SALT LAKE CITY — For years, my brother kept a poster on his garage wall of a grizzled old cowboy, soiled hat, bandana around his neck, staring into the distance, with this caption: "There were a heckuva lot of things they didn't tell me when I hired on with this outfit."My wife, Kerri, and I were going to Virginia to visit our son. We found a listing on Turo, the ridesharing app, for a 2021 Tesla series Y. The owner, a man in Washington, D.C.
So we were off. Our plane had arrived early so the car hadn't had time to get a full charge, the owner told us. Undaunted, we headed into rush hour traffic and looped around the Jefferson Memorial on our way to Charlottesville, Virginia. My brother used to live and work in the D.C. area so I was confident I knew where I was going. Then we looped the Jefferson Memorial again.As advertised, the car's power is impressive. It's like driving the world's fastest golf cart.
The Tesla's touchscreen helpfully shows the location of Tesla charging stations, so we got off the interstate and pulled into the nearest one, plugged in the charger and walked across the parking lot to the mall to kill 30 minutes, grabbing something to eat at Chipotle while the battery charged. I looked on the touchscreen for the nearest Tesla charging station. Turned out there was one just a mile away at a Wyndham Hotel. I drove to the hotel and asked where the charging station was located. In the parking garage, I was told, followed by "it's only for use by hotel guests."