My First (Barely Planned) Solo Road Trip

Road Trip, when I think about it, there is one good hindi movie that comes to my mind, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Road Trip is the main topic around which the story of the movie revolves. I don’t know about you, but the movie did influence me on some level to make at least one road trip myself (of course with friends!).

The main reason I mentioned about that movie has to do with this PTO I had planned (only dates). As this was my first week long PTO after more than a year, I do not wanted to cancel it even if I had nothing planned. I was thinking to visit New York and Chicago (my first Karmabhoomi in US). However, there was lot of logistics involved, I didn’t book the tickets on time and most important, I was lazy to plan the trip just few days before my vacation was about to start. I did some internet search and decided to take a road trip around popular places near me. Considering I was planning to drive my Model 3, I planned couple of things; driving route to include the superchargers to make sure my car gets its food and my stay for the night as I do wanted to take proper rest. The best part of this trip was my lazy mind had liberty to pull the plug any time I want (well, sort of)!

Here, is the route (https://goo.gl/maps/EryJKBJzGDqpvRQf7). It was spread across 5 days.

Day 1

I started my journey towards Big Sur via I-880. 

• Odometer Reading = 3718
• Miles remaining on Car = 271

My first stop was Supercharger at Monterey. Like most of the superchargers this one is also built near the shopping centers, restaurants. This helped me to get myself recharged along with my car!

• Monterey Charging Station
  • Odometer Reading = 3815
  • Charging started at mile reading = 174
  • Charging completed at mile reading = ~ 290

After completing the charging around 290 miles, I started the journey towards San Luis Obispo (my night stay) via Pacific Coast Highway.

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I reached the hotel in San Luis Obispo by 7:30 pm that day with around 170 miles remaining on car.

Day 2

This was the longest & hardest day in the journey, filled with concern for tire pressure, hot weather and long straight highway!

Map Link (In case if map does not load)

I used the trip planner in car to let it decide supercharging stops for me. I started with charging my car at San Luis Obispo supercharger. I charged it only till 251 miles as I had planned to have lunch at next supercharger stop. 

• San Luis Obispo Charging Station 
  • Odometer Reading = 3953
  • Charging started at mile reading = 170
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 251

I left supercharging station and had just entered freeway, the car started showing warning that tire pressure is low on 3 of the tires. I had some concern about this earlier day as the car was showing tire pressure little bit lower that usual, but today it went down further that I directly got warning. I immediately exited the freeway and went to a gas station to find tire pressure gauge. This was the first time I took my car to a Gas Station!!

My next stop was charging station at Bakersfield. The weather was very hot and I was hungry. My car and I both got their fuel at this stop and continued the journey. 

• Bakersfield Charging Station 
  • Odometer Reading = 4074
  • Charging started at mile reading = 118
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 299

As I was driving towards Baker for my next charging stop, surrounding temperature and tire pressure was increasing gradually. My earlier concern was low tire pressure and now new concern was too much high tire pressure. I stopped at the charging station and tried to correct the tire pressure again at nearby gas station. Tire pressure concern aside, I was amused at the size of the supercharger at Baker. It has 40 charging points, I think this is one of the biggest. 

• Baker Charging Station
  • Odometer Reading = 4286
  • Charging started at mile reading = 80
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 260

I left Baker, hoping for Vegas as my next and last stop of the day. The weather was hot and I was still concerned looking at the tire pressure. I tried to correct the tire pressure myself by stopping multiple times, but probably the surrounding hot weather was not helping. I tried to take my mind away from the thing and continued driving, hoping nothing would go wrong.

I reached Vegas by evening safe and sound but at 47°C (116.6°F). I was just happy that I reached the destination safe without any issue. I parked my car at Stratosphere parking which is one of the free parking available at Vegas. I reached there with car reading at

• Odometer Reading = 4376
• Miles remaining on Car = 163

Day 3

This was the rest day for my Car. I spent my time in Vegas visiting popular places like Las Vegas Strip, Fremont Street Experience, Madame Tussauds, Mind Reading Show at Bally’s, Fountains of Bellagio. I was specially amazed with the Paranormal Mind Reading magic show. The use of background music was a plus point for the presentation of Frederic Da Silva. 

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Day 4

I had planned to visit one of the hottest places in US, Death Valley National Park on this day, hence I started my journey early in the morning. This was the day going from hotter to cooler area.

My first stop of course was to get the car charged!

• Las Vegas Bridger Avenue Charging Station
  • Odometer Reading = 4381
  • Charging started at mile reading = 151
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 250

Drive from Las Vegas to Beatty, NV Charging Station was easy. The charging station was in a small town which looked calm and peaceful, at least in that morning. The shopping area near station was good place to hang out, have some food.

• Beatty, NV Charging Station
  • Odometer Reading = 4500
  • Charging started at mile reading = 140
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 299

I kept my drive through Death Valley National Park straightforward and limited because of multiple reasons. I didn’t visit the Furnace Creek and probably few other popular points in park, but I do not wanted to take any chances.

I turned off my car’s AC most of the time during this drive keeping front seat windows open. It helped to my car to stay cooler than it would have been with AC turned on. Also I was getting in & out of the car multiple times to take pictures, I thought it is better to keep the weather similar outside and inside of the car. I think I drank almost 2-3 liters of water in 100 miles!

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After exiting the park, I reached my next charging spot to witness this view. 

• Lone Pine Charging Station 
  • Odometer Reading = 4615
  • Charging started at mile reading = 187
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 290

Journey from Lone Pine to Mammoth Lakes was awesome, weather was getting cooler, roads were good and as I started early in the morning, I had some time to explore Mammoth Lakes area before calling it a day. 

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I decided to have car battery charged and ready for next day. 

• Mammoth Lakes Charging Station
  • Odometer Reading = 4715
  • Charging started at mile reading = 169
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 295

Day 5 (back to reality)

This was the day for Yosemite and then back to reality! I did one rookie mistake of not taking proper sleep earlier night and then not doing proper breakfast in the morning, hence my accessibility to main trails in Yosemite was limited. 

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Finally, after exploring Yosemite as much as I can, I decided to take a step towards reality (hoping to visit the park again in future). I did stop at another charging station to make sure I have enough miles available by the time I reach home. I could have avoided this one, but it would have left me with around 50 miles on charge on reaching home. 

• Monteca Charging Station
  • Odometer Reading = 4956
  • Charging started at mile reading = 132
  • Charging completed at mile reading = 282

All and all I think it was a really good experience. I didn’t click many pictures, missed many popular scenic spots/events, could have also expanded the trip by adding another location but, with the amount of planning I did, I think it was worth it. In order to keep myself awake while driving, when I felt sleepy or tired, I started singing along the with the music that was playing in car in weirdest way possible! 

For those Tesla enthusiasts wondering about if I used autopilot; being a newbie (6 months old) driver, I used the autopilot feature very less. I wanted to ‘experience’ the drive! 

While writing this post and remembering the trip, it reminded me the poem by Javed Akhtar from the Movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Link to Video

I found this english translation here. 

Dilon Mein Tum Apni Betaabiyan Leke Chal Rahe Ho Toh Zinda Ho Tum
Nazar Mein Khwaabon Ki Bijliyan Leke Chal Rahe Ho Toh Zinda Ho Tum
Hawa Ke Jhokon Ke Jaise Azaad Rehno Seekho
Tum Ek Dariya Ke Jaise Lehron Mein Behna Seekho
Har Ek Lamhe Se Tum Milo Khole Apni Baahein Har Ek Pal Ek Naya Samaa Dekhe Yeh Nigaahein
Jo Apni Aankhon Mein Hayraniya Leke Chal Rahe Ho Toh Zinda Ho Tum
Dilon Mein Tum Apni Betaabiyan Leke Chal Rahe Ho Toh Zinda Ho Tum

Let me know if and how did you like this post. All the contents of the post like Places, Company names are based on real life experience, if you have any issue with their mentioning, please contact me here.