Day 5 - The Road to Yellowstone
Our goal today was to make some good progress toward our stay in Yellowstone. The first few hours through the Nevada high desert was easy. The scenery is a bit bleak, with fairly uniform grey scrub, and the mountains in the distance. Our first stop to charge the car was in Lovelock, NV - conveniently located at the Chevron station, across from a McDonald's (yay, health food!) and a dollar store where Mackay picked up a t-shirt with her vacation mantra.
While I have always loved road trips, Bill can attest to the fact that before we had the Tesla, I was a 'don't stop until we get there' sort of driver. If you're hungry or have to pee, too bad. With kids especially, this new mode of driving is so nice! Via the GPS, the car tells you how long you can go until the next charge, identifies the supercharger locations, and even tells you how long you need to charge before you continue on your trip. In most cases, it's less than an hour to get a close to full charge. Charging also gives you an excuse to walk around a bit -- always a good thing during long drives.
As we continued northeast on 80, the terrain changed slowly - getting greener and more mountainous. We had blissfully light traffic. We listened to the first Harry Potter book on Audible, and the time flew by.
Our second charge stop was in Elko, NV. Only one other Tesla was in the 8 available charging spots, so we had our pick. A quick bite at Round Table, and we were on our way again.
Our overnight stopping place was Cactus Pete's, a kitschy casino resort in Jackpot, NV right on the Nevada/Idaho border. Apparently the casino was developed in 1954, right after Idaho outlawed gaming, providing Idaho-ians a convenient way to continue their gambling vices.
In any case, the resort is fine (smoky, like all Nevada casinos, I guess), but the pool is quite nice.
Also, thumbs up to the penny slots.
We plan to stay two nights, as we have a fairly long drive again to get to our next destination.
While I have always loved road trips, Bill can attest to the fact that before we had the Tesla, I was a 'don't stop until we get there' sort of driver. If you're hungry or have to pee, too bad. With kids especially, this new mode of driving is so nice! Via the GPS, the car tells you how long you can go until the next charge, identifies the supercharger locations, and even tells you how long you need to charge before you continue on your trip. In most cases, it's less than an hour to get a close to full charge. Charging also gives you an excuse to walk around a bit -- always a good thing during long drives.
 |
| Cool overpasses designed for migrating deer and resident cattle |
Our second charge stop was in Elko, NV. Only one other Tesla was in the 8 available charging spots, so we had our pick. A quick bite at Round Table, and we were on our way again.
Our overnight stopping place was Cactus Pete's, a kitschy casino resort in Jackpot, NV right on the Nevada/Idaho border. Apparently the casino was developed in 1954, right after Idaho outlawed gaming, providing Idaho-ians a convenient way to continue their gambling vices.
In any case, the resort is fine (smoky, like all Nevada casinos, I guess), but the pool is quite nice.
Also, thumbs up to the penny slots.
We plan to stay two nights, as we have a fairly long drive again to get to our next destination.
