I am very blessed to live in a state with two operating outdoor theaters. I make it a point to see at least one show a year at our local one, The Raleigh Road Outdoor Theater in Henderson, NC. The theater is about 35 miles from my home, which puts me on the edge of my range. Thankfully, the town of Wake Forest has a few public chargers at the Town Hall public parking lot with lots of little restaurants nearby. So off we went to dinner and then the magical reimagining of one of my favorite Disney classics. Thanks to the PlugShare app, I was able to see that the chargers were not in use. However the GE Wattstation Connect app is kind of broken. My friend Nate feared I was going to light the station on fire, I couldn't register an account in the app and the 800# was disconnected. I finally got an account by registering on the GE website, but then we discovered that the charger was just stuck and not locked...
Once we started our charge, we walked to Over the Falls for dinner. Really great food, really fast service, and reasonably priced. There is also White Street Brewing Company Taproom, which is almost directly across the street from the charging stations. After a delightful meal and a full charge, off we went to Henderson! I discovered that Google Maps, when set to avoid Highways, seems to define "highway" by a speed greater than 55mph. Google had us get on and off US-1 in sections that were 55MPH and not 65MPH. We arrived, Nate and myself in the Smart and John and Dave in the i3, and parked together along row 6. We discovered that even on the lowest setting, the Smart's infotainment system was distractedly bright. We came up with a creative solution to overcome that, but it took two radio power-offs before I discovered the on/accessory switch position on the ignition didn't turn on the stupid-bright LED daytime running lights. The movie is a must see, and if you can, see it at a drive in! We made it home, top up due to the cool night, with 18% battery power. It's reasonable that I can go to and from without stopping for a charge. The owner has a Tesla, I've heard, so here's hoping that he might install a J1772 charger at the drive-in some day.
