Road tripping

Many people have commented about range anxiety and how EV's are unreliable.  This is a little plug for Tesla.  (I won't give a comment on the guy that runs the company, just the car.)

George and I left our car in Florida in the garage of the big house.  When the house sold, we had to either sell it or find it a new home.  We came to an obvious conclusion. We 'loaned' the car to Katherine while we are out of the USA.  You see, we believe the car to be too valuable to sell.  I know what the Kelly Blue Book values it as, but they don't take into account the free supercharging for the life of the owner.  For this reason alone, it is worth the loan.  Add to that free hardware upgrades and a number of other perks we got when we purchased and it's a keeper.  But more importantly, we have a car to drive when we return home that isn't an overpriced rental. 

On our last trip around the US, we saved close to $2000 in gas charges had we been driving an ICE machine.  The only place I paid to charge was the IPP hotel as they didn't have a Tesla destination charger.  

The beauty of the car is that it tells us where to 'gas up'.  Now I know that sitting for 15 or 20 minutes to charge is much slower than putting gas in a car, but think of it this way.  You always need a bathroom break, most people want to buy a drink or a snack, and there goes your 20 minutes.  

In the photo I have here, we pushed for longer drives and longer stops.  Mind, we didn't do this trip.  I set it up only for this blog post.  The car even tells us how many chargers are there and the charging speed at that charger.  Most of the charging stations have a place to get food nearby and all have a bathroom within a few meters. 

Our MO is to charge full overnight, drive until noon.  Enjoy a nice leisurely lunch while charging the car and drive on again until mid-day comfort stop where we would charge some more before finding a hotel for the night with a destination charger.  Perhaps we would have a morning stop if I didn't fully charge the night before.  It's not at all inconvenient.  And if we did have to stop longer than we thought, we can always hook up to Hulu or Netflix and watch a movie while we wait. 

The better bit for me is that I have learned to game the car.  If I pass a stop that it tells me to take and I have enough charge, it will send me to another one further down the road.  (I've never had it do anything else, so I'm pretty sure there is always a 'reserve tank' available that Tesla doesn't tell us about.)  In this way, I can make fewer stops should I choose.  If I am running low on charge when I do this, the car automatically tells me to slow down to a certain speed to make the next charger.  Usually along the way it will allow me to increase speed again.  This slowdown?  Back to 65 instead of the usual lead footing that I do.  

Now why am I posting this?  Because we finally got the tags for our Tesla here in Italy!  We have taken a trip to Viterbo recently and while we were charged to 85% before starting, I wanted to see how it compares to the US.  Viterbo is 1 1/2 hours south of us so I did about 4 hours driving total.  This used up 64% of our battery.  Not bad really.  The best part?  I just plug it in at home and it's filled up overnight.  If only we could have solar here.

Once I pass my driver's license theory test (in Italian of course) we plan to do a roadtrip down to the toe of Italy and see a few things we haven't seen before.  Just playing around with the Go Anywhere page, I can see by looking at the little red dots that charging won't be a problem here either!  Bring on the free time!  

Where is the puzzle you ask?  Well, I gave the solution today instead.  Electric vehicles are amazing.  No problems as claimed by many of the nay sayers.  Recalls? An over the air update.  Oh, and did I mention that everytime we put through an update we effectively have a new car?  Ok well, the brains are new anyway.  And how many cars do you know that will drive themselves home?   

We thought we were stuck with a small engine vehicle and had numerous problems with getting the tags for this car, so we had to buy the puzzle van.  It has served its purpose, and will be garaged until we have a lot of puzzles to pick up once again. We get excellent milage in it, but we'd much rather ride in comfort.  

Next week, a new visitor comes to Panicale.  Until then, Happy Puzzling.

Driving and an all too short time with Tanner

 We spent Friday night in Ozone Texas. It is not a big town, but it did have a nice hotel.  We had to laugh.  George went in to book the room.  He asked for a senior discount. they didn't have one, but the lady behind the counter told him to ask for a veterans discount so he did and she gave it to him.  Yes, he was in the service, but we never think to ask for these things.  After a good nights sleep and a nice breakfast, we got on the road at 8:30.  We expected to be at Tanner's by noon, but the gps on my phone kept rerouting us.  Eventually I worked out that George had hit the "No highways" button.  No wonder we went down a dirt road yesterday!

When we arrived, we were greeted with a big hug from Tanner followed quickly by one from Kathleen.  When we went into the kitchen we saw a slew of friends we haven't seen in years.  Perry, Robert, Matthew and Eric were all in from the local area, Brent flew in from Nashville, and Lee flew in from Portland. It was great to see such a crowd of people.  

We spent the afternoon puzzling and catching up.  After all, it had been over 3 years since many of us saw each other. Lee brought a bunch of puzzles for people to take home, He also delivered clutch boxes to us here.  As with every other puzzle person we have seen, we made a short video of him discussing a project he was working on. Sadly, he doesn't want me to publish it.  It is safe for us to say now that it was used in Christmas Chronicles 2 and in the most recent Glass onion.  Well, a portion of it that is.  You will recognize it I'm sure.  

Eric brought along a number of his fractal prints that he and Bob Hearn have been working on. He very kindly gave us all one and even signed them for us. 

Kathleen has been working with Lego as well and was thrilled to know that it's not just her who has been enjoying them.  Perry brought some lovely little cakes and a beautiful wooden puzzles along to show everyone. Matthew brought what he called tiny pies for all to share in.  We had wonderful conversations with Brent and Robert.  And a good chuckle over George forgetting that Brent has been to Boca to see us before. 

They put on a massive BBQ spread and there were left overs to last days!  It was a very good day.  I would have to guess that around 10 most people had headed back to their hotels.  Tanner, Lee and I stayed up for a while and chatted by the puzzle pit.  Around 1 George called and told me I needed to sleep.  He was right of course.  All that driving did me in.  We awoke the next day at 10! 

Matt came over and we all had a nice brunch of eggs and leftover meats.  Matt and Tanner worked on a project of his while George putt a Coffin puzzle through Burr tools. Geneva, Jessie, and I went into Austin to a Daiso and a few other asian stores to se if there were any petit blocks that I don't have.  Score!  But even better, they discovered a new place to shop, an amazing asian grocery store, and I have never laughed that hard.  It was a wonderful afternoon. We also saw a rabbit sculpture that tickled Geneva.

At the asian grocery we bought food for dinner and put on a real feast. The guys went back to 3d printing.  I think George gave Tanner a few lessons on using CAD and printing.  Jessie got Geneva ready for bed and I cleaned up the kitchen.  By 10 we were all in bed.  

On Monday we had another lie in for a few hours then got up and George spent the morning working on burr tools, Tanner had a doctor appointment and Jessie, the poor dear, had to work.  I did the dishes, our laundry and put together a few Nanoblocks. In the afternoon George and Tanner went to the asian grocery we found while Jessie and I did a bit of shopping. I really liked the wine selection at the HEB and I wanted to pick up a few gifts for some kids along the way.

We had a very late lunch after which George and Tanner took naps. When Geneva came home from school we put together a Lego rabbit that we gifted her.  All in all it was another fun day.  The only downside?  I messed up on some of my dates, but it all worked out in the end.  

Tanner very nicely made dinner for us and it was delicious!  Shrimp with coconut milk over rice.  He's a fantastic cook.  

The next day we spent puttering around the house, George and Tanner again did some work on the computer.  After school we went to Geneva's gymnastics practice.  The kid is good.  All in all it was a great fun trip. On Wednesday morning We had to say our goodbyes.  That was a sad day.  But we shall see each other again in Italy.

Palo Alto and a Few more friends

Our next stop was to see our friend Nick Baxter. After a wonderful nights sleep we awoke around 8, packed the car and headed over to pick up son Joe.  We made the short 1/2 hour drive down to Nick's house and had a wonderful chat about people and other things.  It's been a while since we've seen our friends (think 2 years and COVID) so there was a lot of catching up to do.  I was glad to hear that Nick is now taking new blood into IPP.  All the original members are getting a bit long in the tooth and the organization needs some younger people to survive.  Around 1 Stan Issacs came over and we all had a nice lunch cooked up by Anne.  

After lunch, Nick showed us his puzzle room and I got to see quite a few I hadn't seen before.  

The illusive Marcel Gillen Bishop does exist!

Nick very kindly donated two boxes of puzzles to our cause and they went into the back of the car.

After lunch, George and Stan went back to his house while I took Joe to the train station and checked into our hotel.  This one is a bit better than the Meth den, but only slightly.  With the price we paid, one would think they could afford to put up a non-ripped shower curtain.  The webpage said all newly renovated rooms. When, in 1960? Another dump.  Do not stay at Hotel Real in Santa Clara.  They lied. To add insult to injury, I requested a ground floor room.  They put me on the second floor.  Normally this wouldn't be so bad, but George called and said Stan was giving us some old books and puzzle patents so he asked me to empty the car.  UGH!  I had to carry our 2 suitcases and all of the boxes we had currently collected up that flight of stairs and into the room.  I managed, but just barely.  

I returned to Stans just as Nick was pulling up to join us for dinner.  We boxed up about 4 boxes and put them in the car.  While doing this, a few young people from the Mechanical Puzzles Discord came over.  It is always nice to meet new people. And it's especially nice when they are tall and can get puzzles down from top shelves. Thank you Lance! We also did a lot of just playing.  

At 6:45 everyone headed over to a dim sum restaurant for dinner. George and Stan and I spent a bit more time packing up some more puzzles, but in the end I said we would return at 8 am to go through the puzzle shed.  I knew we wouldn't be able to finish that night.  Between the darkness and the cold, it just wasn't going to happen. 

Dinner was great. Joe Becker joined us and we had a great dinner.  The conversation was all around puzzles of course.  I was surprised to hear Joe speaking Mandarin and he explained how he learned the language when he was in university.  George later told me he was the man who wrote Unicode. I was surrounded by brilliance yet again.  What a lucky lady I am.

I don't remember what time we left, but we did shut down the place. It was probably 9 pm.  I never realized that eateries closed so early until we came out to California.  But then we don't eat out that often at home either.  

We returned to a cold hotel room as the heater didn't work.  We didn't have a lot of noise tonight, but the bed was hard, the pillows were lumpy and there was the faint smell of cigarette smoke in the room even though it was listed as non-smoking.  I woke in the middle of the night and the TV table with the missing drawer had opened itself up.  The 3 remaining drawers had fallen open.  I got up to close them and they just slid open again.  I think the room had a life of its own.  Good location though.  1/2 way between Stan's and Wei-Hwa's.  But more on that tomorrow.

Travel time and arriving in California

This sign says it all.  We started out yesterday in Colorado, drove through Utah and Nevada and ended up in California.  I didn't post yesterday because all we had to show for the day was a bunch of photos of the beautiful scenery.  At one point we passed sleeping dinosaurs.  We then entered the arctic, only to be closely followed by the surface of the moon. The country truly is a beautiful space.  For two days we lost ourselves in a Ken Follett classic and the beauty of the world around us.  

I saw tumbleweeds roll across the road, we saw wild horses, we saw fields of cattle grazing.  Our route was US50 and while it was a very good road, at times it was four lane, and others it was only two.  It is dubbed the loneliest road in America and I believe it.  We saw very few cars. There is a booklet that you can get stamps on all the way across, and when you collect 5 the parks service will send you a certificate. Sadly, I only managed 3. The places that have hte stamps were mostly museums and closed when we arrived.  No matter, it was fun all the same. When crossing the Sierras if the sign said slow down to 50, I quickly learned it really meant 30.  There were numerous times that we just didn't know how we would get across the mountain only to be taken on a windy road through a pass.  

I've had friends tease me about how in awe I am of this place, but as a child vacations didn't exist for our family.  I've traveled I80 across from Illinois to California, but never had i gone this route.  If we don't travel any further on this trip, these past three days have been worth it.  

We were to go into Nevada and see George's old friend Wally Lee, but sadly his health took a turn for the worse and we had to pass.  It all worked out in the end because we got to make a few extra visits that we hadn't planned on, but more of that over the next few days.

Since we missed Wally, George decided we should go to Giga Nevada.  We've seen Freemont and Shanghai so why not?  We didn't get as close as we would have liked, and while I was sitting on the side of the road looking up the next address, the Tesla police came and shoed me away.  You can bet we will go to Giga Texas in a few more weeks.

We arrived in Livermore at around 6:30 at night.  The mountains are beautiful, but I didn't like driving through them.  George will drive when necessary, but prefers not to and so far it has all been me.  I'll admit, last night I was a lot grumpy.  It was dark, I was tired, my back ached from driving so rigidly.  We were driving due west so the sun was in my eyes while we had it and the tension was just too much for me.  We ended up staying at some suites place. The bed was soft and inviting, but they really didn't have a restaurant, but just a little bistro. Now I've been trying to stay away from gluten, and sadly, that was really all they had on the menu. In the end I ordered some buffalo wings with the batter removed and the worst tasting olives I've ever had.  

We awoke around 8 the next morning, had breakfast and drove over to see Harry Nelson. For my non-puzzling friends, he had a hand in producing a boatload of puzzles.  A rather brilliant man.  We arrived at 11:15 and spent quite a few hours chatting about puzzles and people we all know.  He was probably as happy to see us as we were to see him.  After a while his son came in and we all spoke for a while longer. We made a nice lunch as Harry is unable to really go out much.  

Very kindly he let me go upstairs and rummage through a rom full of duplicate puzzles.  I filled up 4 boxes to take along for the museum with the promise of more to come in future.  The entire time we were there, I kept handing him puzzles and was surprised to hear that he had a hand in the design, or the invention, or the bringing it to market.  I guess my 'old puzzle people' knowledge isn't as good as I thought.  George and Harry reminisced about when they used to visit each other in the past.  It was a very nice way to spend the morning.

Our next stop was the lego store so I could purchase a gift for a friends daughter.  I also bought myself a monkey set. From here we drove to see our friend Dave Litwin, but my GPS took me to a different friends house. We got back on our way and the GPS told me I could save 5 minutes by taking a different route.  Sure.  Why not?  It took us down the most amazing road.  

We saw the giant redwoods, we saw a family of wild turkeys, we drove through the wiggliest road I've ever been on. The canyon to the right was so deep I couldn't see the bottom.

Eventually we got to Daves and he showed us his puzzle collection and his razor collection before we headed out for dinner.

 It was a great way to end a wonderful day. 

We stayed in a Motel 6 just down the road from dinner. It was the first hotel off the interstate.  OMG! The room was fine.  Cheap and it had hot water and a bed.  But around midnight, Johnny Walker and Peg-Leg-Pete took up occupancy in the room above us.  First they moved all the furniture around, then they stomped back and forth across the floor for an hour.  At 4 am I heard them wake up again from a shout sent by someone in a neighboring room.  Stomp Stomp Stomp.  George and I are convinced it was a traveling meth lab.  I turned the noisy room heater on to try and drown out that noise.  Oh what a night.