We arrived back at our Vermont hillside home around dinnertime last nights. A few quick notes before the blog returns to normal tomorrow . . .
• We drove 3,593 miles with absolutely no issues charging our EV. Taking advantage of our second (and final) year of free charging on the Electrify America network, we had to pay to charge at just one location on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where we instead used the Rivian network. The rest of the charging was absolutely free and seamless.
• We spent roughly half the nights camping and the other half in an assortment of hotels, none as historic and memorable as the one we spent three night in at Nags Head on the Outer Banks.
• The only real disappointment of the trip came when we called an audible and tried to follow the Blue Ridge Parkway north. It turns out the damage done by Hurricane Helene two years ago was so immense that it won't be open for more than "section" driving until the end of the year. We managed to follow a few sections and did a couple of hikes, but unfortunately the most dramatic parts of the drive were inaccessible. (LINK)
• As required, we stopped at the Buc-ees near Harrisonburg, Va., on the way home and it was everything we'd heard and more. The bathrooms are rightfully legendary, and the brisket sandwich was delicious. That said, now that we've done one Buc-ee's, we don't have to do another. ;-)
• Per Mrs. BGA, between hiking and exploring city streets, we walked 75.4 miles on our trip.
• Our most charges were probably at Sheetz convenience stores. One of the big reasons why we bought the Ioniq 5 is how fast it charges. Many times we'd pull into a Sheetz and plug in alongside someone who had been charging for a while. We'd go inside, use the bathroom, order a sandwich, and be back on the road while the others charged on.
• This trip, combined with our 2024 drive on Route 66, should be enough to convince anyone that traveling long distances with an EV isn't the problem some people make it out to be. All it takes is a little planning.
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Mrs. BGA and I found ourselves repeating two quotes on the drive home when we were getting goofy. (Make that when I was getting goofy.)
The first was something a good ol' boy said when we crossed paths on a hike on the Outer Banks. When we asked about wildlife he saw, he looked at our binoculars, shook his head, and said, "We ain't got ya'll's vision."
The other quote we found ourselves repeating came just before the road at the northern tip of the Outer Banks turned to sand. Jeeps, pickups and SUVs pull over there and let air out of their tires to be more effective driving through soft spots on the beach. Although our car is all-wheel drive, I wasn't about to risk driving on the sand, given our relative lack of clearance.
I was making last-second, emergency K-turn after realizing I was heading for the sand when a fellow in a big truck pulled up beside me. I thought he was going to be angry that I had held him up. Instead he looked down at me and barked out, "Ya'll lookin' for somewhere to 'air down?' " I sheepishly admitted that I was just trying to stay out of trouble. Mrs. BGA and I joked about "airing down" the rest of the trip.
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All-in all, it was a great 2½ weeks. We drove the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, visited Harper's Ferry and the Appalachian Trail headquarters, toured Monticello, shared pizza with old friends and their kids in Charlottesville, toured William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg, stumbled across a wonderful beach-side campground in Virginia Beach, spent three days exploring the Outer Banks, checked out the Wright Brothers National Memorial, had a couple of days each in Charleston and Savannah, visited Harbour Town on Hilton Head, and explored wonderful Asheville. We finished the trip with a round of mini-golf in Lake George, N.Y., (we tied) and fittingly had lunch at an A&W near the lake before returning home for a heartfelt reunion with Griff the Wonder Dog.
