A Scenic Road Trip To Celebrate Electric Vehicles In Richland

I'm always looking for an excuse to go on a road trip and this time. It was National Drive Electric Month, and the Saturday get together at the Reach Museum in Richland, WA. My goal was to travel there, hang out, and meet some likeminded people, see some cool electric cars and then hang out with my buddy Lon and go have some BBQ. After that, drive home. 

The event was set to take place from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Saturday (9/20/25) and that would mean I'd have to get up a little early for my weekend trip. It's approximately a 2-hour drive from Wenatchee to Richland, and that's if I don't stop. Participants in the event were asked to be there early, around 9:40 or so so I washed the car and got on the road. 

When I'm driving to the tri-cities I usually make a stop at the Tesla charging stations between George and Quincy and 15 minutes later I was back on the road. I don't really have to stop at that location, I have plenty of range, but it's a nice place to stop and just hit the bathroom and charge. 

I also wanted to build time into my transit so that I could stop in a couple of locations and just look around at places I've never stopped before. Heading down I-90 on the way to Vantage, there is a lookout where you can stop and see a great view of the Columbia Gorge including Vantage and if you look in the opposite direction you see the Wild Horse Monument on the horizon?  

As you pull into the rest stop and viewpoint, you see a very grim sign that says, “watch out for rattlesnakes”. There's also a plaque that talks about the Puget Sound energies wild horse wind and solar facility. The view is wonderful, especially early in the morning. When the light is just perfect. 

Then it's time to get back on the road and head for Richland. When I got near the Hanford reservation, I noticed that there was a large paving project going on, so I had lots of fresh asphalt to drive on for many miles. One of the things about that section of road is it doesn't really have shoulders, just big wide ditches and as I was making my way down the road, somebody coming the other way apparently forgot that there was no shoulder and found themselves down in one of those big wide ditches. People regularly travel that road at 65 plus miles an hour. Happily, they did not roll the vehicle, and by the time I got there, several police cars, a tow truck, and a fire truck were all there to take care of it. 

I arrived in Richland a little early, but that was good because I had to go to the car wash. My car was covered in bugs, when you're going to a car event, regardless of what type of car it is, nobody wants to see the car covered in bugs. 

The event took place in the parking lot at the Reach Museum in Richland. I had not been there before and I wish I had had time to walk through the museum, but I spent most of my time hanging out in the parking lot with everybody else and we all got to talk about our cars and answer questions. 

One young couple drove all the way from Portland, OR to be at the event. They came up in their brand-new Kia EV9. 

Yes, there were quite a few Tesla's, Several Chevrolet Equinox, (What's the plural for equinox equinoxes?) There was a cool new BMW, a Rivian pickup truck, a Cadillac Lyric, a Hyundai Ionic 5, and a very cool and somewhat rare electric motorcycle by Sondors. 

11:30 rolled around and it was time for me and Lon to take off and go to lunch, and that means BBQ. The Tri-City area has a remarkably large number of excellent BBQ locations. We decided to go to Porters this time around in Richland. I had the stuffed baked potato with pulled pork and BBQ sauce. Lon had sausage and a bowl of brisket chili. 

At that point, it was time for me to hit the road, so I thanked Lon for hanging out with me and got back on the road to head back to Wenatchee. On the way back, I decided to stop in George Washington, (no pun intended) for a miniature sightseeing tour because I wanted to go see the original location of what was Martha's Inn, a great little truck stop restaurant that is no longer with us. 

According to roadsideamerica.com.
‘Martha's Inn was the first business opened in George, Washington, a town created and named in the 1950s as a joke. We've received conflicting reports on the fate of Martha's Inn, but it does appear to be gone now.’ 

After the Gorge concert facility opened, Martha's Inn became a kind of gathering place for people that wanted to do a pre-function before the concerts started.  

Drive home was uneventful except I did see one more driver stuck in a big wide ditch on the side of the road trying to figure out how to get out of it. The State Patrol was already there taking care of business. 

All in all, it was an excellent Saturday Road trip. I got to see the sights, meet some interesting people and look at their cool cars, hang out with my buddy Lon, have lunch at Porter’s, and head home. 

The next Drive Electric Month event that I'm going to will be much closer. Sponsored by plugin NCW, the gathering will take place on Sunday, October 5th starting at 7:30 in the morning at the Pybus Public Market. If you're curious about electric vehicles, you are more than welcome to stop by.  

We will be there from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM.
Plug-In NCW's 3rd Annual EV Line Up — Plug-In North Central Washington
George, WA - George, Washington