Tesla Road Trip

April 25, 2015

There were lots of race fans filling up the hotel in Richmond on Thursday.  Hopefully they got to see a race as the weather report was not very good.  The southern part of the country had rain and severe storms predicted from Texas moving across to the east for the weekend. But it was a pretty morning so we headed south.

Our usual plan was to check with good old Gertrude, the Tesla navigation system to see where the superchargers were.  Not that we can't get creative and charge other places, it is just fun to follow them along the highway since we haven't really had a plan since Sunday.  Actually I did have a plan if it could work out.  There happened to be a high school friend living in Greensboro, So - off we went.

I keep thinking, being from the southwest, that at any minute the scenery is going to change and get flat and treeless.  Wrong. It just keeps getting more beautiful.  Huge trees line the highway as we go along.  I have some pictures but we are not going to discuss here why I can't post them..Actually I have no idea why they won't down load from my iPhone now when they have before. Hopefully I can sleep on it and the computer will be nice in the morning.

It was a beautiful trip from Richmond to Greensboro except for one charging stop.  The superchargers don't sit on the corner of an intersection like gas stations do.  Most of the time they are in the parking lot of some restaurant or behind some store or way off to the side of a shopping center.  Gertrude tells you where to turn but at times it is to turn on an unnamed street.  That is nice. Do you know how many unnamed streets there are in shopping centers? Answer - LOTS!  We attempted to find one that looked to be located in a shopping center and Gertrude McNasty kept telling us to make a u-turn NOW until we were dizzy from going in circles. Seems like I remember Marshell getting upset and I think I sort of thru my iPhone.  All of a sudden there they were.  Tempers are not good when Marshell, Gertrude and myself all want to kill each other. Thirty minutes out of the car, a long walk alone, and re-charged ready to go and everyone seemed to be in working order again.

My friend from high school, Lu Beth, has lived in Greensboro for twenty some years.  I can remember asking her one time why she lived there and did she ever think about moving back to Oklahoma.  Once at her lovely 1920's brick tudor house on a tree lined street I actually apologized for even thinking that, much less saying it. Her house is one of those special places where you instantly want to curl up on the sofa or enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the deck. Of course she and her fur kid, Maggie contributed to that feeling.

Lucky has never really had many dogs to play with and living with no yard he has really not had the chance to run free.  It took a few minutes for Lucky and Maggie to feel the situation out.  Maggie was not sure about a strange dog in her territory and Lucky didn't know what to do with no leash in the backyard and another dog.  But both being very sweet dogs they were soon running and playing with no problems.  Maggie is much bigger than Lucky and he would spring straight up to play with her.
Lu Beth now describes them as cousins and there are pictures of them exhausted and napping.  Friends in the human world and the dog world are great.

Marshell and I felt very stupid since we know very little history of the civil war.  Guess we are going to have to hit the library when we get home.  Greensboro is currently the third largest city in North Carolina with about 280,000 residents.  Home to five colleges, a beautiful restored section of downtown and yet it feels like a much smaller city.  Quakers from Pennsylvania settled in the area in 1750.  In the 1840's withe the advent of the railroad it became a transportation hub for goods for textile goods.  It still remains today the center for major textile manufacturers such as Burlington. Wrangler, Lee, the North Face and Nautica.

Although North Carolina did not vote for succession they joined the confederacy.  From 1861 to March of 1865 the city was relatively untouched by the war except for shortages of clothing, medicines and other goods.In April of 1865 during the final weeks of the war, General Beauregard instructed the city to prepare for the defense of the city. During this time Confederate President Jefferson Davis had fled from Richmond to Danville, Virginia and then to Greensboro. Greensboro was the last place the confederate government met. This made the city known as the "final capital city of the Confederacy". Governor Vance proclaimed in Greensboro the North Carolina Surrender Declaration on April 28, 1865. So, Greensboro not only witnessed the demise of the Confederacy but also the civil government of the state of North Carolina.  Lu Beth really knows her history and it was great fun to hear about her great-great grandfather's part in the history of the area.

We had a wonderful time visiting with Lu Beth and Maggie and would have like to have stayed longer.  Already making plans to return and spend more time but it was almost noon and time to hit the road.  Weather map did not look favorable.  To go north did not sound like much fun since we came that way.  South looked like "torcon" reports all across the area we needed to go - so - we decided to go south. What is a little severe weather - new adventure sounded fun.

Marshell backed out of the driveway and I tried to get a route from Gertrude.  Well, I guess she had gotten pissed at being yelled at the day before and all I could get her to do was make the horrible loud buzzing sound.  No way could we drive with that noise even if I did have an idea of which direction to go.  So Marshell pulled off the road and I called Tesla service.  A very nice fellow answered the phone and walked us through how to re-boot the computer. Boy, Gertrude must have gotten mad.  It only took a few minutes and we were on our way towards Atlanta.

Turned into a beautiful morning with no clouds and we followed I95 south - for awhile.  Gertrude gave us a new route all of a sudden.  After all of her screaming at us that morning we decided to be nice and follow the directions trusting her to know best,  Hmm - all of a sudden we were on Old Highway 6. It was two lanes and went through very small towns, cotton fields and past a lot of very cool old architecture.  No 80 mile an hour traffic or trucks and really very pleasant and "our" kind of road. It had become cloudy and on the little driver's screen to the left of the steering wheel it looked very strange.  It showed what would be clouds covering 95 and then there was a very strange place where it looked like the clouds were in a circle and much taller than the rest.  Did she lead us away from bad weather? Interesting.

Finally back on the 95 after a nice calming drive and headed for Savanna, Georgia.  Now - I am not sure I would go to Savanna to get to Atlanta.  Maybe I don't want to go to Atlanta - maybe I want to go to Macon.  All I know is that I really get to go to Savanna!  One of my favorite books is "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"! I have seen the movie which was filmed there and I have always wanted to go see it for myself.  It was dark when we arrived last night in Savanna.  Lots of rain coming in and sheets of rain after we were tucked in the motel.  Tomorrow morning I get to drive around Savanna and if I am lucky, Marshell will stop the car and I will have pictures.  Can't wait.

Stay tuned.