Summer Trip 2026 Day 21

11 August 2026

This was only a 392-mile driving day, but it was a tough one. Before I get into all that, though, I captured this photo from my hotel room last night — I loved the bridge lit up:

My day begin at 80º and a bit of sun, but very humid. My first charging stop was only a few miles from the hotel and it was a pair of IONNA chargers at a Citgo station.

I’ve never seen their chargers set up this way before, with a NACS plug on the left side of the charger and a CCS1 plug on the right side. That made it difficult for me to use the NACS plug as this setup is more appropriate for Teslas; as you can see, I had to pull way into the spot for the cable to reach. I only stopped here to avoid any anxiety with getting to my next stop; I charged from 65-80% in 7 minutes, adding 14.698 kWh for $5.73.

After that, I was in pleasant Illinois/western Indiana scenery for a while with rolling hills, cornfields, and trees along the highway. I’d never driven I-74 previously and rather enjoyed this route (right up until I hit Indianapolis traffic!).

My second charging stop was a set of eight V3 Tesla Superchargers at a Casey’s gas station and convenience store in Veedersburg IN. I didn’t get a photo here, but it was a typical installation and I charged from 31-80% in 22 minutes, adding 45.992 kWh for $17.47. By this point in my day, it was mostly cloudy but VERY humid and 85º … it was quite unpleasant out of the car, and I once again enjoyed being able to run the A/C while the car charged.

For a while, I had been seeing this weather to my left. There was a large storm system paralleling my route and the question was whether it would beat me to Columbus … and if I’d still had my hybrid I might have stood a chance of getting there before it. But with charging stops …

The photo on the left is the set of IONNA chargers that was my final charging stop of the day in Richmond IN, just before reaching the Ohio border. You can see the dark clouds there, but they’re even more ominous in the second photo taken straight north from the same spot. I charged from 32-80% in 15 minutes, adding 43.555 kWh for $18.18, and just 30 seconds before the charge was complete, the skies opened up and the car was pelted with huge raindrops falling diagonally … even with an umbrella, I got pretty wet unplugging the car.

From that point on, I was driving in heavy traffic and heavy rain. What should have taken a bit over an hour and a half took more than two hours, and it was not pleasant driving. I was glad to finally get into Columbus, and not terribly surprised to see lots of small branches down in the streets. I’ll stay here for two nights, but it looks like there will be more rain while I’m here with the possibility that I’ll be driving in and out of rain the following two days as I finish my drive home.

I’m at exactly 6,000 miles for this trip so far with another 750 or so to go, and the car has averaged 3.2 miles/kWh overall. I’ll probably do another update after my day in Columbus although I don’t expect to drive a whole lot given the weather. Because there won’t be a lot of driving, I’ll just charge once on the way back to my hotel for the evening when I’ll probably be at 20% +/-, and then I’ll be ready to head out in the morning.