I took the day off from work and hit the road shortly after returning from my usual morning walk around the neighborhood. After the stressful drive out to Flagstaff for my last road trip, it was quite reassuring to know that there were a lot more of those Tesla Supercharging stations along the route to Las Vegas when I was planning my trip for this race.
Leg #1: Home to Yermo, CA: 107 miles
The first leg of my drive took me out to Yermo. This was my first time exiting here. There were 2 more charging stalls here compared to the Barstow station. It's located in the southeast corner of the EddieWorld parking lot. Once the car was plugged in for a charge, I did what everyone else did. I went inside EddieWorld to use their restroom. EddieWorld was pretty huge inside. It looked like a giant candy store. There were several options for food, treats, and snacks. They have signs directing you to the restroom. For the men's restroom, if you have a full bladder, you just might score a high score with their urinals! :)
Leg #2: Yermo, CA to Primm, NV: 102 miles
The second leg of my drive brought me out to Primm. Back in the day, I used to stop at Primm Valley Resort and Casino to use their restrooms. Just prior to driving the Tesla, I was able to power through to my final destination without having to make a pit stop by making sure that I had emptied my bladder just before my trip. Now with the Tesla, I can take my time and eat a meal at the nearby McDonald's as I wait for the car to finish charging.
After I plugged the car in, I walked over to McDonald's to get something to eat. I ordered a medium iced coffee and used the free medium fries deal on the mobile app. After I was done with my snack and drink, I used the restroom before heading back to my car. Since Las Vegas wasn't that far away, I did not do a full charge at this location.
Iced coffee and free medium fries
Leg #3: Primm, NV to Las Vegas, NV Linq High Roller: 38 miles
The last leg took me onto the Las Vegas Strip, a place that I try to avoid whenever I'm in town. I drove over to the Tesla Supercharger station at the Linq/High Roller. Once I arrived at the gate, I punched in the code on the navigation screen to open the gate. Parking here was free for the first hour. After plugging in, I walked over to the Chick-fil-A over at the Miracle Mile Shops to pick up some food and a drink. I placed my order on the mobile app, but I didn't see a dedicated line or spot for mobile order pick-up, so I got into the regular order line to get my food which kind of defeated the purpose of using the app. As soon as my food was ready, I had to quickly hoof it back to my car as it was almost at full charge. I really didn't want to pay any idle charging fees.
Chick-fil-A sandwich, medium waffle fries, and medium Sunjoy
After vegging out for a few hours, I hopped back in the car to go pick up dinner at Chick-fil-A. Using the mobile app, I ordered a cobb salad with grilled nuggets and a Greek yogurt parfait with granola. I also got a Chick-fil-A sandwich as a free reward. Per the usual, I used the drive-thru to pick up my order.
Cobb salad with grilled nuggets, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and free Chick-fil-A sandwich
Cobb salad with grilled nuggets
Later that evening, I caught a couple of episodes of Rick and Morty. These were a couple of my favorite episodes of season 5. It was nice to stay up a little bit later with the tomorrow's race being in the evening instead of early in the morning.
Season 5, Episode 9: Forgetting Sarick Mortshall
Season 5, Episode 10: Rickmurai Jack
Saturday 9/18
I woke up early and caught a little bit of the Wolves v. Brentford match that started at 4:30 am. Brentford looked pretty strong with their counterattacking. They went on to win 0-2 despite going a man down in the second half when Shandon Baptiste picked up a second yellow card. I might have to pick up Ivan Toney for my FPL team. I then followed that with the Burnley v. Arsenal match. There were better matches on also at the same time, but I have a couple of Gooners on my FPL team that I have to watch to see if I want to hang on to them. I left the unit to go get breakfast before the first half was over. Once again I went to Chick-fil-A. I actually prefer their breakfast menu. I ordered their hash brown scramble bowl with grilled filet, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and coffee. I enjoyed my breakfast while catching the second half of the match which ended with Arsenal winning 0-1.
I laid out my flat runner as I got ready to catch the next match between Aston Villa v. Everton. I know Everton has been dealing with injuries with their strikers, but I didn't expect them to lose to Villa 3-0.
For lunch, I drove out to Chick-fil-A... again. For this visit, I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, fruit cup, and a Sunjoy for my drink.
I didn't head out to the race until about 3:45 pm. I arrived at about 4:30 pm. The small dirt lot at the Lovell Canyon Rd entrance was still pretty empty, but I was directed to drive further in and park on the road side just a little beyond Canu Rd. Even though the half marathon wasn't scheduled to start until 6:30 pm, I wanted to be there to see the start of the marathon at 5 pm.
After seeing the marathoners off on their race, I picked up my race packet and headed back to my car to relax a bit before the start of the half marathon. I had brought along my friend's book, My Noisy Cancer Comeback: Running at the Mouth, While Running for My Life, to help pass the time. When the start of the race approached, I grabbed my stuff which included a reflective vest and headlamp before heading to the start line.
Half Fanatics
The half marathon started promptly at 6:30 pm. Even though with the evening start, the temperature was in the low 80's. I made sure to go out at a slow and comfortable pace especially since the course was a steady climb for most of the first 5 miles. With the first mile being covered in just under 10 minutes, I knew that I would need to take it even easier for the next few miles until the sun goes down. Once the sun went down, the temperature got a bit cooler, but then it got difficult to see even with a headlamp. I probably need to invest in a better headlamp if I plan on running any more future night races. I usually run with my headlamp turned to red light mode so I don't disturb other people's night vision. However, it was actually pretty cool to see the lights from other runners once I hit the turnaround point.
Burnley v. Arsenal
Hash brown scramble bowl with grilled filet, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and coffee
I laid out my flat runner as I got ready to catch the next match between Aston Villa v. Everton. I know Everton has been dealing with injuries with their strikers, but I didn't expect them to lose to Villa 3-0.
Flat runner
Aston Villa v. Everton
For lunch, I drove out to Chick-fil-A... again. For this visit, I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, fruit cup, and a Sunjoy for my drink.
Grilled chicken sandwich, fruit cup, and Sunjoy
I didn't head out to the race until about 3:45 pm. I arrived at about 4:30 pm. The small dirt lot at the Lovell Canyon Rd entrance was still pretty empty, but I was directed to drive further in and park on the road side just a little beyond Canu Rd. Even though the half marathon wasn't scheduled to start until 6:30 pm, I wanted to be there to see the start of the marathon at 5 pm.
Latino Heat
Marathon start at 5 pm
After seeing the marathoners off on their race, I picked up my race packet and headed back to my car to relax a bit before the start of the half marathon. I had brought along my friend's book, My Noisy Cancer Comeback: Running at the Mouth, While Running for My Life, to help pass the time. When the start of the race approached, I grabbed my stuff which included a reflective vest and headlamp before heading to the start line.
Packet pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Half Fanatics
Half marathon turnaround
Runners heading towards me!
It was great to finally finish that climb up to near mile 9 knowing that it was pretty much a downhill run to the finish line. I followed a guy that had passed me on that last climb, hoping that I could catch up to him. Unfortunately, that never happened as he always seemed to stay just out of reach. Just to keep things interesting, I ended up rolling my left ankle with a little over 2 miles to go. Thankfully, I have pretty flexible ankles. I had to slow to a jog for a little bit before the sharp pain subsided. Then I was able to continue on with my regular pace. Even with the descent, I was still only managing about a 9:30 min/mile pace.
Finish: 2:19:38
Click here for my Garmin data.
After I crossed the finish line and received my finisher medal, I chatted with that guy that I couldn't catch. Turned out that this race was his very first half marathon! He sure didn't pick an easy one for his first! Joyce, the race director, gave me my Calico Slam award for finishing another 4 of her races.
Finisher medal
Calico Slam finished
I grabbed some snacks and then wandered over to the table with sample teas from the Olfactory Tea Bar & Wellness Cafe. I chatted with the person at the table, I believe to be the business owner, about the different teas that she had out until I saw that my friend had just finished his marathon. We got a picture before I decided to start heading out.
Post-race snacks
Finish line
I didn't want to stay too long after the race as I wanted to get some food before Chick-fil-A closed. I drove straight there and ordered a cobb salad with grilled nuggets and a medium mac & cheese on the mobile app before getting in the drive thru lane.
Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and mac & cheese
After I finished my dinner back at my unit, I ended up dozing off while sitting on the couch with the TV on. It was time to take a shower and hit the hay!
Sunday 9/19
I got up early to get ready for the drive home. I was feeling pretty rundown as I didn't sleep very well with the achy left ankle. I got up to use the restroom and I couldn't put weight on that ankle. Nothing was swollen, but it hurt when I tried to stand on it. I stretched it out a bit and eventually, the pain became a discomfort that was bearable with which to walk around. I turned on the Brighton v. Leicester City match which started at 6 am.
I got ready and checked-out of my unit right about 7 am. When I walked to my car, I noticed that my car had a flyer on the windshield for how to get out of timeshare ownership. Looks like my car was the only one that had it. Maybe I should've reported it to the front desk. I'm actually pretty content with my ownership. I just don't appreciate being pestered to attend another useless owner update just so they can pressure me to purchase more credits.
My original plan was to charge the car battery to full before starting my trip, but having seen that the car had a range of about 120 miles remaining, I decided to just drive out to Primm and charge it there while having breakfast at McDonald's. Unfortunately, when I arrived at Jean, there was a roadside sign that said the exit at Primm was closed and to stop here for any supplies. Since the road out was mostly uphill until Halloran Summit, I didn't think the car would have enough charge to get to Baker, so I exited and checked to see if there was a side road that I could take to Primm. No dice. The sign said that the road ended in 5 miles and will not reach Primm. So I double-backed to Vegas to charge the car. Next time, I should just stick to the original plan. Once back in Vegas, I pulled into the Tesla Supercharger station located at Town Square. That little out and back detour cost me at least 50 minutes. Since it was still early in the morning, I ended up staying in the car and reading instead of going outside to walk around.
Leg #1 (do-over): Las Vegas, NV Town Square to Baker, CA: 86 miles
After the car was done charging, I was on my way again. When I passed Primm, I noticed that the exit was actually open! I'm guessing they were done with whatever they were doing and did not remove that ramp closure sign. Oh well... on to Baker. Since I didn't do a full charge at Town Square, I still needed to charge the car at Baker just to make sure that I had enough juice to get to Yermo or Barstow. While waiting for the car to finish charging, I walked over to the Shell gas station to use their restroom. In addition to the availability of snacks or drinks at the gas station convenience store, there was also a Jersey Mike's Subs and Dairy Queen here. Looking on Google Maps, you can also walk a bit further down the road if you want to eat at Los Dos Toritos Restaurant or The Mad Greek.
Leg #2: Baker, CA to Yermo, CA: 51 miles
This leg took just under 50 minutes. If I was planning to eat an early lunch, I would've opted for the station over in Barstow. After plugging in the car, I headed inside EddieWorld to wait it out. After using the restroom, I must have done several laps inside EddieWorld. It was a short charge session as I was only there for about 20 minutes.
Leg #2: Baker, CA to Yermo, CA: 51 miles
This leg took just under 50 minutes. If I was planning to eat an early lunch, I would've opted for the station over in Barstow. After plugging in the car, I headed inside EddieWorld to wait it out. After using the restroom, I must have done several laps inside EddieWorld. It was a short charge session as I was only there for about 20 minutes.
Same name as my friend. I'll have give it a try next time!
Leg #3: Yermo, CA to home: 107 miles
This final leg took just a few minutes under 1 hour and 50 minutes.
This final leg took just a few minutes under 1 hour and 50 minutes.
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