Tesla Road Trip "Reach The Beach"

Thursday, April 17, 2015

Page 2

After a good night's sleep it was off at 7:00 AM to head east.  First stop Columbia, Missouri.

When planning this trip there was a pretty good sized gap in Tesla Superchargers between the Kansas City area and Indianapolis.  Since Marshell and I have never really suffered from "range anxiety" I knew there was some way to get the added electrons needed.  As we headed east on a beautiful spring morning I checked Plugshare. There were only two listed, one a 110 wall socket and the other a boutique hotel ($$$) with a Tesla charger for guests only.. I will try anything once.

For those who travel down the highway at breakneck speed I hope you are not missing the beauty of this country.  There is a lot more to Missouri besides Branson, caves and walnut bowls.  Lucky for us it was a beautiful spring morning with a pretty heavy amount of dew that sparkled on the trees and fields in the morning sun.  The landscape is covered with small to medium size farms with cool old two story farmhouses, huge barns that look like ones you see in pictures and even a few silos. I really think spring is farther along in the blossoming of the flowering trees than further south.  The fields were either covered in the greenest grass I have ever seen or were plowed ready for the season of wheat, corn or soybeans.

Columbia, Missouri was a must stop from the day we decided to take this trip.  I spent my first year of college attending Stephens College which was founded as a baptist college for women in 1833.
Also, the University of Missouri is located there. The town started out as a center for agriculture but through the years has changed the focus to education, art and cultural events. Since I had not returned to the town for fifty years I had great expectations that it would look exactly as I remembered.

I may have been disappointed driving into Columbia and passing new places and fast food restaurants but the moment I hit Broadway in downtown I started recognizing buildings I remembered and memories I had forgotten thru the years. But first order was to locate the Tiger Hotel and create a sob story.

The now named Tiger Hotel was built in 1928 and for years had been a senior living place. In 2012 a new owner purchased it and did extensive work to renovate it still keeping all the original chandeliers, magnificent woodwork and even the old copper mail by the elevator.  The door man/ valet young man greeted us.  I then told him we were in need of a charge for our car.  Nice thing about a Tesla is that young people know what they are and love them.  He called someone to see if our request could be granted and it was a yes.  Ours was the first Tesla to ever charge there and they appreciated the instructions on how to use it.

Now it is time to take a walking tour.  The downtown is pretty much the same as it was in 1964 with the exception of different stores in the magnificient old buildings. I remember many walks downtown and spending more money than my poor parents were happy with.  The campus of Stephens college sits on the east end of the downtown. As we went east - there it was!  It was amazing but it really has not changed that much.  The buildings that were old back then are older now but look even nicer.  The only building gone was of course my dorm, South Hall.  Guess they needed a parking lot for the President's house.

It was really strange how many memories that were tucked away came back as we walked around the campus. Silly things we did, Stephens pretty strict rules that we all broke knowing we would be sent home if caught, (Pam didn't break any rules), It was fun telling Marshell all the highlights of the place. College was a very special place, in a special time with wonderful people I am still friends with today.

After a great walk it was time to head on east.  That is after a much needed Starbucks and a bagel at the little bistro inside the Tiger Hotel.  (They didn't even say anything about Lucky coming In!}
Back on the road..

We headed for St. Louis in hopes that the new supercharger was installed and working.  There was lots of road construction which did use up quite a bit of power but it gave us a chance to enjou more of the countryside.  Heading towards St. Louis we came upon lots more trees and flowering shrubs along the road.  Spring was certainly showing off with red bud, forsythia, and a white flowering tree mixed in with the deep green of the evergreens and newly leafing trees.

Can't end without letting you know we saw the World's Largest Cross.  It is located in Effingham,Missouri.  At 198 feet tall and a span of 113 feet it is pretty awesome.  Historical note on Effingham besides the fact it has 63 restaurnats, 17 motels and very few people, is that in 1974 there was hospital fire that killed 74 people.  This set a new nationwide set of standards for the construction and safety of hospitals.  Didn't know that did you?

Made it to the brand new supercharger in St. Charles, Missouri.  Located next to a Smashburger.  If you haven't eaten at one - try it.  The regular ones are great  but they have a nice vegetarian fare aas well.  While at the charger we were visited not only in people wondering what we were doing, asking questions about the car, and of course , in awe.  But we were also pleased to visit with one of the sales guys from the St. Louis store to see if it was working. Can't praise Tesla enough for there friendly and helpful staff.

Even though we planned to go further, we ended up staying in Blue Springs at Lucky"s favorite motel.  Tomorrow is another day.  I will leave you with a picture of a great sign found in Columbia.