Tesla Model X Road Trip with
TravelScoot assistance vehicle.

On this year's trip from Anaheim, California to Reno, Nevada (488 miles one way) for the 6,000+ classic car Hot August Nights show, I took my TravelScoot assistance vehicle in the Tesla Model X. Knowing I would be doing a lot of walking and standing, my TravelScoot would be a great relief in that regard. To this point in my ownership of the TravelScoot, I have always left it erect and just set it in the back of my Town and Country and it also fits unfolded in our PT Cruiser. However, in the more sleek Tesla Model X, I needed to fold the TravelScoot still leaving ample room for luggage.

It is perfect having the TravelScoot that easily folds up, we would not have been able to take a larger assistance vehicle to the event.

Many of you know what Hwy. 395 looks like in Southern California. We had some smoke from fires to the west, but the Tesla has the cleanest air filtering system of any automobile on the road, so we never smelled smoke inside the Tesla.

Once in smoky conditions up the road, we activated the "Tesla HEPA Filter and Bioweapon Defense Mode" which results in the inside of the car being as clean and germ free as an operating room.

The screen in the Tesla Model X can be set in several configurations. We chose to have the rear-view camera at the top and the GPS with the Supercharger stations highlighted at the bottom. We had put in the Supercharging station at the Atlantis Hotel in Reno as our destination and the onboard computer had calculated that we should stop at the Mammoth Lakes, CA Supercharger and we would have 37% of our energy left (if we would drive the speed limit.)

The Tesla iPhone App is useful. If the car is getting hot inside during charging, from the app you can turn on the a/c to cool it before your return to the car. Also you can see how many miles have been charged, and the location where it is parked. Under CHARGING you can see how fast the car is being charged as miles/hour. If the charging stations are full, the charging is slower.

Each evening the major casino hotels have free outdoor entertainment, this Wednesday evening the Grand Sierra Resort featured Hotel California "A Salute to the Eagles".

The Nugget Hotel and Casino in Sparks also had added four Tesla-specific chargers since last year. Over the 3 night's stay from zero to three Tesla's were using the chargers. They were not Superchargers. When nearly no electricity was in reserve, the Tesla app said it would take 14 1/2 hrs. to fully charge to over 200 miles. Therefore, we left the charger attached overnight.

Early on the day, as classic cars were parking on Virginia St., I was able to get a more classic shot of a car and the arch. Past photos of the arch would show it in red paint.

Big Foot was on display at the Big Boy Toy Store about 2 blocks from the arch. Can you see my TravelScoot?

We like to observe the cruise from the new Virginia St. Bridge over the Truckee River. Here a '57 Ford convertible with continental kit and fender skirts passes my TravelScoot.

Thursday we attended the Swap Meet that had been moved from its 2017 location to the Baldini Casino. The Falcon Wing design of the passenger doors on the Model X take a different trajectory if a car is parked very close on either side.

I prefer my electric powered TravelScoot to this biplane pusher, but will give design points to the biplane.

Spotted the second TravelScoot owner in Reno besides myself at the Swap Meet.
He had purchased his in an estate sale. He might have reached the weight limit.

The Livestock Events Center is no longer the sight of the swap meet in the parking lot, so the cars for sale on the arena floor were fewer than any previous year, with hardly any buyers.

The owner of the Nevada Marketplace, 4001 So. Virginia St., has an excellent booth of his Utah images in the arena, but had very little traffic. His wife is the photographer and he sells the images.

Bob Belnap of Vale, Oregon saw the unusual falcon wing back doors and asked about the Tesla X. We gave him and his wife a ride in the arena parking lot. He knows electricity and loved the acceleration of the Ludicrous mode Tesla.

The Atlantis Hotel has 6 Tesla Superchargers with the usual number in use. My TravelScoot allowed me to save walking through the arena and over the long enclosed bridge to the Convention Center to observe the large area where cars for sale were staged and get around the staging area for the auction.

This charging station for non-Teslas was available at the Atlantis. Tesla Supercharging Stations, as well as Tesla 220V chargers do not require any checking in elsewhere as this type does.

My Comb Over Brothers Pit Crew rode a complimentary scooter across the Atlantis-Convention Center bridge as I drove my TravelScoot. Of course, there is an elevator on both ends to get down to street level.

MAG Auction at Reno Hot August Nights with tables for Bidders and bleachers for spectators. All cars for sale this day through far door.

On our way back on Hwy. 395, we stopped at the Nevada/California State Line or Topaz Lake Supercharging station and this was the worst forest fire smoke we experienced. As mentioned earlier, this was a spot for engaging the "Tesla HEPA Filter and Bioweapon Defense Mode" for the operating room quality air and no smoke smell.

We decided to "top off" at the last Supercharging station in Rancho Cucamonga. This was the first time we ever experienced all the Superchargers being taken. We waited behind 2 other waiting Teslas for an opening. There were 12 charging stations but one station had been backed into and damaged so there were 11. While we charged, there were other Teslas rotating through the chargers as they became available. The first, dark red Tesla with dark wheels is a Tesla 3. At this date, only Premium Model 3s are available at about $49,000 base price. White one on the right is a Model S, and the far white one is a Model X SUV, like the red one we were driving.

Left Anaheim Hills, California at 6:30 a.m. Stopped at a McDonalds in Adelanto for breakfast. While driving north on Hwy. 395, the onboard computer said to deviate to Mojave, California to charge. We checked the mileage left on the computer and compared it to the miles to our expected first stop, Inyokern, and decided to continue. Evidently the Tesla computer wants the driver to have a bigger percentage of energy left as a safeguard than we had expected. Better safe than sorry. We had been told that the charging rate at Supercharging stations will vary depending on the number of Teslas being charged. Note below that we were one of two cars charging here and were charging at a rate of 246 miles per hour of charging, or 4 miles per minute.

9:03 we arrived at the Inyokern Supercharging station with 20 miles left. Used the restroom and bought some snacks in the market/gas station/Supercharging station in Inyokern. Charged for 52 minutes = 3.5 miles of charging per minute on the charger. We used the Tesla iPhone app to run the air conditioning remotely inside the car since it was about 100 degrees outside. We heard quite a helicopter sound from the Model X while charging, but realized it was to keep the batteries from getting too hot while charging.

11:10 we charged at the Lone Pine Supercharging station even though we had 100 miles of fuel left when we arrived, we knew there were mountains ahead and we didn't want to drive slowly to manage mileage. After 40 minutes of charging we were at 220 miles range - 3 miles per minute of charging. There is a MacDonald's about 1 1/2 blocks north of this Charger, convenient for bathrooms and refreshments.

1:30 Mammoth Lakes Supercharging station with 71 miles left. Left at 2:07 after an ice cream cone from Rite Aid in the 108 degrees with 179 miles "in the tank". This charge was 2.9 miles per minute. As we passed Bridgeport, gas was $4.99 a gallon, but for the first time this didn't seem to matter.

4:08 Gardnerville Supercharger, but it is at the state line at Topaz Lake. In with 89 mi. left and out at 4:30 with 180 miles. 96 degrees.

5:45 at the In-N-Out on Virginia St. in Reno.

On to our Nugget Hotel/Casino in Sparks, our final destination. We discovered that they had 4 Tesla charging stations (not Superchargers) on the 2nd floor next to the walkway to the hotel... most convenient parking at the hotel. We plugged into these chargers, at no charger cost, overnight and accumulated 238 miles, evidently the maximum unless Steve has an internal setting for less than maximum.

Glad to have the Tesla X back home after about 1,000 miles of exciting driving and appreciating not stopping for gas and having ultra clean air through the forest fire smoke along Hwy. 395.

Next Tesla adventure will be the "National Drive Electric Week, September 8-16, 2018" where we will attend the event in Los Alamitos, Sept. 8.