| Monument Valley
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The fame of Monument Valley, repeatedly used as the backdrop for movies set in the Old West,
should go without saying.
I was very excited to finally visit it for myself.
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 8:40 am | Departed Tuba City | 261 |
| 9:58 am | Arrived Monument Valley | 152 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.09
Conditions: Slow
The route there was scenic,
and I strictly obeyed the speed limits so that I could
conserve charge.
This leg of travel has no Supercharger until we reach our hotel in Blanding, Utah.
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When we arrived the view was absolutely breathtaking.
The enormity of the place was hard to comprehend,
with giant, unique, and intimidating landmarks,
each capable of defining a skyline, together
speaking a visual chorus.
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| Monument Valley Drive
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We were very lucky with the weather.
If it rains the risk of getting stuck the 17-mile drive through the valley is too great for
ordinary passenger cars.
Instead a storm hit two days earlier, and the next storm hit two days later, so
our visit was blessed with beautiful puffy clouds and relatively cool weather,
reaching 90°F only at noon.
It's like I was driving into a Western . . . with a 21st-century all-electric car!
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 10:19 am | Begin Valley Drive | 151 |
| 12:30 pm | End Valley Drive | 127 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.85
Conditions: Very slow, up to 95°F
View from east of Rain God Mesa
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The Cube
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Driving through this special place was amazing.
The rock formations jutting out of these plains
expressed themselves with such detail when viewed up close.
And the car handled it just fine.
I had to avoid or straddle some potholes here and there, but
otherwise it was like any other dirt road, far better than
fire roads I know other Model S' go.
When we found the horses my daughter insisted on a stop.
Definitely checked off that box on Interstate Bingo.
Do you see the face in Rain God Mesa? Do you see the face inside the car?
Three Sisters of Monument Valley
The view from Artist's Point
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After noon the kids began to get hungry so it was time to exit the drive.
I had a "Navajo burger", which used Navajo bread instead of a bun.
That isn't a picture hanging in the dining room where we ate;
that's the real thing through a window. So awesome!
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| Blanding, Utah
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After lunch at The View, and a bit of gift shopping, we headed out.
My daughter fell asleep so I skipped a visit to Goosenecks State Park.
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 2:11 pm | Depart Monument Valley | 126 |
| 3:36 pm | Arrive Blanding Supercharger | 41 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.12
Conditions: 91°F
When we arrived at the Blanding Supercharger, we took a bathroom break, then
toured the
Dinosaur Museum,
where my son had a blast, until it closed at 5 pm.
Finally we headed to the nearest motel, the Four Corners Inn, to check in.
We found dinner down the way.
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Like
in Kingman, I used this Supercharger as a Destination Charger.
I had no problem with this because there were no other Tesla's around.
Interestingly I did meet and have a great conversation with a
Model S owner from Portugal at this Supercharger.
I told him we had a great time driving my electric car through Monument Valley today.
How often can you say that?
Cost to Charge: $0
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Dean E. Dauger holds a Ph. D. in physics from UCLA, where his group
created the first Mac cluster in 1998. Dr. Dauger is the award-winning
author in multiple American Institute of Physics' Software Contests and
co-authored the original, award-winning Kai's Power Tools
image-processing package for Adobe Photoshop.
After founding his company,
Dauger Research, Inc., its debut product,
Pooch, derived from Dr. Dauger's experience using clusters for his
physics research, was soon awarded as "most innovative" by IEEE Cluster
and continues to revolutionize parallel computing and clusters worldwide
with its patented technology.
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