It seems like we blinked our eyes and the first week here in Sedona is already in the books. The five inches of snow we got during the last storm is mostly gone, just in time for the next storm tomorrow. Thankfully, this looks like it might be the last of it.
The sun is so intense that the streets are clear in just a matter of hours. As much as I despise snow it does add an entire new dimension to the desert landscape.
Another Unfounded Fear
This was my first lengthy trip away since I’ve gotten my Tesla Model 3. I’ve heard horror stories from other Tesla owners of massive charge loss while the car is parked for long periods of time. There were numerous people in the Tesla group who claimed to have left their car unplugged for just a few weeks and came home to an empty battery. These people must’ve done everything wrong.
Considering I have no way to plug the car in at home and we’re going to be gone for almost six weeks I was really stressing about it.
As it turns out, like most fears, this one was unfounded. I charged the car to 80% the day we left, February 20th, and it’s only lost 1% of charge in the past eight days. If this rate of charge loss continues, I should go home in five weeks to a car that’s still charged somewhere in the 70% range. Not bad.
So far, the research I’ve done on how to make the car conserve energy while parked for long periods of time seems to be paying off. The two main secrets to preventing battery drain while the car is parked is turning off Sentry Mode and cabin overheat protection.
It’s also important to refrain from frequently opening the Tesla App on your phone. Whenever you do it wakes the car’s computer and uses energy. It’s also helping that the car is parked in a garage that’s heated to 55 degrees (F). If it was parked outside in the cold it would have lost much more charge than this. Our rental car is very nice but I'm honestly missing my Tesla.
WTH?!
I’ve been taking walks through the community our Airbnb is located in every day. The neighborhood is very serene and well taken care of. It’s easy to imagine living here full-time. That is until I checked the price of a few of the houses that are currently on the market in the area. This one pictured below is the CHEAPEST I’ve seen. Who wouldn't want to live on a road called Kashmir?
The house is gorgeous, it's newly renovated, and also the views can’t be beat but $899K for a two bedroom/two bath home?. As I said, this is the least expensive I’ve seen. Most houses are selling for well over a million dollars in this immediate vicinity.
The sad reality is Airbnb has driven the price of real estate so high in the city that most people can’t even afford to buy property. This is a common problem in many touristy areas of the world. I hope the local government here finds a way to solve this problem as many of the people who work in Sedona are commuting for hours because this is how far they must drive to find affordable housing. These leaves me very conflicted to be staying in an Airbnb while we're here.
All for now. Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.
~Eric Vance Walton~
(All photos are original.)
Are you interested in joining Hive? If so, click on this link to sign-up and begin sharing your thoughts and ideas with our global community.
—
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.
Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.
These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.