Most of you might probably agree that driving has brought many advantages to mankind. This is not to mean that driving does only good, but the primary intention was to make it easier for us. So we don’t speak of the gazillion accidents every year on this planet, and neither of the negative impacts it will have if 8 billion people decide they want a car. But, for us, mostly it brings us to the destination faster, easier and with a lot more luggage than we could carry ourselves.

So, driving across the US should be a piece of cake, then! But here’s the thing – while driving is a blessing most of the time, it can also be a curse. I expect to do approx. 5’000 miles overall, and not all of them will be interesting. I mean, if I am driving a “scenic” route from A to B I would assume all of the journey will be scenic and nice and curvy and interesting. Not so. Probably 45 minutes of the overall drive of 5 hours is scenic and interesting, and to get to that scenic route, you had to detour for 45 minutes… and the rest is just flat, straight and boring.

So it would be nice to have that invisible driver with you that does not need to have a pit stop, doesn’t get tired, never complains and doesn’t cost anything, neither food nor drink nor accommodation or fees. So once the scenic portion is over and you’re tired and sick of holding that steering wheel just straight you could just switch seats and do something efficient, like read a book or plan the journey ahead. But unfortunately, that driver is not there.

Some of the new driving assistance gadgets are going the right direction, but for the full automated driving in portions where you don’t want to do it, it’s just not there yet. Adaptive cruise control and side & lane assist do a good job but it is still a mile to the full autopilot. Of course, the Prius doesn’t have all of that. Now, this may turn into a little bit of a road test report of the Prius, so if you could not care less you can skip this section. The Prius has at least cruise control, for which I am very grateful, and it does have it in the right place: It is not yet another button on the steering wheel, but a separate lever on the right lower side of the steering wheel that is fully intuitive and blind to operate: Push the button = On. Down: Set and decel. Up: Resume and accel. Pull towards you: Standby. Whoever between the 1980ies (Mercedes-Benz) and 2011 (Jeep Grand Cherokee) decided to put it from there onto the steering wheel should be tarred and feathered instantly.
Other than the lack of assistance systems, which you could get on the Prius if you wanted to spend another 10’000 CHF in Switzerland (just checked their website), and the noise from the resistance optimized tires, the car is actually pretty good for such a long ride. Of course, especially the part at the gas station. Where I could sink about 100 dollars on previous rental cars in Hawai’i and they still would not be full, I haven’t managed yet to spend 40 dollars and not have to return to the counter to retrieve my 5 or 10 USD in change! Another great part is the “touristy driving” in the National Parks and so. Slowing down to watch wildlife and pull over on the shoulder: Silent. Starting again slowly to decide to go to the main parking lot: Silent. Exiting from the parking lot with half battery left and rolling downhill to the next scenic spot: Silent AND a full battery when stopping down there.

Well, so far I have come a good way and can relax a little while here in Grand Teton. Tomorrow I will be on an organized tour with Getyourguide, for which I am doing some freelance photography, and then will proceed to staying in Yellowstone. Which will mean, by the way, that I won’t have cellphone or internet coverage and will not be able to add to the blog for another couple of days. This is why I have added a few more “pictures of the day” here and here.

And here’s the “scenic drive gallery”