North Palm Beach, FL to Washington D.C. on one tank!!

Recharging in Titusville, too bad the shuttle doesn't go up til the 13th! Big time Thanks to the friendly folks at Pat Fischer Chevrolet and Nissan here in Titusville, Fl for allowing me to recharge my Toyota at their Nissan shop!! Especially Bill and Jimmy.

 

St. Augustine and rehcarging at the St. Augustine Record. I expect to hit Georgia this evening!

 

Wow!! This trip is turning into something amazing!! This morning, two different gents stopped by to say they had seen a news report and when they spotted the car they stopped for photos!!

I did have one minor issue, the bumper mounted plug pushed back into its' holder when I tried to plug in here in Jacksonville, and me, a Tech, with NO TOOLS!!!
Bare hands and a tire iron and a little modificating and the cord now comes out under the bumper. Not quite as pretty, but functional. I will hopefully be able to get a new housing for the plug when I stop at the Hymotion HQ in Raleigh, NC. I would like it to be looking nice for the DC arrival.....

And Thanks for following, Sandy!!!!

 

Whoops.. Sorry Shin, I have been remiss in getting shots like I should, but here are some of the ones I have. BTW I am recharging in Darien, GA this morning, courtesy of the Darien Police Dept, and I plan on playing tourist a bit. Fort King George is about 1.5 miles away and I need to get some exercise anyways!.




First shot is the Pat Fischer Nissan dealer where the friendly folk came to my rescue allowing me to recharge



Below is Mr. Jim Bailey, one of the gentlemen who stopped by to say hi and check out the car at the St. Augustine Record / Florida Times Union newspaper offices



And this grinning fellow is Dan Scanlon, reporter extraordinaire for the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville and electric car enthusiast!



I spotted this last one here in Darien, GA and could not resist getting some shots. This beautiful piece of history was parked in front of a bank and, if the badges are correct and I have no reason not to believe them, this is a rare Rochester Fuel Injected 1957 Chevy Bel Air. The first car to ever hit the 1:1 ratio of 1 horsepower to 1 cubic inch of engine. Corvette didn't get the Rochester system until later that year!


This last one, for now, is the "Green Machine" sitting at the Old City Gates of St. Augustine. I pulled up, parked (illegaly) and jumped out to snap a couple shots. Unfortunately, I bumped the camera control and knocked it into shutter priority mode and washed out all the details. I did the exact same thing in front of the old fort and got worse results. I didn't get a chance to look at the shots until after I hit Jax. I intend to stop again on the way home and reshoot these images.

 

Ok, I admit it. Georgia has some seriously violent mosquitoes. I mean vicious. Bloodthirsty. We're talking drain your veins in minutes... I stopped for a recharge at the Human Resources Office in Darien at the Bluestein's plaza. Had some time to kill and Fort King George sounded really interesting! My online maps showed it wasn't all THAT far a walk... 90 degrees, 90% humidity- no problem... Five miles, a little more than I am used to, but again not an issue. Then I spotted a Memorial for the gravesite of the last slave in Darien, GA. I wandered the little trail back 50 ft into the woods to get some photos. Monday afternoon, I donated a pint of blood to the Florida Blood Centers. This afternoon, I donated a pint of blood to the Darien airforce. Those little winged vampires are deadly!! I walked on to Fort King George and had a very interesting visit and got some nice shots. (Midday lighting with cloud cover, not the best lighting for photos) Then it was back to the car. Skeeters all the way!!!

But, It Was Worth It!

 

Heh... sometimes ya just gotta let em' get annoyed... Truthfully though, due to the time of day and light traffic for that short hop on I295 and I95 I was able to stay in the right lane and hypermile it. Getting a good full charge in Darien gave me the chance to extend the next leg from Riceboro up to Richmond Hills. Better choice for me needs since there are a dozen hotels here to choose from for a good sleep break before heading into Savannah.

It gets a little more interesting from here on due to the more difficult situation of finding recharge points. I am gonna have to get imaginitive......

 

Stopped at the Savannah Morning News Office for a scheduled recharge. Recharge spots will be a little more difficult as I go north due to the more undeveloped back country I am travelling through. Beautiful scenenry though!!!

 

Hypermiled and stretched it out to a 75 mile run!! Used a little more gas than I would have liked, but only 3 pips down so far. Stopped at an RV / travel trailer park for a recharge and was sitting in the clubhouse enjoying the A/C and playing on my laptop when a fellow struck up a conversation about computers. As we talked, he asked what I did for a living. Hearing that I work as a Toyota Tech, he asked a couple questions about his 07 Prius. Of course, I love helping out when and where I can and couldn't resist showing off my ride... Dr. Paul Welch and his wife thought the Green Machine was so cool, they wanted photos with it and with me!

 

Having a Blast!! Enjoying a recharge point at Rick Hendrick Toyota in Fayetteville, North Carolina courtesy of Sales Manager Larry Burkes!!

(Shameless commercial here) If anyone is looking for Scion Clubs, upgrades, Special Paint or anything Scion related, give Larry a shout. I have seen some of his creations here and they are INCREDIBLE!!! [email protected]

I also gotta say, this is some beautiful country up here!

 

I think it is... I am gonna have to ask, but I will keep my cheering for Kyle Busch to a minimum!!

 

Intersting news... There will be a Coda Electric car in Raleigh tomorrow! 100 miles range on one charge. We are attempting to get it together at the Hymotion/AVRC site press conferance!! Hows that for cool?? Pics will be posted tomorrow evening!

And again, Huge Thanks to Rick Hendrick Toyota and Larry Burkes for the recharge, I may be a Kyle fan, but my wife cheers for Jimmy Johnson and everybody likes to see Junior hit Victory Lane. Of course, as I type this, Tony Stewart is in the lead. (No relation to Earl Stewart, at least that I know of)