Road Trip

Gulfcoastguy

I am going to be taking a road trip to the Rockies starting the first full week in October. I will take the I-10/I-12 route through Louisiana and Texas. Somewhere in West Texas I will turn North for Colorado then West to Durango. The route and schedule is flexible though I will need to stick close to the Electrify America charging routes if possible. Not terribly interested in most of the larger cities in Texas. Anyhow depending on time I might loop back through Utah or New Mexico. Any must sees or must eat ats? No snow tires so I have to keep an eye out for the white stuff.

Mickey

Over the past years we add Las Vegas and Taos, New Mexico in that route (although we are leaving from central Texas). If never in this area people have no idea has great NM is. 

Must go on up and visit Ouray (71 miles north) as a day trip out of Durango (it will really make the trip). 

If you don’t have a place in Durango we always stay at the Doubletree (they take dogs). Great walking trail behind the hotel. 

If i can help send a note. 

Gulfcoastguy

Thanks. The dog will be boarded due to hot car issues but that does give me an idea where to stay.

Mickey

3 or 4 times and very happy with its location and backing up to the river. You can hear it in the room. Be sure and get a River side room. 

Very walkable to town and all around. 

Also drive up to the college. 

Where are you located?

Gulfcoastguy

Ocean Springs Mississippi, just East of Biloxi.

alaskanassasin

Sounds like a great trip. Not sure I would tackle it in a battery car but that will make it more of a adventure. How far can you go between charges? How long does it take to recharge?

Gulfcoastguy

About 200 to 230 miles on the highway. 30 to 40 minutes to charge that much. Most hotels have free overnight parking and Electrify America stations are giving VWs free charging for the first 3 years.

dbCooper

Depending on your vehicle and the weather/road conditions, give some consideration to driving the "Million Dollar Highway".  Very beautiful but you may encounter snow at the higher elevations that time of year.

If you head for Utah, I'd recommend Arches National Park.

Foghorn

I'm guessing you will be on I-10.  If you want to get a sample of some top Texas BBQ along that route there are 3 good options that won't take you far away from it.  

Luling City Market in Luling, Burnt Bean in Seguin, and 2M BBQ on the east side of San Antonio.  

City Market is an old traditional top tier Texas BBQ place that has been somewhat (although only slightly) surpassed by the new generation of Aaron Franklin type folks.

Burnt Bean is relatively new, but I have heard independent raves about it from 3 different competition BBQers and the lines are apparently very long.  The expectation is the whenever Texas Monthly does their next BBQ rating, it will be near the top and the lines will get longer.

2M is also reportedly world class (per my son and others who I trust) but I have not been able to make it there yet either even though they've been open for several years.  They sell out by mid afternoon each day.


If you want to do a detour that would add some other variety, you could take 290 out of Houston and hit the Blue Bell ice cream factory for a tour and tasting - then go through Austin for some BBQ - then keep on 290 for some wine tasting in the Texas Hill Country and Fredericksburg.  Then get back on to I-10.  On average, the wineries there are not as good a Napa/Sonoma - but you can't go to all of them and there are at least 6 that are on par with the good California vineyards.  If you are going to do that, PM me and I'll give you more info about the vineyards.

caliking

Foghorn said:

...


If you want to do a detour that would add some other variety, you could take 290 out of Houston and hit the Blue Bell ice cream factory for a tour and tasting - then go through Austin for some BBQ - then keep on 290 for some wine tasting in the Texas Hill Country and Fredericksburg.  Then get back on to I-10.  On average, the wineries there are not as good a Napa/Sonoma - but you can't go to all of them and there are at least 6 that are on par with the good California vineyards.  If you are going to do that, PM me and I'll give you more info about the vineyards.

 @Gulfcoastguy If you happen to take the detour, and swing by Blue Bell, try to make time for Truth BBQ, which is about 10mins away. Rockin' BBQ and home baked desserts (if you have a sweet tooth, like me). 

Gulfcoastguy

I am in a continuing education seminar right now but I appreciate the replies and will read them in depth tonight.

JohnInCarolina

This will be an awesome trip.  What's really cool about your route is how much the geography changes from around the southern part of NM into Colorado.  It's totally different, and beautiful in lots of different ways.

For must-sees, I would recommend White Sands in NM.  There is also the Very Large Array (or VLA) in Socorro.  

Up near Los Alamos, there is Bandelier national monument, and the Valle Grande in the Jemez mountains.  It is a bit of a drive up into the Jemez but totally worth it for the view of the Valle Grande.  Depending on the time you have, there is a very cool route that takes you from around Albuquerque up into the Jemez and down into Los Alamos.  DM me if you're interested and I can track that one down for you.  

Mickey is right - Taos is very cool.   Lots of great places to eat in Santa Fe and in Taos.  I think you want to hit at least one of them if not both.  

And then in Colorado I can't recommend Rocky Mountain National Park highly enough.  Probably one of the most beautiful and stunning national parks we have.  

Arches national park in Utah is another one that's very cool.  Actually that whole area around Moab is pretty interesting in terms of scenery.  

Have fun - I am jealous!

Gulfcoastguy

My first trip greater than 200 miles in 14 years.

Mickey

Gulfcoastguy said:

Ocean Springs Mississippi, just East of Biloxi.

I’m on I-10 very often between Texas and Florida panhandle 

Gulfcoastguy

Mickey said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Ocean Springs Mississippi, just East of Biloxi.

I’m on I-10 very often between Texas and Florida panhandle 

Then you have rode over, passed by , or stopped at some of my work.

Legume

Gulfcoastguy said:

My first trip greater than 200 miles in 14 years.

So you waited until you bought a full electric car to go on a road trip?

Gulfcoastguy

Hey I never owned a gasser, went straight to an Egg. I have owned the car since early April and ordered it almost exactly a year ago. I might have researched the hell out of it.

lousubcap

200 mile radius would definitely drive the considerations toward electric.  OTH when you get into the 600-800 miles/day your thinking may land in a different space right now.  FWIW-

Gulfcoastguy

Hmm start the day with a full 230 mile range, drive 3 hours, stop for 30 minutes to charge and drink or return coffee, drive 3 hours , 30 minute charge and eat lunch,  drive3 hours, charge 30 minutes while I go to the can, drive 3 hours and call it a day. That is 800 to 850 miles. A total of 90 minutes doing everything else but driving.

Legume

You’ll have fun.  800 miles a day is A—> B.  You don’t want to do that, you want to see things.  That’s more like 300 miles per day.  You’ll see lots of different landscapes on any route through those states.

Gulfcoastguy

Legume said:

You’ll have fun.  800 miles a day is A—> B.  You don’t want to do that, you want to see things.  That’s more like 300 miles per day.  You’ll see lots of different landscapes on any route through those states.

I don’t plan on pushing it that hard. But I was specifically answering Lousubcap’s post. It is possible to drive that far with no more time spent than most would on meal breaks and pit stops. I do plan to take it slower on the return trip and spend a couple of day in Durango and at least one other place also.

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

Legume said:

You’ll have fun.  800 miles a day is A—> B.  You don’t want to do that, you want to see things.  That’s more like 300 miles per day.  You’ll see lots of different landscapes on any route through those states.

I don’t plan on pushing it that hard. But I was specifically answering Lousubcap’s post. It is possible to drive that far with no more time spent than most would on meal breaks and pit stops. I do plan to take it slower on the return trip and spend a couple of day in Durango and at least one other place also.

Frank is kind of hung up on this detail of the utility of using gas to go long distances, which is kind of ironic given that he drove hundreds of thousands of miles underwater powered only by highly enriched uranium.  

lousubcap

@JohnInCarolina - parenting and long haul road trips to various kid functions weighed heavily on the deal.  There was no chance I ever had a fuel/food stop that took 30 minutes even when juicing a SUV.  I was truly A>B once underway.  For the record, if there was a stop that was planned then I was good with that, but no audibles.
You've just gotta drive what you have at hand and the environment you are operating in . 

Gulfcoastguy

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Legume said:

You’ll have fun.  800 miles a day is A—> B.  You don’t want to do that, you want to see things.  That’s more like 300 miles per day.  You’ll see lots of different landscapes on any route through those states.

I don’t plan on pushing it that hard. But I was specifically answering Lousubcap’s post. It is possible to drive that far with no more time spent than most would on meal breaks and pit stops. I do plan to take it slower on the return trip and spend a couple of day in Durango and at least one other place also.

Frank is kind of hung up on this detail of the utility of using gas to go long distances, which is kind of ironic given that he drove hundreds of thousands of miles underwater powered only by highly enriched uranium.  

Which was converted to electricity. I do plan on pushing it hard the first day. I would like to get past Houston before I call it a night.

GrateEggspectations

lousubcap said:

@JohnInCarolina - parenting and long haul road trips to various kid functions weighed heavily on the deal.  There was no chance I ever had a fuel/food stop that took 30 minutes even when juicing a SUV.  I was truly A>B once underway.  For the record, if there was a stop that was planned then I was good with that, but no audibles.
You've just gotta drive what you have at hand and the environment you are operating in . 

I like how you roll, literally. 

Years back, my wife and I planned a road trip to Charleston - 18 hours South. Had set the alarm for 6am and planned to leave then. Couldn’t sleep and instead left at 1am. No stops other than drive thru and bathrooms. The only way to do it for me, unless a deliberate scenic route features in the plans. 

Did the same driving to Eastern Canada. In order to make the travel easier with my then young daughter, we left at her bedtime and she slept through the first ten hours of the trip. Good way to mitigate against grumpy kids while on route, with the downside being a night without sleep. 

lousubcap

Actually the fission juice was eventually transferred to steam energy to drive the ship.  There were a few experimental electric drive submarines (one from 50 + years ago) but we were not confident in its reliability.  BTW it was a quiet platform.  
More than was anticipated with this thread for sure:
But one always learns something here- sometimes well outside the Q domain.  

JohnInCarolina

We have had a tendency to drive for long stretches as well, especially with two kids in tow and occasionally on I-40 in Oklahoma where there’s a whole lot of… nothing.

But I was a young man once and spent a fair amount of time driving around NM, CO, and Utah one summer.  The vistas out there are stunning and worth pulling over to take in the views.

Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.

lousubcap

I was lucky enough to enjoy a whole lot of that before anchors ( wife and kids) .  I endorse your comments but timing was critical (fission??) in my experiences.  FWIW-

alaskanassasin

I love I-10 through LA. Rocky Mountain national park drive is amazing, might have some termination dust though, I am not familiar with the Rockies but at those elevations snow can fly in October. 

  My dad has a small class B, their rule of thumb is 300 miles or stop by 3:00.

Eoin

Good to see long trips being done in EVs. My longest EV day was 360 miles in the i3. Handed that on to a colleague now as we might as well use up the contract miles. Not sure on the next EV.

Gulfcoastguy

@Eoin, it will be an adventure and it has been far too long since my last one. Many new EVs will be available in the next couple of years.