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I know this is about a month late, but wanted to give everyone a quick "road trip" report along with a cool photo about my trip from Long Beach to the San Francisco Bay Area and then Reno and finally back to Long Beach. I did the drive with my 2006 Honda Civic GX.
I left Long Beach on December 23 and drove to the Bay Area. I stopped in Bakersfield at the CNG station to top off, then drove over to I-5 and took the 5 up to the CNG station in Los Banos (getting a great fill!) before finally making my way to the East Bay. One good thing I saw during my drive was that the Bakersfield CNG station now has 3000 psi AND 3600 psi and the pump actually delivers a full 3600 psi! Last time I was there they only had 3000 psi available there.
I spent December 24 (Christmas Eve) in the East Bay with family. On the 25th, I started to drive to Reno only to find out the I-80 was closed in Auburn due to heavy blowing snow. Highway 50 was open, though, with chain controls from Placerville all the way to Tahoe and Carson City. Therefore, after filling up in Davis at the PG&E CNG pump, I decided to take the "long way" to Reno by driving up Highway 50 through South Lake Tahoe to Highway 395 in Carson City.
I put my chains on in Placerville and made my way up Hwy 50 with no problems with the GX even though it was dumping snow. Once I reached South Lake Tahoe, I pulled into the Tahoe Airport's access road with a brief worry that they might have not cleared the 2+ feet of new snow from the parking lot where the CNG pump is located. But I didn't need to worry as a plow must have gone through the parking lot within the past hour as the parking lot was pretty clear even though it was still snowing on and off.
I pulled into the CNG pump, noticed the outside temperature was just 19 degrees, and filled up in South Lake Tahoe at 6,500 feet in elevation. Definitely the highest elevation I've ever filled up at. PS... for an awesome picture of the CNG pump just covered in snow, check out the attached photo!
Once I got back into my car after filling up, I quickly noticed that I must have gotten one incredible fill as my fuel gauge stayed on the very top light bar for the first 24.7 miles of my drive! I finally got to take my chains off once I reached the 395 in Carson City (even though it was still snowing lightly they had done a great job keeping the 395 clear). When I finally got to Reno (72 miles from the South Lake Tahoe CNG station) I still was above the lower "full" mark on my fuel gauge!
The next morning I drove up to Mt. Rose to go skiing, which meant I needed to put the chains back on the car for the trek up highway 431 as it had snowed almost all night long. After an incredible day of skiing, I drove back to Reno and saw family that evening.
On Dec. 27 it was time to drive home. Given the lack of CNG stations on highway 395, that definitely wasn't an option to get me back to LA, so I "topped off" the CNG tank at the Reno CNG station at Western Energetix (I had gotten a card from them a few weeks earlier). I then drove over I-80 (finally not needing chains as it had stopped snowing and they had cleared the road fairly well), topping off in Auburn at the PG&E CNG pump before going down Highway 99 towards Los Angeles. On the way back to LA I topped off in Merced and again in Bakersfield before finally making my way back to Long Beach many hours later.
Definitely a trip I will remember for quite a while!
Robert
I left Long Beach on December 23 and drove to the Bay Area. I stopped in Bakersfield at the CNG station to top off, then drove over to I-5 and took the 5 up to the CNG station in Los Banos (getting a great fill!) before finally making my way to the East Bay. One good thing I saw during my drive was that the Bakersfield CNG station now has 3000 psi AND 3600 psi and the pump actually delivers a full 3600 psi! Last time I was there they only had 3000 psi available there.
I spent December 24 (Christmas Eve) in the East Bay with family. On the 25th, I started to drive to Reno only to find out the I-80 was closed in Auburn due to heavy blowing snow. Highway 50 was open, though, with chain controls from Placerville all the way to Tahoe and Carson City. Therefore, after filling up in Davis at the PG&E CNG pump, I decided to take the "long way" to Reno by driving up Highway 50 through South Lake Tahoe to Highway 395 in Carson City.
I put my chains on in Placerville and made my way up Hwy 50 with no problems with the GX even though it was dumping snow. Once I reached South Lake Tahoe, I pulled into the Tahoe Airport's access road with a brief worry that they might have not cleared the 2+ feet of new snow from the parking lot where the CNG pump is located. But I didn't need to worry as a plow must have gone through the parking lot within the past hour as the parking lot was pretty clear even though it was still snowing on and off.
I pulled into the CNG pump, noticed the outside temperature was just 19 degrees, and filled up in South Lake Tahoe at 6,500 feet in elevation. Definitely the highest elevation I've ever filled up at. PS... for an awesome picture of the CNG pump just covered in snow, check out the attached photo!
Once I got back into my car after filling up, I quickly noticed that I must have gotten one incredible fill as my fuel gauge stayed on the very top light bar for the first 24.7 miles of my drive! I finally got to take my chains off once I reached the 395 in Carson City (even though it was still snowing lightly they had done a great job keeping the 395 clear). When I finally got to Reno (72 miles from the South Lake Tahoe CNG station) I still was above the lower "full" mark on my fuel gauge!
The next morning I drove up to Mt. Rose to go skiing, which meant I needed to put the chains back on the car for the trek up highway 431 as it had snowed almost all night long. After an incredible day of skiing, I drove back to Reno and saw family that evening.
On Dec. 27 it was time to drive home. Given the lack of CNG stations on highway 395, that definitely wasn't an option to get me back to LA, so I "topped off" the CNG tank at the Reno CNG station at Western Energetix (I had gotten a card from them a few weeks earlier). I then drove over I-80 (finally not needing chains as it had stopped snowing and they had cleared the road fairly well), topping off in Auburn at the PG&E CNG pump before going down Highway 99 towards Los Angeles. On the way back to LA I topped off in Merced and again in Bakersfield before finally making my way back to Long Beach many hours later.
Definitely a trip I will remember for quite a while!
Robert
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