These reports and photos are of a road trip from Anaheim, California, to the 2nd Annual Midwest Tesla Gathering in St. Louis, Missouri. My wife and I are doing this trip in our new red 2016 Tesla Model X P90DL. This particular report is of Day 10, a day at the Depot Inn & Suites in La Plata, Missouri.
Note: This report is a rough draft. I have not yet done a spell check or final edits. Since we are driving this road trip right now, devoting time to driving takes priority. As I get time at our stays along the way I'll make final edits and spelling corrections. But for now, please pardon any errors.
There are many more photos for this day of Tesla travel than could be included in the body of this report. To see ALL of the photos that were taken on this day, click here for the slide show!
The report from today will be rather short as we spent most of the day just around the Depot Inn & Suites and around La Plata, Missouri.
La Plata is a small town of less than 1500 residents. But, back in the late 1800's and early 1900's it was a pretty active town with two raiload stations. Below you can see a photo of the same Downtown La Plata area as is shown in the above photos.
Everyone joined us at the Ruby Tuesday for our last dinner in the area including owners, executives, and staff of the Depot Inn & Suites, TrainParty.com, American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF), and the Silver Rails Vineyards.
While we were in La Plata, we gave everyone a chance to ride in the Tesla Model X, and even a chance to drive the Model X who wanted to give it a whirl. Everyone was impressed with not just its performance, but how easy it was to drive. Some even opted to experience the 0 to 60 MPH in 3.2 seconds Ludicrous Mode! In this part of Missouri, it is real easy to find a place to demonstrate that. Highway 63 in front of the hotel has a speed limit of 70 MPH. One just has to wait a minute to find a time when there are no other cars on the highway in sight for miles. Then, one just drives out onto the highway and comes to a complete stop. By slamming down the accelerator, one can demonstrate the 0 to 60 MPH Ludicrous Mode without even exceeding the 70 MPH speed limit!
After dinner we stopped by the APRHF Silver Rails Event Center. The above photos show the size of the facility and show some of the railroad theme. The facility can hold almost 500 with banquet seating and almost 800 with auditorium seating. If you are looking for a place for a wedding or convention, this is a wonderful facility with very reasonable prices. Profits benefit the 501(c)(3) non-profit American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF). The facility is located near Downtown La Plata, Missouri, just down the road from the Depot Inn & Suites and a 10 minute drive from many additional hotels in Kirksville, Missouri.
Above is a photo of 14 banker boxes of railroad memorabilia that I brought out with me in the Tesla Model X during this drive from the west coast to La Plata. I could not believe it when I loaded the Model X with these 14 boxes, plus 1 more same size box, and still had plenty of room to spare! After I had loaded the 15 boxes in the Model X, I found there was still plenty of room for our 2 huge suitcases plus 2 full big backpacks. There was still so much room left over in the Model X that the view out the back in the rear view mirror wasn't even blocked! There was still plenty of room had I needed to pile more items on top of the boxes and our suitcases.
The above is a photo of just some of the railroad books and train magazines that you will find in the APRHF Silver Rails Memorial Library.
The above is a photo of just a few of the items in the museum section of the APRHF Silver Rails Gallery. The gallery and museum is currently being renovated. The gallery used to be in Downtown La Plata. However, when the roof of a neighboring building collapsed, we decided to move the gallery to a more stable location. It is now located in a separate walled off section of the APRHF Silver Rails Event Center. Depending on the number of volunteer hours the APRHF can get, it is hoped the railroad gallery, museum and library will re-open sometime in 2016. Meantime, the APRHF Exhibition of Amtrak History inside 2 ex-Amtrak Mail Handling Cars next to the Depot Inn & Suites remains open to the public.
There are many more photos for this day of Tesla travel than could be included in the body of this report. To see ALL of the photos that were taken on this day, click here for the slide show!
Note: This report is a rough draft. I have not yet done a spell check or final edits. Since we are driving this road trip right now, devoting time to driving takes priority. As I get time at our stays along the way I'll make final edits and spelling corrections. But for now, please pardon any errors.
