Tag: 2017

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LONG STORY: This week I drove up to Elk Grove California to see a new Costco with my 2017 Chevy Volt. Other than some road construction, the drive was uneventful and safe going from Los Angeles to Elk Grove.  Overall I got about 33 MPG using gas online with my Volt.  Most of the mileage hits was because I enjoy driving at the speed limit (maybe a little faster) along with touring mountain and coastal drives.  With the California fires still impacting the state with destroyed homes and smokey air across the state, I decided to travel on the Interstate 5 rather than the crossover highways such as the CA46 or CA 41. After this season of driving through ash and smoke I definitely plan to change out my cabin air filter ( https://amzn.to/2r5Iazv ) early.   DIY on how to replace incabin filter video here: https://youtu.be/uBDiU7jeWfE  

In Berkeley and Sacramento, it was so smokey my girlfriend and I  were not able to see San Francisco across the bay. We were equipped with N95 ( https://amzn.to/2DY7a4j ) and P95 ( https://amzn.to/2TKuMxN ) masks to counter the high particles dust in the air.  Both masks were comfortable, but the P95 had soft foam sides and an cool vent exhaust port that made wearing a mask more comfortable.  We saw Amazon 4 Star store and realized it gave Prime members preferred pricing similar to the pricing online.  Our visit to Elk Grove Costco was fruitful as we got Chili and had it along with a hot dog. Yum!

We also visited the Hakone Gardens which was very beautiful Japanese garden that exemplified the fall colors and beauty.

With Thankgiving sales and deal  available at  big box discount store available,  My girlfriend and I usually buy canned foods, dry goods, and dry pasta, to rotate our pantry stock. We donate good dry goods and canned goods we rotate out to local food banks and shelters.   We donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank ( https://www.shfb.org/ ).  I was planning drive back to Los Angeles with my donations left in the trunk of my Chevy Volt.   My Volt was parked on a residential street in a very safe neighborhood. All of my cargo, supplies, or car accessories are put away, hidden, and any thing valuable i take with me such as my work laptop.

Unfortunately, the morning after Black Friday, I discovered my rear hatch glass window smashed ALL of my groceries, emergency bag, first aid, some GoPro mounts, COSTCO cooler bag, and my Costco Car Jumping battery were STOLEN!  I was kinda surprised and sad at the same time.  I hated the fact that it rained that night and my trunk and some of my back seat were wet.

On the positive side, my girlfriend and I cleaned up the majority of the glass the Chevy Volt looked new on the inside!  Since I needed to drive back to LA, we taped up the rear window with two layers of  thin plastic sheeting and lots of blue painters tape. We taped a sheet on the exterior of the hatch and another sheet on the interior of the hatch. This provided buffeting from both wind pushing from the outside and pressure inside the cabin pushing out the sheeting.   The initial tape was stable up to about 50 MPH and started to ripple aggressively against the driving wind. I was relatively stable. It was also very loud as other vehicle car engines can be heard as if the window was open.

After traveling from San Jose to Gilroy, I stopped by a hard ware store and bought another roll of 2 inch painters tape ( https://amzn.to/2DMdXx0 ) and started to tape more diagonals across the corners and from the top of the hatch all the way down the bottom of the hatch door. I was more afraid of the sheet of plastic catching wind and separating from the tape.  With cross hatching of the tape on both sides and down the middle, the buckling of the sheeting dropped dramatically. I was able to drive 70+ MPH and still listen to music over the wind noise.  I was less worried about the temporary window cover flying off the car at highway speeds.  Only the horizontal positioned tape had flapping during the drive.

Driving for hours down the Interstate 5, I noticed I use my side mirror more often then my  rear mirror.  I would have like it if we were able to enable our rear camera to act as a live rear mirror similar to the feature in the Chevy Bolt.

I eventually made it back Los Angeles about 45 minutes later than expected due to the pit stops to check the window and for bathroom breaks due to the nervousness of the situation.

Well that’s my 2018 Thanksgiving adventure and drive with my Chevy Volt! Stay tuned for more Chevy Volt Vlog.

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