Our Electrifying Car Experiences

 

• A published Aug. 25, 2022 in the South Boston (VA) News & Record
• By Mike Doan
  

You don’t see many Teslas in Halifax County. “What do you like about it?” I get asked at the Food Lion parking lot in South Boston. “Is it really cheaper than using gasoline?” I’m asked at a church gathering.

We bought a Nissan Leaf electric car first after Tesla installed chargers at no cost to our bed & breakfast because there were so few chargers in the area. Let’s get an electric car too, we decided. They’ll definitely reduce our carbon footprint and save on gas, too.

The Leaf was a great start, but it could only run about 110 miles on a charge. Twice we ran out of fuel when we got lost on a trip. Once it was at a gas station, quite embarrassing! A tow truck had to rescue us. And when there were fewer than 10 miles left on a charge, the car’s speaker system would start screaming at us and we would go into a panic until we found a charger. 

We’ve had better luck for our longer trips with our Tesla 3 (Standard Range +), which can go up to 220 miles on a charge, though long range Teslas can go 315 miles. The car cost us about $40,000 in 2022, about the average price for a new car. (Next year buyers can get a $7,500 tax credit). We can plug it in at home and when traveling recharge it at a supercharger, which can fill it up in half an hour for $15 to $20. That’s about 5-10 cents a mile when away from home, compared to about 15 cents for a gasoline vehicle. However, if you plug the car in to a socket at home, you’ll save more.

So what do we like? The acceleration is amazing. The ride is smooth and quiet. You can warm up the car in winter from home with a app. Your phone controls the door locks. The sound system is awesome. Pedestrians walking in front of us set off an alarm. You can follow another car in heavy traffic and the car will slow down and speed up automatically. Voice commands can tell the A/C to ramp up or the GPS to take you home. There’s the “dog mode,” which can keep the A/C on if you briefly leave the dog in the car and tells concerned onlookers on the screen not to worry! Other automakers are starting to catch up with these innovations.

Then there is an auto-pilot feature that keeps the car from moving out of its lane. I don’t use it because it tends to make me sleepy!  If we had spent more on the ‘full self driving option’, we could have gotten it to stop at stoplights and pick us up in a parking lot.

There is virtually no maintenance required—except for rotating the tires and filling the wiper fluid. The car doesn’t become outdated because features are updated regularly via wi-fi signals sent by the manufacturer.

The big screen on the dashboard can be confusing. The first time my wife Pickett drove the car, it rained and she couldn’t figure out how to start the windshield wipers, which did not turn on when they are supposed to when the window gets wet.

Perhaps the most fun moment came when a local friend asked if his 12-year-old nephew could interview me for a class paper he was writing about Teslas. I let the boy ride with me, and he was totally awestruck by everything about it. Afterward, he wrote me a thank-you note, indicating it was one of the high points of his young life. Awww!

 

 

 

Who Needs an Office? Newcomers Love it Here

 

Look for more people from urban areas to move to Halifax County, where folks are friendly, traffic is light and housing is inexpensive. Guests at Oak Grove Bed & Breakfast who are seeking property say they can work from home and don’t have to commute long distances to work in crowded offices.

 

One couple threw a dart at a map and somehow ended up in Cluster Springs. “We wanted to get out of Miami and live a simpler lifestyle,” says Alejandra Martinez. “So we took a road trip, got a realtor and the rest is history!” She and husband Francisco and son Frankie stayed at the B&B before settling on a house a half mile from us.. “What I love is the freedom we have,” she says.. “We can practically start work at any time and end any time.” Our son is home schooled and he has the same freedom.” Francisco is an engineer who designs solar panels for a company in the West. She works as a virtual administrative assistant under  CEOs from Texas, New Jersey, Arizona and India.  She blended in fast and sang at Constitution Square just before the July 4 fireworks.

 

Ray Weiss and Susan Black moved from northern Virginia to Halifax in 2020 during the pandemic. “We don't have to worry about going back into an office and we are very happy about that,” Weiss says. “We started volunteering at the Prizery this year because we would go to events there and thought it would be fun to help out. We love it here in Halifax and at the Prizery

 

Keith Washo came to Halifax from the Raleigh, mainly because he fell in love with Chelsey Garrett, who manages the Edward Jones office in Halifax. But he could also move because his tech job with Adaptive Sound Technologies allowed him to work remotely. As a musician, he also found “Halifax County a quiet, peaceful setting for writing and composing.” Since arriving, he has offered soccer camps via the YMCA and music shows and a song-writing class at The Prizery.

 

Brittny Valdes calls her move to Halifax County “a match made in heaven.” A native of the Miami area, she worked with her friend Mark Anthony to paint a mural in the Halifax Farmers Market. Soon she landed her current job as box office manager for The Prizery and occasionally freelances for the News & Record. “This community has accepted and supported me since day one,” she says. “I It’s changed my life and made it better.”

 

Two of our other guests who found a home here were Loretta and Bertram Cuffley, who moved from Stamford, Conn.  in 2013. “We were searching for an old house between Southern Virginia and North Carolina for early retirement,” she says. “Aside from the low cost of housing and taxes, people were welcoming, and the Prizery was a bonus. The proximity to major cities was also an attraction. We love it here.”

 

Scotty Felton, realtor at Long & Foster, reports, “Since covid, some people have come here because of the ability to work from home.  The only challenges right now are a shortage of available homes and inability to get Internet in some areas. That could change with new efforts to extend Wi-Fi coverage in rural areas.

 

Persistence Pays Off for Diva

 

 

News of Kelly Glyptis’ starring role in London brings back wonderful memories of my six seasons as a local in Prizery Summer Theater musicals.

 

Long before she landed her treasured role as Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera, on Aug. 1, she had been a mainstay in The Prizery’s summer stock productions from 2016 to 2018 while not on tour with opera companies.

 

Her director, Chris Jones, told me: “I first met Kelly when the Virginia Opera came to The Prizery. After the performance, I took the company to Bistro 1888 for a late dinner! We bonded immediately and went on and on about our Summer Theater. Kelly was impressed. So when I called and offered her a job she immediately said yes!”

 

In one production with her, I particularly remember her marvelous rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” in Carousel. One advantage of being in those shows is getting to hear something like that in performance and rehearsal about 20 times.

 

In “Into the Woods,” her song “Last Midnight,” as the witch, was a cue for me to get on stage as the Mysterious Man for my duet “No More,” with the Baker.

 

Kelly wasn’t just a singer and actress. She was licensed as a fight choreographer, though she sure didn’t look like a fighter!  Once she was assigned to help me tumble down a flight of stairs and land on top of Jack in the Beanstalk without getting hurt. After a few tries, I got really grumpy and told her to forget it. I mean, I was 75 years old! The last thing I wanted to do was fall down the stairs! She took it gracefully.

 

There were so many other memories: Katie Holland’s parents showing up at every performance in which she danced. Evan and Lydia Snead blossoming on stage. Jacob Waid’s magnificent “Bring Him Home” solo in Les Miserables, and two Prizery actors, Fergie L. Philippe and Tyler McKenzie, joining Hamilton on Broadway.

 

At The Prizery’s request, I pursued a story about Glyptis’s new role, though I was scooped by the News & Record’s wonderful article by Victoria Thompson! Though five hours away, Glyptis was quite responsive to my inquires over iMessenger, even answering a few questions between acts.

 

What impressed me most was her persistence with her craft. Though Summer Theater may not have advanced her opera career, her six musicals certainly gave her experience in a fairly new field for her. She wasn’t afraid to break loose and try her hand on another continent. In London, she had a great deal of success before joining the theater company of Andrew Lloyd Webber, probably the greatest living musical theater composer.

And in her role as a precocious prima donna, she got to be an opera singer—just what she set out to do in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Moveable Feast for Hungry Dogs

 

 

If you ride bikes on the Halifax County roads, you might encounter nasty dogs. I have a few dogs of my own that wouldn’t mind scaring the daylights out of cyclists for fun, but they are too far from the road.

 

Most dogs are harmless, but what do you do when a ferocious, chasing mutt looks like it wants to put bite marks on your pants? Personally, I use a spray called “Halt” if they get too close. (As long as I don’t spray myself.) I kept it in my pocket until a boxer on Old Cluster Springs Road took a chunk out of my right leg about 10 years ago. He was quarantined for a few days and then was out on the road yapping at bikers like before. I avoided that road for years.

 

I asked other bike riders what they do about dogs. Walter Hampton, who has since moved to Front Royal, uses an electronic gadget that harmlessly jolts threatening dogs as they approach. Ray Weiss of Halifax takes his water bottle and squirts or dumps it on the dog, and I have seen it work. Bob Plapp of South Boston simply boasts, “I outrun them!”

 

Otherwise, I find the county a great place to ride, but I do it only in good light and on roads with little traffic. There are so few riders, you can set records. According to the ride tracking app Strava, I am a “local legend” for having made the “Stokes Creek Climb to Old Cluster” more than anyone in the last 90 days. Wow. I don’t even know where that is, but it sure isn’t steep.

 

I guess one group that thinks it is steep is the Hampton Roads Bicycle Club, which came to our B&B to experience the lightly traveled roads about 20 years ago. Mostly they sat around the fireplace. While it was raining lightly, many of them complained that it was too hilly here. What? Well, maybe compared to Hampton Roads! Those who actually rode ended at Breezy Oaks Farm Bed & Breakfast, where everyone stopped for a massage and decided to quit for the day.

 

I started riding here at age 57, when one of our guests invited me to go with him on our dirt trails. Who, me? Well, why not? I had already been riding an exercise bicycle, which uses the same muscles. I couldn’t keep up with him, but I was sold! Afterward, I commuted to work by bike for years in Washington, turning the worst two hours of the day into the two best.  It wasn’t all perfect. I collided with another bicyclist in front of the Treasury building and was hospitalized briefly with a concussion. I was rescued by the Secret Service! I must be important!

 

In the Cluster Springs area, I like riding on Link-Puryear Road, Old Cluster Springs Road, German Creek Road and Cherry Hill Church Road. I used to go on some great rides into North Carolina, particularly on Bethel Hill Road.

 

The biggest advance for biking around here has been the Tobacco Heritage Trail, which was expanded from 2 ½ miles to 4 miles a couple of years ago. That round trip is usually enough for me. It is well maintained and popular among our guests as well. It’s encouraging to see children on bikes, a good sign for the future.

And , with leashes required, you (probably) don’t have to worry about getting bitten by a dog.