I Rented an EV. Oops.

Phoenix Getaway travelog #8
Around town · Sun, 21 Sep 2025. 7pm

Getting a rental car usually involves a spin of the proverbial roulette wheel. The past several years I've been reserving at the "full size sedan" or "intermediate SUV" categories to avoid the worst of the econo-penalty box vehicles. Alas the result is usually an uninteresting car. The most common model I've been assigned the past few years is the Toyota Camry (read my Camry review). Number two, Toyota RAV4 (read my RAV4 review). They're good cars but bo-o-oring. (Except that one time a RAV4 implausibly got me through snow and mud on a 4x4 mountain trail.) This trip I got an interesting rental car: a Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicle.



Being assigned an EV this trip wasn't a surprise. I mean, I booked the EV category. 😂 But not because I particularly wanted an EV. Frankly I've avoided booking EVs as rental cars because I don't want to have to figure out how to access charger networks without a subscription for just one fill-up. This time the EV category was way cheaper than everything else, like half the cost of an econo-penalty box and one-third a traditional intermediate SUV. My innate thriftiness won out over my dislike of having to figure out charging.

Well, I haven't had to charge it yet, but I've looked up the network info the rental agency provided and— yeesh, what an f'ing mess.

To put this in terms of filling up a traditional, gas powered car, imagine that:

• There are only about a dozen filling stations you can use spread across a major metropolitan area


• You can't just swipe a credit card at the pump, you have to download an app and create an account


• And Exxon, Shell, Valero, etc. each require a different app


• And, for you, gas is $16-20/gallon. 😡

Easy Evening, Easy Morning in Phoenix

Phoenix Getaway travelog #9
Hilton Resort · Mon, 22 Sep 2025. 11am

Last night at this evening we've been taking it easy. ...Which has 100% been our plan, because we're on a taking-it-easy short vacation!

Last night we went out for dinner after we were done for the day with floating around the resort's lazy river. We found a pizza place we agreed on and split a pizza there. Afterwards Hawk announced that she'd like to visit a grocery store to buy some dessert (for back in the room) and possibly breakfast for the morning. We found a nearby branch of A.J.'s— the bougie grocery store we bought take-home dinner from last night— and went there. On the way we passed approximately 351 other pizza restaurants. Yes, I counted. Though I may be off by a few. 🤣

When we got back to the room we dug into our desserts right away. Mine was a delicious chocolate ganache cheesecake... and I'm glad to say I only ate half of it. (The other half's for tomorrow night!) We just vegged on the sofa for the rest of the evening. We forgot all about our plans to use the hot tub together and just went to bed a bit after 9pm. OMG we're getting old! 😆

This morning we slept in a bit. The weather was kind of crummy— for Phoenix. It was cloudy and only 80° out! But still we changed into our swimsuits and headed over to the River Ranch in time for its 9am opening.



We decided to wait out the dodgy weather by curling up on a pair of chaise lounges. 80° isn't exactly let's-jump-in-the-water weather but it is comfortable sitting on a lounge chair weather. We passed the time reading on our phones and chatting about things. And within an hour or so the sun came out. So we grabbed our inflatable rafts and went for a spin.

Now it's 11:00 and we're kind of hungry. That's not surprising as breakfast, at least for me, was a protein bar in the room this morning. We'll head over to the poolside cafe in a few minutes to place an order. If it's a long wait I may even ride the pool slide a few times while waiting for our food.