Spring Trip 2026 Day 2

9 March 2026

Before today’s stories, here is a photo from last night’s hotel room. I’d hoped to set up a time lapse overnight but there was a parking lot light right outside my window shining in my direction.

It was 32º when I left the hotel this morning with 100% charge in the car and within an hour I was back into those lovely headwinds. After a couple of hours, I was in Clearfield PA, the temp was up to the mid-40s, and I stopped at a Tesla Supercharger location I was at last year in a Burger King parking lot. There were 10 V3 chargers here and I had them all to myself, getting 126 kW again for 47-90% in 25 minutes.

Then it was back onto I-80 heading west to Girard OH, in the Youngstown area, where I stopped at another Tesla Supercharger tucked behind a Shell station with a very clean convenience store. This spot had just 8 V3 chargers and was quite busy when I arrived, but I was able to pull right into a spot … and the charger wouldn’t start a session. Fortunately, I only had to wait 3 minutes before someone else pulled out and I was able to charge from 37-80% in 20 minutes with a max rate of 125 kW.

There was one more charging stop before lunch/dinner — I followed I-80 to I-76 to I-71 and pulled off at the Ashland OH exit for another Tesla Supercharger. This one had 12 V3 chargers in the parking lot of a Wingate Hotel that also had 8 Tesla Destination Chargers for guests, and I was the only car at the Superchargers until one other showed up but left after a few minutes. The air was up to 65º at this point but there were still strong headwinds. I had 126 kW and went from 42-80% in 18 minutes.

Then it was on to Columbus and an obligatory meal at my favorite German restaurant, Schmidt’s, in German Village. Today was, I think, the best Wienerschnitzel I’ve had there in my many visits!

On the way to my hotel, I opted to swing by an EVgo charger (at a Target) even though it was expensive, just to complete my first charging session with the new car so that if I need one again, it will be just plug-and-charge without having to use the app. This location — which I forgot to get a photo of — has three units, one with 2 NACS plugs and the other two with 2 CCS1 plugs each. There was one car at a CCS1; I pulled into a NACS spot and a Tesla pulled in right after so we were splitting the 350kW charger — I got the max available from my half, 175 kW, charging from 42-80% in 14 minutes. If only he hadn’t arrived, I would have enjoyed a much faster speed. But I was pleased to see right before I disconnected that I was still pulling 110 kW at 79% whereas he was only getting 80 kW at 60%. Yay, Hyundai!!

Today’s was 430 miles starting at 32º and ending at 69º with strong winds the entire time. Because of the winds, I was happy with the 2.8 miles/kWh which happens to be the average for the full trip so far. For the next few days, I’ll be local in Columbus so probably won’t post again until Thursday. Then I’m headed back home Friday and Saturday, probably in colder weather again, but hopefully with tailwinds that direction!