| Convict Lake
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As my first time visiting anywhere near Mammoth in the summer, seeing this area without vast amounts of snow is
a new experience to me.
But the summer conditions create different opportunities up here.
We took a hike around the Convict Lake, so named because a group of
19th-century fugitives camped out here in a failed attempt to escape from the law;
they were eventually
hunted down and killed here.
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 9:28 am | Departed Mammoth | 306 |
| 9:41 am | Arrived Convict Lake | 295 |
Range/Distance: 1.1
Conditions: Short
But don't let the name and infamy fool you; here is a beautiful place,
and the locals know it.
So we took a hike completely around this lake.
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Do you recognize the place from a movie?
The way I learned of it was via a
Star Trek movie: Insurrection.
Again I made a point of having the children watch that movie the night before.
An innocent and peaceful colony lives in an idyllic paradise such as this on a hidden faraway planet.
This is the lake in this paradise that Data walks in to (you have to see it)
to investigate in which Data discovers a secret submerged spaceship
built to carry out a nefarious abduction
of that colony's population.
Looks like that happened in Spring, when the mountain had more snow, rather than Summer.
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On our hike around the lake,
we couldn't find the spaceship, but of course it could be cloaked
making it undetectable by our primitive 21st-century tricorders.
After the hike we were on our way again:
to boldly go farther north on the 395 than we have ever gone before.
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Route 395 was really quite beautiful to see.
We passed through Inyo National Forest on our way to Lee Vining,
where we found the junction to highway 120 and the east entrance into
Yosemite National Park, where I drove Boy Scouts last year.
My wife told me that we should someday return here on a road trip to enter Yosemite this way.
After passing Mono Lake,
it was not long until we found views of Mount Patterson, the tallest in this region.
This is where we crossed the
California National Historic Trail.
Further along we entered a part of Nevada that was new to us, near Topaz Lake.
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| Gardnerville Supercharger
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| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 11:35 am | Departed Convict Lake | 292 |
| 1:21 pm | Arrived Gardnerville Supercharger | 193 |
Range/Distance ratio: 0.96
Conditions: Downhill, 90°F rising to 96°F
Here we ate lunch at the Lakeview Coffee Shop in the Topaz Lodge with a
view of Topaz Lake of course.
I researched and called this place well in advance to confirm they had dine-in service.
We were very hungry and had a substantial lunch, and the food was very good here.
Cost to Charge: $0
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| Lake Tahoe
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| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 2:37 pm | Departed Gardnerville Supercharger | 325 |
| 3:35 pm | Arrived Lake Tahoe | 267 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.48
Conditions: Low speed-limit roads, Uphill and downhill
I researched in advance that the Nevada Beach Campground was our best chance of
getting close to Lake Tahoe.
When we arrived, however, the parking was listed as full, and
indeed the beach and picnic tables looked incredibly crowded.
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This was perhaps our most crowded sightseeing stop on the entire trip,
it was a mess,
and
we didn't like it so we kept our visit brief.
If ever there were reasons to avoid other people this was a great example.
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| Stateline Supercharger
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| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 3:53 pm | Arrived Stateline Supercharger | 263 |
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We all needed a bathroom break, and we couldn't use the one at the
beach campground, so we drove off to the Stateline Supercharger housed at the
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the city.
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Cost to Charge: $0
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We're thankful the Hard Rock's bathroom was open to the public, but
the throngs of people there, in the casino and in line to check in, were enormous.
Part of our goal on this trip was to get away from major population centers
like this urban environment,
so we our visit was as brief as humanly possible.
I refrained from taking pictures inside the lobby in case the casino didn't like that.
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| Tesla Gigafactory 1
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After departing Stateline, the navigation took us north for one last scenic drive on the east side of Lake Tahoe,
then take us through Carson City and Reno before heading east.
By this late time of day on a Sunday, Reno traffic was okay.
We saw a fire in the distance to the north of Reno; we did not think too much of it at the time...
Several months ago I asked Tesla if we could get a tour of a Gigafactory.
You'd think after
all the pages I've written about Tesla here
I could get some traction,
even if I had to sign an NDA. But no, no go.
Someday I can get a tour in Fremont, but
not at the Gigafactory.
Nonetheless, I knew when I was getting close to the Gigafactory, and from the I-80, miles away,
I spotted it!
That distinctive red line on the top of a big white rectangular building gave it away.
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| 80
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In the desert out here, the interstate can be straight as it can be,
so the speed limit is very high and using Autopilot out here was very straightforward.
Then I realized:
- The car is driving at 80 mph
- because I set the Autopilot to 80 mph
- because the speed limit is 80 mph
- on this part of Interstate 80.
This is also where we followed a substantial part of the Truckee Route of the
California National Historic Trail.
I'm so glad we're in a proper 21st-century vehicle rather than the ones of a previous century,
such as those used to drive this same route in the 1840s. Technology makes a difference.
Now that's a tough road trip!
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| Lovelock Supercharger
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| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 4:04 pm | Departed Stateline | 291 |
| 6:22 pm | Arrived Lovelock Supercharger | 128 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.087
Conditions: Cities then Desert with 80 mph speed limit, 98°F
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Another bathroom break for us was available at the McDonald's
where
we bought drinks and a light dinner
after having such a big meal back in Gardnerville.
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Cost to Charge: $0
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| Best Western Winnemucca
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| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 6:48 pm | Departed Lovelock | 196 |
| 7:47 pm | Arrived Best Western Winnemucca | 103 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.29
Conditions: Desert, 80 mph speed limit
The Best Western in Winnemucca
is part of the Tesla Destination Network
so it has Tesla-native plugs for overnight charging.
Mine was the only Tesla there.
We checked in and rested for the night.
I took a swim in the pool after such a hot day, then showered before bed.
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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