Fall Trip 2025 Day 2

14 September 2025

My original plan for today was to drive west on I-80 for just over an hour to an Electrify America (free charging, baby!) near Youngstown OH, then head to Columbus on back roads, charging one more time in Massillon OH at a new IONNA location. This morning, I realized that I could head straight to Massillon from Clarion PA on back roads, skipping I-80 and one charging session, and it would only add a half hour to my trip. Since I woke up too early anyway and my hotel was clean and modern but cheap and tiny, I opted to leave a half hour early and enjoy a more scenic drive. So this was my route (the dark blue line, more or less):

The Pennsylvania part of this route was excessively rural in a “poor hill country” sort of way, a remnant of lost mining jobs. It was a good route, but very sad in areas where the houses were so run down yet obviously still occupied. I did get one photo along the way although it doesn’t do justice to the view — this is the Allegheny River in Parker PA and what you can’t really see is the marvelous fog layer above the water.

Not far from here, I passed between two old churches that were clearly built from stone in the same decade in the late 1800s and probably designed by the same architect. Not far past those, there was a somewhat newer church building that had been taken over by an ice cream parlor and it was now called “Holy Sundae.” Too bad it wasn’t open for service(s) when I passed through shortly after 9am!

IONNA Rechargeries are a relatively new venture between Hyundai and other car makers; they installed over 1,000 charging ports in 2024 and intend to hit 30,000 by 2030. The one in Massillon has 6 CCS1 ports and 2 NACS ports, all running 800V at 400kW and I had a peak charge rate of 223kW, near the car’s maximum of 240kW. I charged from 36-80% in 14.5 minutes and made good use of the Sheetz gas station’s restroom as well. There’s no photo because just as I was planning on taking one, another Hyundai pulled in and the owner came over to talk. He was really nice, but a real extrovert, and he kept talking until my charge was complete. He also gave me his business card which is somewhat unique, but if any of you find yourself in this area and in need of a ride, give him a ring! His nickname is “Ski” but he’s not Polish and I’m sure he will tell you the story of the name …

My first stop in Columbus OH was my favorite German restaurant, Schmidt’s in German Village. I’ve been there so many times that I’m not going to bother writing yet another post about them in my other blog, so I’ll just put a couple of photos here of the Paulaner Oktoberfest (they have it year ’round!) and Wienerschnitzel with red cabbage and German potato sausage. So good!!

Schmidt’s is always busy, but I think this is the first time I’ve been there on a Sunday afternoon and it was a particularly beautiful Fall day — I had to wait 35 minutes for a table!

From there, it was an 8-mile drive to my hotel for tonight where my car is charging to 100% for free. Driving on the back roads brought my efficiency for the trip up to 3.6 and that is absolutely fine with me. Tomorrow, I continue west to Lafayette IN.