Navigating the flood of 2025

 “Mike, our car has only 23 miles of electric charge left,” Pickett told me on the phone. “That’s not enough to get home with U.S. 501 shut down.”

So began a family adventure to get her back during a week of serious flooding in Halifax County. About five inches of rain fell in our area in one night, and the main artery from South Boston to Durham, N.C. was closed on July 7. Several motorists had to be rescued in the county.

After the rain stopped, the GPS was useless in finding alternate routes to the Mayo power plant in North Carolina, where our Tesla was parked with Pickett inside. The GPS didn’t really know which of many roads were blocked by flooding.

So, I got out an old-fashioned Halifax County paper map and followed the route suggested by someone on Facebook:  Go north from Cluster Springs to South Boston, east to Midway and south pastVirgilina, then follow Highway 49.

Rather than go alone in our pickup truck, I persuaded my daughter Sara and her 8 and 10-year-old children to go with us in their car. The kids were bored and wanted to go some place interesting, but the ride was uneventful.

I’m glad the drive didn’t last over a half-hour. It was terribly hot, and Pickett didn’t use the air conditioning, which would have run down the charge even more. After we arrived, she got into the back seat with two very restless and squirming children for the return home.

Two days in a row she drove back down to the flood scene at Hyco River, three miles south of Cluster Springs, to see if the route was open yet.

Pickett suggested I ride my e-bike down U.S. 501 while the route was closed. There is always too much traffic but not this time on Thursday. I whizzed the 3 miles to the scene, only to find the road open! I posted my scoop on Facebook and turned around quickly to get home before the traffic from North Carolina picked up.

We drove back down once more, and Pickett took the Tesla back home, with six miles of charge left.

I still love our electric car, but I sure wish there were more charging stations.