June 11 to July 8 Cross Country Drive in a 2019 Chevy Bolt :)Welcome to my 2023 summer cross country drive blog!
Back in May 2023, overcome by constant stress at work, I tried to quit my job for mental health break. My work offered a 2 months leave of absence as a compromise, and I decided to go on a cross country trip. What could be better way to de-stress than going on a 6,000+ mile trip in a small EV? Right? Right!
My plan was simple. I had three must see destinations:
1. Visit Longmont, CO to see my good friends Tom and Donna;
2. Visit Lawrence in Arlington, VA who's fighting stage 4 cancer;
3. And see Kate in Deer Isle, Maine to see a potential retirement option.
Everything else would fall into place based on charging need (and there were plenty) and see friends and family along the route.
Below is how the map would have looked if I had the gift of flight:
It's been 30 years (1993) since my only cross country drive from NY to Southern California in a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder. That trip took 5 days with my college buddy Bernard.
As I'm quickly approaching 60 and closer to retirement, I wanted to see what a full time life on the road with an electric car would be like:
1) Would it be practical to do the drive in a non Tesla EV?
2) How reliable is the fast charging netwrok (DCFC) and their availability?
3) What about the charging cost?
With minor modification to my car (front passenger seat removed, added 72" x 24" x 5" foam mattress by GoTo Foam on top of a RTIC 52 Quart hard side cooler which lined up nicely over folded rear bench seats.
Elevation map of East Bound route
