It took me 2 1/2 hours to drive the 76 miles from Yuma to Quartzsite. Most of the way the speed limit was 55mph, and there were lots of police pulling people over so I drove at about 50mph. When I first was leaving Yuma I saw so many huge tractors on the road and kicking up lots of dust in dry farm fields. There were also many yellow school busses on the roads there. I was listening to oldies pop music on the radio with narration in Spanish thanks to a radio station from Mexicali. They even played the Jackson 5!
One of the stops along the way was a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. Two officers with German Shepherd dogs were there to check each vehicle that drove through. They asked why I had driven so far south on my trip back West and they wondered how the handles worked on the car. I wish I had a photo of the surprised look on their faces when I put the car in park to allow the door handles to pop out! This stop was pretty quick, but it did add to the time.
The main reason why the short drive took so long was that I was too curious about the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. This 665,400 acres in the Sonoran Desert is home to desert bighorn sheep, California Fan Palms, and more. Each time I came to an entrance into the Refuge, I would stop to check it out, only to encounter dusty dirt and rock roads. When I came to Palm Canyon Road, I decided to drive on the dusty road for a few miles only. After 3 miles at about 15mph, I arrived at informational kiosks. I exited the comfortable 65 degree car into the 107 degree heat only to read about the military presence in this place and the threat of unexploded weapons. I picked up a brochure and read about the Refuge and the bighorn sheep. Note to self: Remember to bring binoculars on my next cross country trip! I found a dime on the ground, then headed back to the main road at the snail pace.
So, after that I drove to the Quartzsite supercharger which is at another Carls Jr (like the charger in Gila Bend). Entering the town, I could not believe how many RV parks and truck stops were here. I arrived at the charger at 3:55pm with odometer at 23,502 and 108 range remained and temp was 106 degrees. The rock shop across the street looks amazing with so many geodes, but I do not want to leave the comfort of the car. Also, I am typing feverishly to get this post done! My next stop is Kingman, AZ which is 139 miles away. Leaving here at 206 range at 5pm. Frugal Tesla
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo
News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
Cheers
My weblog: Palm Springs AC Repair
Hi Palm Springs AC Repair, I have no idea how to get onto Yahoo News… and I didn’t know this blog was listed there. Cool! I’ve just been doing my best to put the word out about my fun roundtrip from SF, CA to NJ and back again in my Tesla Model S. Maybe someone who works at Yahoo stumbled across it? Thanks for the update and welcome to the blog! Frugal Tesla
We met you at Fremont Tesla Supercharge Station on Tuesday Oct 21. We were so glad that you pulled up, so we know what a ‘Chocolate’ Tesla looks like. Now we changed our choice of color from Gray to Brown. Love reading your blog, learning to become a Tesla owner. We were contemplating if we should change our order from 60 kwh to 85 kwh after reading a couple of blogs from Northeastern State owners. They reside at White Plains, NY. The temperature & distance between Super Charging stations made them very frustrated. They ended up paying $18,000 to swap motors (batteries) to 85 kwh. We are in the Bay Area. Temperature shouldn’t be a big factor. We don’t intend to drive long distance frequently. What are your thoughts? Would you advise keeping the 60 kwh? Thanks, Frugaltesla!
My advice about battery size is this… if you can afford the 85kw battery, GET IT!!! There are several reasons I say this. First, if you charge the car, it is MUCH faster to PARTIALLY charge the car. If you need to charge fully, it takes a longer time to get that last 15 percent of charge into the car. Also, it is not recommended to fully charge all the time. That means the 60kw car should only be charged to about 180 miles of range. I also suggest that you keep a 20 mile cushion for range travel, so that means you have 160 miles of range. You should add another 20 miles of range to account for Bay Area hills and speeds on the freeways. Now that means when you are charged to 180 range, you have about 140 mile of range to use which is only a 70 mile trip and back again. If I knew these things before my purchase, I WOULD have bought the 85kw car, even though it would be very difficult for me to raise the extra money for it. I hope this helps. Frugal Tesla