My road trip from NC to Hilton Head to WDW

Friday, February 16th

I woke up to construction noise outside my window. Even though they are not working on this building yet, they have construction areas set up all over the place and have blocked off a good number of parking spots to have a place to put their supplies--even under the check-in building, a lot of the spaces have construction materials stacked in them.

Ate some breakfast in the room (homemade yogurt with blueberries) and then headed out to the outlet malls. A lot of the stores have changed since the last time I was here. I was hoping to find some Disney stuff at the Vera Bradley outlet, but no luck. Hit the Oakley store to see about shirts for my son as he used to work for them in California, and I lucked out. Most everything was 50% off. He sure is going to be surprised. No luck at Skechers-I need a Wide and they don't have a whole lot of those, and I had the only two pair that I really liked.

Left there and was hoping to find a "touchless" car wash to get the bugs off my White Rabbit, but no luck. I tried several locations and all had the brushes. I then needed to find a Supercharger to get juiced up to leave tomorrow, I found one near a Harris Teeter and I went into a closeby Mexican restairant to grab some lunch while I was charging. Now I am good to go tomorrow. Ended up back at the room for a little break and to decide what would be for dinner, even though I wasn't hungry, I wanted some more good seafood while I was here. I decided on Poseidon's since it was close by. Was seated right away. I had some she-crab soup, so, so very good, and more fried shrimp. I felt Poseidon's to be a bit expensive, but hey, no worse than Disney.

In the elevator on the way back to the room a couple said, "you must be leaving tomorrow, too." I said, well, yes I am, but I am headed to Disney World, so I am not sad. They said I was heading into a rainy weekend, which I was unaware of--maybe that will wash the bugs off!!! They said everyone had to leave tomorrow and that the resort would be closed down so they could renovate the main building. I had not heard that and do not know if it is so or not. But, in the short time I was gone to dinner, they had filled up more of the parking spaces under the main building with construction stuff and furniture. They have boxes of dressers, etc. down there.

I am going to go now and pack up the few things I had unloaded from the car and I will try and get an early start tomorrow because I know I will see some outlet malls that will call my name on the way to WDW,

We love the main building!! How is the weather? We just love the whole Bluffton area. So many times we have wanted to move there. Now with having grandchildren don’t think it will happen.

Is traffic bad around the resort area? We have been twice in March and do not recall traffic issues at least not compared to here in the NE!! We may go to Savannah for the day still deciding...

Saturday, Feb 17th

I had set the alarm for 8:00 A.M. and for a change, I did not hit snooze. It was very overcast and gloomy out. I ate a quick breakfast in the room and then loaded up the car, this time remembering the luggage carts downstairs. As I was loading up the car a CM came by and was asking about my car, then I asked about the resort as they had already started working on the main building as I was loading the car and had already filled up the parking spots that people had left this morning with more construction materials. He told me that people staying in the buildings at the pool and beyond could stay, but the buildings between the pool and the main check in would all have to clear out today. So that couple I spoke to was partially correct in that not everyone had to leave this morning.

As soon as I pulled over the bridge, around 9:30, it started to sprinkle and by the time I hit I95 it was raining and rained on me all the way to OKW. I stopped at the outlets in Pooler, Georgia--big place, wish I had a directory before parking and meandering so much. Back on the road, and it rained and rained and rained, slowing everyone down. I wanted to wait until Buc-ee's in Daytona to charge up to use their nice, clean bathrooms. Little did I know that it was also Daytona 500 weekend, and the place was mobbed. There was a line of traffic out into the street and over the overpass to get into the parking lot. I was lucky I was charging up as most people were not able to find a parking spot once they gassed up. After using the loo, I went and sat in the car until it was finished charging, about 10 minutes as the store was wall to wall people.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, except for the rain and traffic coming to a halt a couple of times. I had gotten a text telling me I was in room 1131 on the third floor, and I had requested bottom floor since I was schlepping my stuff all by myself. So I called and the CM told me she saw that I was in a totally different room?!?!?! I read the text to her again and she confirmed that was not correct. When I got here I was able to get into the room number that she had given me. Never had that happen before.

Arrived at OKW in pouring rain and I unloaded the car, headed to Olivia's for dinner, had the prime rib, and it was very good, although I think their fried chicken is better, but I had that last time I was there. The place was packed as no one probably wanted to head out anywhere else in the rain. It was really noisy, too, and I was anxious to get out to some peace and quiet.

Purchased nothing in the shop, and I didn't purchase anything at the Hilton Head Mercantile either. I usually find something, but nothing jumped out at me.

I walked back to the room as I am in one of the older buildings across from the Hospitality House. I had forgotten how much I do love it here and need to plan a longer stay sometime soon. It wasn't long before I hit the bed as driving in the rain all day had worn me out. See ya tomorrow.

Well, Henry, I am not good at keeping up with the numbers on how far I get--and it really depends on a lot of things, how fast you go, winds, if terrain is uphill, etc. I tend to have a heavy foot, which is not good for extending range. I can't tell if you have an EV or are curious, so not sure how deep into the weeds to get. I tend to make more frequent charge stops for shorter periods of time. This is my first road trip and this is all new to me as well. I also found that my charging stops had more to do with where I wanted to stop--Buc-ee's, outlet malls, etc. My car told me stop earlier in Florida, but I wanted to stop at the Buc-ee's in Daytona (not knowing what I now know) so I pushed on. Car said I had plenty of juice, but with my speed, I was down to about 10% when I got there. Lowest I have ever gotten so far, and I admit I was getting nervous, even though I know there is range once you get down to 0%. I also have always had it set on mileage, but I am finding that % is more accurate. I made it from North Carolina to Hilton Head with only 1 stop in Florence, South Carolina. I charged up in Hilton Head and made it to WDW with two more stops. When I got to Old Key West, I still had 54% battery life left.

Oh my car is a Tesla, and I have not charged on anything but a trickle charger at home and SuperChargers--I have never charged at any of the other charging sites that require adapters, even though I have a couple. Tesla has the best charging situation there is. Since it was raining and my room at the Riviera was not ready, I did seek out the Supercharger at Celebration so that I would be all juiced up for the rest of the trip. It only had 8 stations and there was one car waiting ahead of me. First time I have had to wait, and the car even told me I might want to search for another less busy station, but I had the time to kill. I only waited about 10 minutes before a stall became available.

Are they still giving out the Hei Hei magnets? I thought they would all be gone by now.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I am still learning about this EV driving but will try and answer any questions you might have.

I hope they still have the hei hei mags. I am leaving my grandbabies a day early so Jodi and Audrey can have one!

I do not own an EV. To me they need to get 500 miles to make my driving experience on the highway worthwhile. I am a big guy so smaller cars not good for me so I would be in double trouble with the current EV's. I think I am holding out for Hydrogen....