Day 11 #TeslaNashvilleRoadTrip. NOLA
Driving from Galveston to New Orleans with a Tornado warning and heavy rain. Through Baton Rouge. 369 miles.
The Index of all 30 posts from day 1 of our #TeslaRoadTripUSA is HERE.
Set off from Galveston early, 6.15 am. Still dark. Temperature was 77f. 288 miles of range. Leaving Galveston we passed countless miles of enormous Oil processing plants. I had no idea of the scale of Oil refining that goes on in this area. As we headed for Louisiana we noticed that the Tesla automatic lights did not turn off. It was dark when we left, but the light did not come on as it normally does. Dark thick cloud overhead meant is was dark enough to keep the Tesla readout requiring lights on. I noticed Trucks too had their lights on.
After some two hours of driving, after 10 am, it was still dark with a feeling of ominous dread in the air. The pressure I remember from South African thunderstorms. And then the rain began. I could see this was not a regular drizzle. When we planned this journey we learned about the risk of Tornadoes in this area, the South East. Lubbock had that awful double tornado in 1970. Galveston lost over 10,000 lives in the storms of 1900. And now we were on a narrow two lane highway in Tornado alley as the sky went black and the rain starting pelting down. Heavy large raindrops.
The Tesla windscreen wipers on full could not keep the windscreen clear. At some points visibility was down to a millisecond glimpse of the lane ten yards ahead. We decided to pull off, which was not as easy as it normally sounds. The worst part of this experience was the truck cowboys in their F-150’s. Proving how courageous they are by racing at 70 miles an hour past me in the slow lane as I aimed for the next turn off. There was puddled standing water at some points deep enough to cause the car to aquaplane. While these road heroes skidded past at 70 miles an hour.
We stopped at a Waffle House and waited out the worst part of the rain. Although after the dodgy experience in the waffle house we wondered whether we might have been better off in the storm. The Weather app said ‘Extreme weather, rain should clear by 12’. Around 11.30 we set off again, now with about 70 miles of range with the next Tesla charge 55 miles away. Another wave of heavy rain hit. Lucky for me the Tesla is a heavy car that handled the standing water well enough to get us to the charge point near Welsh. It was raining constantly, but intermittently the rain would become extreme, reducing visibility to almost zero.
By the time we got to the charge point I was amped up on adrenaline that two coffees boosted wonderfully. In the rest stop there was the usual christian book section. Despite the temptation of adding to my enormous collection of Holy Books, I resisted buying another Bible. They didn’t have any Trump merchandise so why would I support them.
The rain seemed to be letting up a bit and so we decided to risk carrying on. Still some 250 miles from New Orleans. Not long after we left my phone did the loud beep and posted a warning. EMERGENCY ALERT. TORNADO WARNING.
We headed for the nearest shelter and waited an hour until it was clear that no twister was going to suck up the Tesla. I was almost sorry not to see the Tornado. It missed us, as did the ping pong ball sized hail. The Hook echo of the tornado showed it hit west of Anson.
Here’s a windscreen video before we pulled over.
Once we saw the Tornado did not show as expected and I got over the disappointment of not seeing the ping pong ball hailstones, we left our safe place and headed back on the I-10 towards New Orleans. Recharging near Baton Rouge playing Kris Kristofferson’s song. Me and Bobby McGee.
321 miles of charge for the last leg to NOLA. Rain has lessened.
More pictures from the window. The I 10 towards New Orleans.
Pictures of lawyers and Jesus fill every available roadside billboard.
Getting closer to New Orleans.
More pictures from the car
And more from the car window as we arrived in New Orleans. Two homeless encampments with a guy injecting himself as we drove in. (Bottom right picture.) Then we were in our New Orleans Hotel near the French Quarter.
Sorry we missed the twister but glad to be alive. And glad the car was unmarked.
Later we walked to the Court House on Poydras street. Advancing my court action, Andrew V the U.S Government; for accessory to mass murder with premeditation.
I believe Biden’s administration knew the weapons they sent to kill children would be used to kill children. More to follow.
Tomorrow is a working day in New Orleans.
The Index of all 30 posts from day 1 of our #TeslaRoadTripUSA is HERE.