The rollicking tale of a first-of-its-kind adventure—driving a Tesla through Central America.
Only a week after the nation’s newspapers were filled with headlines of the first cross-country trip in an electric car, two Louisianans slip quietly across the Rio Grande in south Texas in an attempt to do the unthinkable—drive a factory electric car across seven Third World countries to the “end of the road,” Panama City, Panama.
Without support and armed only with a toolbox, a bag of electrical adapters, and their wits, author Randy Denmon and his friend Dean trudge on through jungles, deserts, volcanoes, rivers, and crater-sized potholes, all the while trying to avoid the drug cartels and corrupt border guards that could mean a quick end to their adventure . . . and their lives. Through it all, the same enormous problem loomed daily: how to charge the car in such a primitive and desolate setting?
Despite the numerous setbacks, Randy never lost his sense of humor. Off the Grid is as much a spiritual journey as a physical one about two guys who dropped everything for one grand twenty-first-century adventure—traveling back in time in a car that seemed to come from the future.
Excerpt from Off the Grid by Randy Denmon
How had I arrived here? Somehow, my life had gotten
too boring, plain. It needed spice. Something more than just producing more
goods and services than I consumed. What had happened to that young,
adventurous, romantic young man who freely passed the days doing nothing,
smiling, enjoying almost anything, even a trip to the grocery or just a
beautiful spring day?
Surely, like many urban American men of my age, in the
prime of their lives, I wasn’t starting to suffer from that awful
disease—having such a vastly inflated opinion of one’s self-worth that my
disappearance for just a few weeks would result in a national disaster or cause
the Earth to stop spinning. Still, I needed something—adventure, freedom. Maybe
this—especially if we succeeded—would appease my trampled, wandering spirit
before I looked into the mirror and saw nothing but a nerdy, yuppie robot.
Somehow my life had been transformed into a daily
grind of bland social outings and long hours at the office, all without zest.
Now in my forties, I seemed to move through the world without meaning or
direction. Nothing made the soul explode with anxiety or joy as it did in my
youthful days, when optimism penetrated everything. I needed to get off the
grid, away from the cell phones and emails. I needed some freedom. An
overreaction? For sure it would be a hell of an undertaking, worthy of
headlines.
Just a few days earlier, the national papers had been
filled with stories of the first cross-country trip in an electric car, Los
Angeles to New York. That was peanuts compared to what we were attempting. A
few electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts had plans to drive to Alaska, and message
boards across the country were filled with threads discussing how to drive an
electric car across rural Wyoming or Texas. But nobody had yet attempted
anything this bold. Even if we failed, just trying would soothe my psyche. We
had the balls to try if nothing else.
About Randy Denmon
Randy Denmon is a US Army veteran of the
Gulf War. He is also a partner in Denmon
Engineering Inc. in Monroe, Louisiana.
Randy’s first book, The Lawless Frontier,
published by Kensington, was selected as a finalist for the Western Writers of
America Spur Award and the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards.
Denmon is a member of the Western Writers of America and the Writers League of Texas. Prior to publication, his first book was a finalist for the annual National Writers Association’s unpublished novel contest and the Panhandle Professional Writer’s novel contest.
http://www.randydenmon.com/
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