Denver to Santa Barbara in a Chevy Bolt: Day 3, Las Vegas to Goleta, Calif.

Christof Demont-Heinrich
I was envisioning feeling triumphant when we got to my sister's in Goleta, Calif., three days, and 1,200 miles, after starting our long-distance road trip in our all-electric Chevy Bolt in Littleton, Colo. In fact, I did feel pretty triumphant driving the final leg of our trip from Victorville, Calif. to Goleta, Calif., which is about a 170-mile drive. Although we hit some "bumps" along the way -- including a confrontation I had with another Chevy Bolt driver at a EV-Go DC fast charger in Victorville today after he unplugged me while I was in the mall with my kids -- it felt pretty good to be zooming along California 101, on a beautiful late July evening as the sun set on the Pacific ocean.

Denver to Santa Barbara in a Chevy Bolt: Day 2, Green River, Utah to Las Vegas

Christof Demont-Heinrich
So, today was day two in our 1,200-mile journey from Denver to Santa Barbara in an all-electric Chevy Bolt. [Read about day one, Littleton, Colo. to Green River, Utah] Today proved that, yes, you can make it with an electric car on a long-distance road trip even when things go wrong/don't work out as planned -- but, honestly, the average person is not likely going to want to go through the kinds of things I, and my two daughters did, today on our long-distance leg of 400 miles from Green River, Utah to Las Vegas.

Denver to Santa Barbara in a Chevy Bolt: Day 1, Littleton, Colo. to Green River, Utah

Christof Demont-Heinrich
I've never done a road trip in a Chevy Bolt before, though I have done two mid-length road trips from Denver to Santa Fe, New Mexico in my brother's Tesla Model S. The family before our departure on a 1,200-mile road trip from Littleton, Colo. to Goleta, Calif. in our all-electric Chevy Bolt, which has 238 miles of range. Here are some of my more memorable impressions after driving the first leg of a 1,200-mile trip from Denver to Santa Barbara today that I am doing with my two daughters, 13 and 11, in tow.

Denver to Santa Barbara in an all-electric Chevy Bolt — Here we go!

Christof Demont-Heinrich
So, I will be driving from Denver to Santa Barbara with my two teen-age daughters in my all-electric 2017 Chevy Bolt starting tomorrow, Tues., July 24, with a planned arrival date in Santa Barbara of Thurs., July 26. I planned the trip out using an app called PlugShare -- plugshare.com. Three days, and two nights. Normally, the 1,200- mile trip would be done in two days, but with an electric car that is not a Tesla, one must count on taking extra time for road trips, at least out here in the wide open spaces of the American West.

Free gas!

Christof Demont-Heinrich
Yes, you can fuel your car for free -- if you invest in home solar and an electric car! How? You pay upfront for your solar 'gas station', allow it to reach so-called 'solar payback' the point in time at which the money you spent on the solar system = the amount you would have paid to a utility for your electricity, a point typically reached after five to 10 years in the United States, then you've got free gas for the lifetime of your solar gas pump which = 10, 15, even 20 years.