Tesla Model X Road Trip with
TravelScoot assistance vehicle. August 8 - 11,
2018
Tesla Model X Road Trip with
TravelScoot assistance vehicle.
Anaheim Hills, California to Reno, Nevada for "Hot August
Nights" classic car show. August 8 - 11,
2018 Owner:
Steven Grande, Steve@TeslaTouring.com
Driver/Photographer/Reporter:
Comments welcomed. Carl Morrison, Carl@TeslaTouring.com
On this year's trip from Anaheim, California to Reno, Nevada (488 miles
one way) for the 6,000+ classic car Hot August Nights show, I
took my TravelScoot
assistance vehicle in the Tesla Model X. Knowing I would be doing
a lot of walking and standing, my TravelScoot would be a great relief
in that regard. To this point in my ownership of the TravelScoot,
I have always left it erect and just set it in the back of my Town and
Country and it also fits unfolded in our PT Cruiser. However, in
the more sleek Tesla Model X, I needed to fold the TravelScoot still
leaving ample room for luggage.
It is perfect having the TravelScoot
that easily folds up, we
would not have been able to take a larger assistance vehicle to
the event.
Many of you know what Hwy. 395 looks
like in Southern California. We had some smoke from fires to the
west, but the Tesla has the cleanest air filtering system of any
automobile on the road, so we never smelled smoke inside the Tesla.
Once in smoky conditions up the road, we activated the "Tesla HEPA
Filter and Bioweapon Defense Mode" which results in the inside of the
car being as clean and germ free as an operating room.
The Lone Pine Tesla Supercharging Station has the best view of any
station we've used.
The screen in the Tesla Model X can be
set in several configurations. We chose to have the rear-view
camera at the top and the GPS with the Supercharger stations
highlighted at the bottom. We had put in the Supercharging
station at the
Atlantis Hotel in Reno as our destination and the onboard computer had
calculated that we should stop at the Mammoth Lakes, CA Supercharger
and we would have 37% of our energy left (if we would drive the speed
limit.)
The Tesla iPhone App is useful. If
the car is getting hot inside during charging, from the app you can
turn on the a/c to cool it before your return to the car. Also
you can see how many miles have been charged, and the location where it
is parked. Under CHARGING you can see how fast the car is being
charged as miles/hour. If the charging stations are full, the
charging is slower.
Grand Sierra Resort's Tesla Chargers were new to us since last August.
Even after sunset, cars displayed at the resorts can be photographed
with a flash.
Each evening the major casino hotels have free outdoor entertainment,
this Wednesday evening the Grand Sierra Resort featured Hotel
California "A Salute to the Eagles".
The Nugget Hotel and Casino in Sparks
also had added four Tesla-specific chargers since last year. Over
the 3 night's stay from zero to three Tesla's were using the
chargers. They were not Superchargers. When nearly no
electricity was in reserve, the Tesla app said it would take 14 1/2
hrs. to fully charge to over 200 miles. Therefore, we left the
charger attached overnight.
This is the original Reno sign, now a block east of the current one on
Virginia St.
Early on the day, as classic cars were
parking on Virginia St., I was able to get a more classic shot of a car
and the arch. Past photos of the arch would show it in red paint.
Big Foot was on display at the Big Boy Toy Store about 2 blocks from
the arch. Can you see my TravelScoot?
Each night, both Reno and Sparks uses
their main drags to have a cruise. Before the cruise starts is a
good time to photograph the arch.
We like to observe the cruise from the
new Virginia St. Bridge over the Truckee River. Here a '57 Ford
convertible with continental kit and fender skirts passes my
TravelScoot.
Panoramic view of the Truckee from the Virginia St. Bridge from which
we watched the cruise.
Typical variety of cruisers being let by a '57 Chevy convertible.
Some unusual creations always catch my eye.
Thursday we attended the Swap Meet that
had been moved from its 2017 location to the Baldini Casino. The
Falcon Wing design of the passenger doors on the Model X take a
different trajectory if a car is parked very close on either side.
Shinny hubcaps at the swap meet allow for a self portrait while on my
TravelScoot.
I prefer my electric powered TravelScoot to this biplane pusher, but
will give design points to the biplane.
Spotted the second TravelScoot owner in
Reno besides myself at the Swap Meet. He had purchased his in an
estate sale. He might have reached the weight limit.
The Livestock Events Center is no longer
the sight of the swap meet in the parking lot, so the cars for sale on
the arena floor were fewer than any previous year, with hardly any
buyers.
The owner of the Nevada Marketplace,
4001 So. Virginia St., has an excellent booth of his Utah images in the
arena, but had very little traffic. His wife is the photographer
and he sells the images.
Bob Belnap of Vale, Oregon saw the
unusual falcon wing back doors and asked about the Tesla X. We
gave
him and his wife a ride in the arena parking lot. He knows
electricity and loved the acceleration of the Ludicrous mode Tesla.
Our press passes allowed us to use the
elevated announcer's tower to observe the drifting exhibition.
Geoff Pitts,
of San Rafael, was the drifting announcer, and Race Director of other
venues.
Click above for a video of some drifting action.
Michelle was the catcher and Mark Unger was the pilot covering the
drifting with their Sky Lakes Media drone.
A sampling of Mark and Michelle Munger's drone work at the drifting
exhibition at Hot August Nights at the time I was shooting from the
announcer's tower nearby.
The Atlantis Hotel has 6 Tesla
Superchargers with the usual number in
use. My TravelScoot allowed me to save walking through the arena
and over the long enclosed bridge to the Convention Center to observe
the large area where cars for sale were staged and get around the
staging area for the auction.
This charging station for non-Teslas was available at the
Atlantis. Tesla Supercharging Stations, as well as Tesla 220V
chargers do not require any checking in elsewhere as this type does.
My Comb Over Brothers Pit Crew rode a
complimentary scooter across the Atlantis-Convention Center bridge as I
drove my TravelScoot. Of course, there is an elevator on both
ends to get down to street level.
MAG Auction at Reno Hot August Nights with tables for Bidders and
bleachers for spectators. All cars for sale this day through far
door.
"Barn Finds" area always interests me.
On our way back on Hwy. 395, we stopped
at the Nevada/California State Line or Topaz Lake Supercharging station
and this was the worst forest fire smoke we experienced. As
mentioned earlier, this was a spot for engaging the "Tesla HEPA
Filter and Bioweapon Defense Mode" for the operating room quality air
and no smoke smell.
View near Mammoth Lakes, California, much less smoke than at the state
line earlier.
We decided to "top off" at the last
Supercharging station in Rancho Cucamonga. This was the first
time we ever experienced all the Superchargers being taken. We
waited behind 2 other waiting Teslas for an opening. There were
12 charging stations but one station had been backed into and damaged
so there were 11. While we charged, there were other Teslas
rotating through the chargers as they became available. The
first, dark red Tesla with dark wheels is a Tesla 3. At this
date, only Premium Model 3s are available at about $49,000 base
price. White one on the right is a Model S, and the far white one
is a Model X SUV, like the red one we were driving.
Our Tesla Supercharging Station Notes for this Anaheim, CA, Reno, NV,
round trip
By Carl "Reno Mo" Morrison
Left Anaheim Hills, California at 6:30
a.m. Stopped at a McDonalds in Adelanto for breakfast.
While driving north on Hwy. 395, the onboard computer said to deviate
to Mojave, California to charge. We checked the mileage left on
the computer and compared it to the miles to our expected first stop,
Inyokern, and decided to continue. Evidently the Tesla computer
wants the driver to have a bigger percentage of energy left as a
safeguard than we had expected. Better safe than sorry. We
had been told that the charging rate at Supercharging stations will
vary depending on the number of Teslas being charged. Note below
that we were one of two cars charging here and were charging at a rate
of 246 miles per hour of charging. or 4 miles per minute.
9:03 we arrived at the Inyokern Supercharging station with 20 miles
left. Used the restroom and bought some snacks in the market/gas
station/Supercharging station in Inyokern. Charged for 52 minutes
= 3.5 miles of charging per minute on the charger. We used the
Tesla iPhone app to run the air conditioning remotely inside the car
since it was about 100 degrees outside. We heard quite a
helicopter sound from the Model X while charging, but realized it was
to keep the batteries from getting too hot while charging.
11:10 we charged at the Lone Pine Supercharging station even though we
had 100 miles of fuel left when we arrived, we knew there were
mountains ahead and we didn't want to drive slowly to manage
mileage. After 40 minutes of charging we were at 220 miles range
- 3 miles per minute of charging. There is a MacDonald's about 1
1/2 blocks north of this Charger, convenient for bathrooms and
refreshments.
1:30 Mammoth Lakes Supercharging station with 71 miles left. Left
at 2:07 after an ice cream cone from Rite Aid in the 108 degrees with
179 miles "in the tank". This charge was 2.9 miles per
minute. As we passed Bridgeport, gas was $4.99 a gallon, but for
the first time this didn't seem to matter.
4:08 Gardnerville Supercharger, but it is at the state line at Topaz
Lake. In with 89 mi. left and out at 4:30 with 180 miles. 96
degrees.
5:45 at the In-N-Out on Virginia St. in Reno.
On to our Nugget Hotel/Casino in Sparks, our final destination.
We discovered that they had 4 Tesla charging stations (not
Superchargers) on the 2nd floor next to the walkway to the hotel...most
convenient parking at the hotel. We plugged into these chargers,
at no charger cost, overnight and accumulated 238 miles, evidently the
maximum unless Steve has an internal setting for less than maximum.
Glad to have the Tesla X back home after about 1,000 miles of exciting
driving and appreciating not stopping for gas and having ultra clean
air through the forest fire smoke along Hwy. 395.
Next Tesla adventure will be the "National Drive Electric Week,
September 8-16, 2018" where we will attend the event in Los Alamitos,
Sept. 8.