Skip to main content

Day 33: Tesla Repairs and Route 66

First order of business after checking out of the hotel was to reach the Tesla service center in Tulsa for my 9:30am appointment to investigate the creaking sound. The technician test drove for a minute and said it was a problem with the upper control arm, which is apparently a common issue with early Model 3 cars. They replaced both front control arms, a new, updated version and sure enough the creaking sound was gone. However, it took them almost 4 hours to finish and I left the service center at 1:30pm. 

With half the day gone, I had to scale back my original plan to drive all day along the historic Route 66. Instead, I drove through a few small sections of it and took some pictures. There are many different museums, wall murals, sculptures, road signs and other nostalgic oddities at various points along Route 66. I just scratched the surface on all this history and folklore.

 

 




After a couple of hours looking at some Route 66 memorabilia, I moved on to my goal of mapping out a route to Carlsbad Caverns without losing a extra day due to the service center delay. There are no Tesla superchargers anywhere near Carlsbad, so I had to plan this out carefully.  In a real-time wrinkle, Tesla navigation said that the Lubbock supercharger was temporarily out of order and it was rerouting me, which would add 200+ miles to the route. I decided to take a chance and assume that the Lubbock supercharger would be back in action when I needed it the next day. It was after 5pm when I decided on Childress, Texas as the destination today and booked a hotel for the night. 

The whole day was stressful and uncertain and I had to force myself to stay calm.  I decided to relax and have an early dinner at Lucille's Roadhouse, a Route-66 themed restaurant next to the Weatherford Tesla supercharger.

The raw numbers for the day:

  • 357 miles driving, 3800 steps walking
  • 1 Tesla supercharger stop, Tesla destination charger previous night at hotel
  • 2 states - Oklahoma, Texas

Next:   Day 34:  Carlsbad, New Mexico (Oct 7, 2022) 

Comments

  1. ManeeshaOctober 9, 2022 at 7:06 PM

    Did you try yoga? It is slightly more boring than stress though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VisheshOctober 9, 2022 at 7:33 PM

    Wow, that was so much uncertainty and stress! I felt nervous reading the past few entries about the creaking sound, even knowing that you've successfully progressed in your journey since then.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 14: Enjoyed with Friends in Minnesota

A long drive from Bismarck, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota today. The drive was mostly on the I-94 interstate freeway, so it was very smooth, high speed limits and lots of Tesla superchargers along the way. The first three hours of the drive was through heavy rain, which was for the first time during the trip. It was nice to transition from the dry grasslands of North Dakota to the lush green trees and grasses in Minnesota, the land of 10000 lakes.  During the drive, I reflected a bit on all the different places I had been to over the past two weeks. I have enjoyed each day since it brought something different and unique. However, one thing is sure that my favorite days so far have been the ones in the big mountains of Mt. Rainier, Glacier and Rocky Mountain National Parks. The imposing mountain ranges, snow capped peaks, the lakes, the waterfalls, the rivers and creeks, the tall trees, the fresh air, all combine to create something magical. I can't get enough of it.  ...
2 comments
Read more

Day 5: KOA Cabin in Glacier National Park

  A long drive today from Spokane to the West Glacier KOA Resort, which is close to the Glacier National Park entrance. I had to slow down or stop many times during the drive due to road construction underway at multiple places. There was also a traffic jam to deal with at one place. Lastly, I had go past the most direct route for about 15 miles to get to a supercharger in Superior, MT and then retrace back.  I reached my destination for the day, a cute looking KOA log cabin in a beautiful KOA resort surrounded by mountains. The cabin has electricity, heater, refrigerator and a microwave. Not too shabby, changed my perception of what a KOA kampground is like.  The nearest supercharger from Glacier National Park is over 120 miles away. The primary reason I chose to book at KOA is because they provide access to a NEMA 14-50 220V charger. A timeslot for the single outlet they have needs to be  reserved ahead of time. I was very relieved when all of this worked and my...
3 comments
Read more

Day 11: Wind Cave and Mt. Rushmore

  Today was a long drive from Estes Park near Rocky Mountain National park to Custer, South Dakota. On the way, my plan was to stop at Wind Cave National Park and do the guided cave tour. I checked online, but they stop issuing tickets 3 days prior to the actual date, which meant that on reaching the park, I would have to try for the few first-come first-served tickets. Since the tickets sell out about 2 hours before the tour start time, I started from the hotel early at 7am.  On the way, I took a 20 minute detour to drive through Nebraska for a few minutes. It is the first one of the states I have covered so far that I am only touching, just so I can claim I visited all 48 states. I finally reached the Wind Cave National Park at 1:45pm and got into the line for the cave tours. As luck would have it, they sold the last ticket of the day to the person just ahead of me in the line.   Who do I blame for this? My bad planning for not having bought the tickets more than 3 da...
3 comments
Read more