DAY 0 - I have fully charged our EV in anticipation of our road trip (for regular commuting, Tesla recommends capping the Model X's 90kW battery's charge around 233 miles to extend the life of the battery, but we'll need maximum range today)

Our first electric road trip is underway. If there had been snow on the 5 through the Grapevine, we would have elected to go up the 101 instead.

This is the first time I plug in our Model X at a Tesla Supercharger. We took delivery of ours ahead of Tesla's announcement that free access to their charging network would become limited for cars produced after January 1st, 2017. We plan to take full advantage of this perk...a benefit of being an early-ish adopter

Seems appropriate that we see a transport carrying new Teslas during our first roadtrip in ours

That said, it strikes me as very odd that these zero emissions vehicles use dino fuel to reach their destination(s)

Valerie is still waiting for our order by the time I walk to the food truck

Pork and cheese pupusa. Overall, I think I prefer pupusas from L.A.'s Vchos Food Truck...but Titas' offering has a crispy edge that I do like

Street tacos always satisfy...in this case, lengua and carne asada

As we walk back to the car, I see we have almost regained the range from our typical commute...which should be sufficient to reach multiple Superchargers en route, so we decide we can leave as soon as we get back to the car.

Due to traffic, an increasing need for a pit stop, and growing concern we won't reach the Gilroy Supercharger with our current charge, we make an unscheduled stop at the Harris Ranch Supercharger. Unfortunately, we have to wait 10 minutes for a space to open up.

Still slowed by horrendous holiday traffic, we deviate from our original plan to drive through Gilroy when we realize our eating options are going to be seriously reduced by the time we reach our next Supercharger. We decide to stay on I5 and stop at Gustine Supercharger...which is located directly behind Pea Soup Anderson's. The funny thing is Valerie and I had originally discussed stopping here as a dining destination, but figured it would be slightly out of the way.

Since Pea Soup is in their name, Valerie and I assume we must try their split pea soup...even though we enjoyed Valerie's tasty homemade version earlier this week

We have seen their location in Buellton during various drives through there, but have never stopped

Valerie and I order a cup of their pea soup

Their version is nothing special

Valerie and I share a dinner of vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy...with a side of fried chicken

Surprisingly, their fried chicken is quite good and the portion is generous (half a chicken). The skin is crispy and even the white meat is pretty juicy.

We pay for our meal with just minutes remaining on the Supercharger. I have been monitoring the progress closely via the app because Tesla recently implemented a 40 cents per minute fee for leaving a fully charged car plugged in.

I take a few pics before heading back to the car. Who knows...this may be the only time we ever stop here.

Ready to unplug and continue our journey. Since our hotel is located close to the Bay Bridge, we decide to continue up the 5 and cut west via I580...and pay the toll to cross the bridge. This appears to be the fastest route, but, according to the nav system's estimate, we won't reach our destination for more than two hours!

The nightmare is over. We have finally checked into our room at the Palace Hotel...roughly 13 hours after our journey began (Valerie points out that we could have flown to Paris in the amount of time it took us to get here)

Sweet...we have a suite

This suite is located on one of this building's rounded corners. I find it interesting that they chose to extend that feature by ending this room with a semicircular wall. Doing so would appear to compromise potentially usable living area...not that Valerie and I need any more space.

The curved wall would appear to compromise potentially usable living area...not that Valerie and I need any more space.

The sad thing is that we probably won't even spend any time in this room

I'm using the DSLR for wide-angle shots and the smartphone for slightly tighter ones. The DSLR still trumps the phone's resolution and noise levels.

The bedroom looks huge thanks in part to the high ceiling

Closer shot of the bed

Looking back to the living area

The only real gripe we might have with our room is the small size of the bathrooms...they could easily make these larger given how unnecessarily large the bedroom is

The view from our corner window...Starbucks below!