving our all-electric Tesla S70D (no gas!) that can travel 240 miles on a single charge. There are Tesla charging stations spaced around 100 to 200 miles apart on the major highways. So we will drive around 2 or 3 hours and then charge around 20 or 30 minutes. Here is our (current) route with the charging stations:

We will try to post something every day, like we did 10 years ago in July and August of 2007.
See you soon!