San Diego to San Luis Obispo: Red LEAF Road Trip 2012

[Randy]

Some photos from yesterday....We took city streets from San Diego up to Carlsbad, and then jumped on the I-5 for a few miles to get past Camp Pendleton and San Onofre. Then got off and went into Laguna. A beautiful morning...We parked at the lot to charge and walked a mile to the Penguin cafe, which I found out about on Yelp. Small, older, very informal place that makes a great breakfast...We hung out at the car for about 30 minutes when we got back and soaked up a little bit more charge...

The first photo is at Laguna Beach in the city-run public parking lot at 597 Forest...

 

[Randy]

After stopping at the Tesla store and charging for a bit there, we headed up the coast and took Beach Blvd all the way to Katella and turned west to get to Mitsubishi world headquarters, home of our much anticipated DC Fast Charge...Lots of thanks to Mitsubishi for making this available; without it we would have been waiting much longer...

The photos below were taken at the DC Fast Charging station at Mitsubishi in Cypress at 6450 Katella Ave. Two thumbs up from me....

I can't wait until we have more of these around, as it charges the car like a dream....It raised the battery temp by just 1 bar (from 5 to 6 bars)...Also, a photo from the DC FC screen when first charging...120 amps at almost 400 volts...What is that, about 46 kW? That's some serious charging...

 

[Randy]

After charging at Cypress, up the road 38 miles we went to Venice and the 5 Blinks recently installed on Electric Avenue. It was starting to get a little crowded on the roads, so we took our time and went completely on city streets.

Two people gave us a "Thumbs up" as we cruised down Electric Ave in Venice...When we got to the Electric Lodge, they were having an event and the parking lot was pretty full, but plenty of charging opportunities to go around....Blink had the new firmware that asked for our zip code...We took a break to walk to the main drag for some homemade ice cream and then headed back to the car to continue up the road to Malibu...

 

[Randy]

After Venice, We headed out to the coastal route to drive 15 miles up Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu and the charging stations at City Hall...A little bit of traffic, but it thinned out after a while. We drove past Pepperdine university and up a few hills along the way to Malibu and the dual Clipper Creek CS40s....Nice and peaceful here with a new park across the street...We soaked up some juice for an hour or so and then headed up the road to Oxnard...

 

[Randy]

And then the final 36 mile leg up to Oxnard along the coast. The sun was dipping, and it was a beautiful drive...Pulled into the hotel lot with 1 bar and 11 miles on the GOM. There was another Clipper Creek CS40 in the parking lot waiting for us, and it looked pretty new (maybe one of the CEC replacements?).

We got an hour-long booster charge before going out to dinner and some awesome Mexican food. Then back to the hotel for some rest...The Marriott Courtyard has been a great place to stay...This morning we'll be taking off after breakfast and heading up the coast for more adventures...More photos to come...

 

[EdmondLeaf]

Reading this I start to believe that some day there will be many chargers in OK too, but maybe this is only a dream.

 

[Randy]

Made it to Rabobank in Goleta just north of Santa Barbara...They have a nice 70a Clipper Creek for Teslas but at least we can drink from it too...Time to take a walk...

 

[Randy]

Made it up to Solvang for luncb...Charging on Mission at the Chargepoint station...

 

[KeiJidosha]

Made it up to Solvang for luncb...Charging on Mission at the Chargepoint station...

Did you take 101 or San Marcos Pass (154)?

 

[Randy]

Took the 101...Now in Santa Maria....

 

[Randy]

Visited fellow Leaf'er Brian for a bit and we're now charging at Rabobank in Santa Maria. Will hit the road soon to drive to SLO...Had a fun day today....

 

[Randy]

Arrived in SLO and checked into the hotel...Dinnertime!!!!

 

[KJD]

Arrived in SLO and checked into the hotel...Dinnertime!!!!

Randy,
Thanks for the trip log and the pictures from your adventure.

With so many people on this forum saying road trips are impossible, it does my heart good to see at least a couple of people out there DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE. Way to go man.

Keep the trip reports coming.

 

[Nubo]

Arrived in SLO and checked into the hotel...Dinnertime!!!!

Randy,
Thanks for the trip log and the pictures from your adventure.

With so many people on this forum saying road trips are impossible, it does my heart good to see at least a couple of people out there DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE. Way to go man.

+1

 

[TonyWilliams]

My biggest road trip so far is 325 miles, but that was over the weekend and without the aid of a quick charger. The quick charger is truly a huge boost.

 

[Randy]

Drove to Paso Robles today and having lunch at Bubba's Big Bad BBQ...One of Brandon's fav places...He'll be riding their bull after lunch...We're sitting in their jail cell to eat...Too much fun...I'll get some photos posted tonight...Big winds climbing out of SLO through the Cuesta pass (1200 feet)...Saw two LEAFs last night charging downtown at the Marsh st garage...Fun times; more photos to come...Hotel mgr okayed L1 charge using their outlet but we haven't had to use it yet...

 

[TomT]

I don't think anyone said that they were impossible per se, just long and inconvenient... While a trip like this might, itself, be fun for some, the rest still remains true...

With so many people on this forum saying road trips are impossible, it does my heart good to see at least a couple of people out there DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE.

 

[Randy]

I don't think anyone said that they were impossible per se, just long and inconvenient... While a trip like this might, itself, be fun for some, the rest still remains true...

With so many people on this forum saying road trips are impossible, it does my heart good to see at least a couple of people out there DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Since all of us, as LEAF owners, know what the limitations and strengths are of the car, I designed our trip to take advantage of the strengths and focus on the journey and not necessarily the quick destination. A slower, "stop and smell the roses" type of trip, if you will. While my son and I have been to SLO the "regular way" a few times, he has never seen many of the sights off the freeway beaten path...In that regard, I consider the trip a big success...We've met a lot of people along the way who have never seen a LEAF before, too, so it's been fun to show off the car a few times...

At the end of the day, life (and vacations) are what you make of them...

 

[KJD]

You forgot to say if he made the 8 second bell or not ?????

 

[Randy]

He made the 8 seconds, in fact, we don't even watch that much rodeo or bull riding, but he was all over the whole "8 second rule"...The operator was very kind not to turn up the juice until much later than the 8 second timeframe...It was a winner!!!