Tesla Road Trip "Reach the Beach"

Saturday 18, 2015

I put in a wake up call for 5:00 since I didn't want to miss registration at 7:00.  Let Marshell and Lucky sleep in while I scouted for coffee, got dressed and then checked in with the Tesla group.

Aaron, who was the contact for the trip greeted me with a big smile and a hug.  Someone had already downloaded my blog on the start of our trip. It made me feel very welcome and rather relieved.  It isn't everyday you drive halfway across the country to hang out with people you don't know. If I had any worries they all disappeared the moment I met Aaron and got a big welcome.  Time for Marshell to roll out of bed.

First order of the day was to fill out the paper work, get our car number and where we were supposed to be at what time.  We drove a mile down the street to charge the car up enough to get to the beach and back.  Then Marshell had the car steam washed in the parking lot.  This was a great idea from the planning group.  It is not favored to wash your Tesla at a car wash. Then we had to be at a stadium a few miles away at 11:00 for "staging".

At the stadium parking lot they moved the cars around so that the cars spelled out the word "Tesla".
How cool is that?  A drone flew around with a camera and the photographer for the event was on the roof of the stadium.  Can't wait to see those pictures.  Then all the cars lined up around the parking lot and we had a police escort for 30 miles to Ocean City.  They turned all the stop lights green and 67 Tesla's drove to the beach.

I lived in New Jersey for five years in the early 1980's with many wonderful memories of going "to the shore" as they say in Jersey.  Never having been to Maryland I did not know what to expect but had hopes it would be as I remembered and loved. Getting closer to Ocean City I realized it was going to be everything I remembered.  We stopped for lunch at Hooper's Crab House.  That was a wow.  Since I love whimsical I was happy. The wooden people were fantastic and the airplane from the ceiling really neat.

Marshell thinks we need this guy.

He'd look great at our kitchen counter!

 

After we had lunch it was time to head for the boardwalk.  The planning committee did a fantastic job of setting this up.  The was the first time in the history of Ocean City allowing cars to park on the boardwalk.  The weather was perfect and really the first nice weekend for people to come and enjoy a day at the beach.  Too cold to swim but lots of people playing in the sand, visiting all the interesting to quirky shops and of course, sampling the boardwalk food.  The whole area was packed with people and here comes sixty-seven cars!  We filled the board walk angled in about twenty-four inches apart and covered three hundred feet.

The afternoon was spent walking around and taking in the sights.  The ocean looked wonderful and Mr "California" Marshell fell in love.  He even said he thought he liked it better than the "left coast"!

Actually most of the afternoon was spent talking to all the people who inquired about the cars.  There were the same questions we, as Tesla owners, answer all the time.  What kind of a car is it?  Who makes it? How far can it go on a charge?  What! All Electric? No Way Man! You drove from Oklahoma for free!!!!  This is really the fun part about owning a Tesla.  All of us are such believers in the concept itself, the performance and the luxury of the Tesla that we want to tell everyone about them, let them sit in it and even drive it.  In truth the car sells itself, it is just fun to take it out and show them off.

When it was time to leave we drove the full three miles to the end of the boardwalk.  The place was lined with people all the way down.  Then it was back to Salisbury for dinner.  Funny story here in that we were the second car in line and the couple in the car took off and we followed them as well as a few others. We sped through town and out on the highway.  After making an exit onto another highway the car in front of us made a U-turn and stopped.  The women came back and said they were headed back to New York and we were all going the wrong way.  It was really funny and all of us turned around and finally figured out how to get back instead of just following someone.

Tell you about dinner tomorrow,  Here I have to tell about Lucky.  He saw some geese early in the morning and went nuts.  We got to the shore and the sea gulls were flying everywhere.  He was shaking and whining to go play with them. Then he spotted the children playing in the sand, then the waves and then the plethora of dogs with their owners on the boardwalk. He never stopped moving and exploring all day.  When we started back to the hotel he was standing on my lap looking out the window for more excitement until he finally sunk down in my arms not to move until the car stopped.

When we left for dinner there were no sad eyes at the door - only closed eyes in the middle of the bed - exactly the same position when we returned later.  

What a wonderful day for all of us!

u