Sunday we decided to try a new area for a hike, our choice was a trail at the McCully Heritage Project in Calhoun County, Illinois. This will be followed by a drive down the Great River Road through Grafton and Alton Illinois. When we arrived home the day before we plugged our Tesla into our home charging setup so we left with a 90% charge. We have set our home charging to stop at 90%, Tesla recommends charging to 80%-90% for daily charging, and to charge above 90% when necessary for long stretches between chargers while traveling.
We left our home in O’Fallon, MO shortly before 10am and soon after leaving we arrived at the Golden Eagle Ferry for Misty Blues first boat ride. 
After exiting the Ferry, it was just over a 30 mile drive to Kampsville, Illinois where our hiking trail of choice was located. Calhoun County provides amazing scenery as well as fresh Peaches if you happen to be in the area at the right time of the year. We arrived at our destination and prepared for our hike of around 7 miles. Amazing scenery along the way, especially at the overlook, we crossed paths with one horse rider as well as one other couple hiking. Here’s a view of the Illinois River Valley from the overlook we hiked to.
Back at the Tesla we took a few minutes to rest and off we went towards the Great River Road to Grafton. It was this stretch that we experienced one of the safety features included with our Tesla. We were approaching a slight curve in the road when our car started braking as well as moving itself to the far right side of our lane. A motorcycle was driving towards us and was within inches of the centerline. It never did enter our lane, but it was nice to see the Tesla safety features being proactive. We stopped a couple times in Grafton to view some individual Eagles resting the in the trees.
Continuing down the river road south of Grafton you get an amazing view of the Mississippi River. This view continues almost the entire way to Alton. A quick stop at the Alton Dam to get a distant view of a Bald Eagle Nest and it was time to head home.
Total miles driven 136, we consumed 25.63 kWh’s of electric for a cost of $2.05. Once again we plugged the car in so it would be charged to 90% to start the workweek commute.
Up Next: 1st Full Week Commute
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