First Annual TOCNYS Anti-Virus & Social Distancing Cruise

First Annual TOCNYS Anti-Virus & Social Distancing Cruise

By: Luis Alicea and Keith Spiro

Walt Whitman once wrote, “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.” I can’t think of a more appropriate phrase that best personifies the feeling that a Tesla owner has once they get behind the wheel of their Tesla.  All Tesla owners agree, we all love our Tesla. Most people would say they only drive because they have to; not Tesla owners. Tesla owners live for the thrill of the drive. The instant torque you get when you press the Go Pedal leaves every owner with the grin; owners call it “the Tesla grin.” Unlike most car owners, Tesla owners look for excuses to drive. Heck, I look for excuses to go to the supermarket just so I could drive my Tesla. For most owners Tesla is not just a car, it’s a lifestyle. Once you’re an owner, you belong to a community, a worldwide community… perhaps, someday, a Mars community.

With the recent cancellation of most club events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla owners are now finding themselves going through withdrawal. Most people are confined to their homes. For some, this home confinement can lead to loneliness, depression and anxiety. The LI chapter of TOCNYS has certainly felt, and continues to feel, the stress and anxiety of this confinement. In order to relieve some of the stress from confinement and to help spread the message of the importance of social distancing; on Sunday, April 5th TOCNYS – Long Island Chapter – held its First Annual TOCNYS Anti-Virus/Social Distancing Cruise event.

In total, six members of the local chapter met at the Valley Stream, NY Supercharger station. All owners in attendance had facial protective equipment and adhered to social distancing guidelines and/or stayed in their Tesla. From there, one by one each Tesla exited the Valley Stream Supercharger station. All in formation, one by one down Sunrise highway a caravan of five Tesla Model 3s (one member had to leave early) can be seen driving towards the Wantagh expressway. Like a squadron of fighter jets in perfect formation, the TOCNYS LI Chapter, headed out to the Jones Beach Water Tower.

I can honestly say the drive felt therapeutic; it was a much needed and welcomed relief. The roads were practically empty and knowing that you are driving with a group of like-minded individuals, who share a love for all things Tesla, diluted the stress/anxiety that all are feeling during these uncertain times. For a brief twenty-five minute drive all the desolation that is happening all around us all but disappeared. Like a pressured steam valve, the drive was a badly needed outlet, and all of it was done with social distancing in mind, in the safety of our Teslas.

We are all in this together. Elon Musk is just one cog in the gear-train we call life. TOCNYS is but one tooth in that cog we call Tesla. We’re all doing our part to be together (safely) as well as being apart. Some of us can’t live our lives like hermits. We know the risks, but we come well protected and use every precaution. Like Elon’s world, without unity there is no life, and without life we have no meaning. We all have a purpose. That purpose is to go on, no matter what.

Here is link to the YouTube video showing some of the events that took place,  filmed/edited by Luis Alicea-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiMUbhjwfGc&feature=emb_title

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