Atascadero to Gilroy superchargers is about 138 miles along highway 101 north. Somehow I picked up a radio station from Fresno, CA where they were talking about a cruise ship that would have Motorhead, Megadeath, and Anthrax performing!!  I laughed out loud as I tried to imagine the marketing campaign, the clients on ship, the task of the crew with cleanup, and the international ramifications as thousands of heavy metal fans disembarked at the various ports. Funny stuff.

I arrived at the very familiar Gilroy superchargers at 1:45pm with odometer at 24,317 and 47 range with temp at 85 degrees.  I said hello to Ken from Sunnyvale and then Arlen from Carmel, both with 85kw Teslas. Then I proceeded to type up the all nighter blog post. As I finished, Adam and Tracy pulled up with their 3 young children in a black 60kw Tesla. As I told them of my journey, they revealed that they also do NOT have the tech package… so they would be interested in reading the blog to hear about the roundtrip across the country adventure.

One more Tesla had pulled up earlier while I was talking to the other owners. It was a green Tesla with the CA license plate: TESLAPA.  I approached to see if he would open his window to chat briefly (I thought that he was listening to the radio since there was the sound of talking in the car). He did open the window and I quickly introduced myself by saying that I had just driven from San Francisco to NJ and back. He emphatically stated that he was on the phone with someone LOCAL, and his tone was extremely annoyed. Wow, had my exhaustion combined with exhilaration turned me into that rude person that intrudes upon private phone calls??!  I quietly said “Sorry!”, turned around, unplugged, and departed for Santa Cruz at 2:58pm with 201 range.

Other than the road work going on near the Hecker Pass Winery, this was a familiar path for me and I traveled along like I was greeting an old friend. The comfort of my surroundings helped me to shake off the cold, callous demeanor of TESLAPA which continued to bother me. I thought about all of the amazing and kind Tesla owners that I encountered on this 9,300 mile journey. Isn’t it funny how the 1 bad experience has to be from a guy near my home turf? But, I imagine that perhaps my road weary appearance, the vagabond look, was unsettling to him. I will never know.

Driving through the redwood trees, past the berry farms, and closer to a real place to rest in Santa Cruz gave me an extra boost of energy. I arrived at 3:51pm with odometer at 24,346 with 174 range and a cool temp of 70 degrees. After catching up and talking with my friend, I hit the pillow at 5:30pm and did not wake up until 6:30am…13 solid hours of rest! That, combined with the 11 hours of rest that I had for the previous 48 hours, makes 24 hours of sleep for 3 days, thus averaging to 8 hours a day. But, in case you are worried, I hope to never do the all night drive ever again.

I have one last leg to San Francisco to complete this journey. I must decide whether to go later today (Wednesday), after a chiropractor appointment, or early tomorrow (to get me back in time for work… yes, real work!). Either way, I plan to stop in Fremont, CA on the way.  Frugal Tesla