From: "Kieran Roe, Conserving Carolina" <holler@conservingcarolina.org> Date: October 28, 2023 at 6:30:13 PM EDT To: peteandtess@gmail.com Subject:The big day Reply-To: rose@conservingcarolina.org
Breaking ground on the Ecusta Trail!
A Day to Celebrate:
Breaking Ground on the Ecusta Trail!
Dear Peter,
Today is a day to celebrate. This morning we broke ground on the Ecusta Trail! The long-awaited 19-mile rail trail from Hendersonville to Brevard is now officially underway. I want to thank everyone who supported the trail and got us to this incredible milestone.
A project of this scale takes a huge amount of effort and investment and could seem beyond reach. But volunteers with the grassroots Friends of the Ecusta Trail had a vision that they championed for over 14 years.
When an opportunity came up to buy the rail corridor, they asked us to partner with them. A subsidiary of Conserving Carolina bought the land in 2021. Then, Conserving Carolina and Friends of the Ecusta Trail set about raising tens of millions of dollars for trail construction. That's an astonishing goal for two local nonprofits. You made it possible.
There was a tremendous outpouring of support. Local businesses and individuals donated millions of dollars that we needed to match state and federal grants. We met our fundraising target... but escalating costs made our goal of building the trail still seem very far away. Then, this summer we received two game-changing federal grants for construction. And we are ready to build the trail!
This morning, we got started. The groundbreaking at the Veterans Healing Farm kicked off the first section of trail—a 5.7 mile stretch from Hendersonville to Horse Shoe. This section is expected to be complete in about a year. The entire 19-mile trail is expected to be complete in 3-5 years.
There is one more phase of fundraising, to provide amenities so you can access and enjoy the trail. That includes things like trailheads, restrooms, benches, and signage. Friends of the Ecusta Trail, which first launched this visionary project, is taking the lead and you candonate here.
I want to thank everyone who gave to the trail and I especially want to recognize our major donors, who are listed here. Major funding also came from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the State of North Carolina, Henderson County Tourism and Development Authority, and the Transylvania County Tourism and Development Authority. I am also very grateful for the leadership of Henderson County and the City of Brevard.
Today, with shovels in the ground, we started to make the dream real. I can't wait to get out on the Ecusta Trail, walking, running, or biking with you!
Wow! That last reviewer read my mind… Excellent, informative, no nonsense review and I appreciate your knowledge and experience. We have been driving two Hondas for decades; Accords, Civics, and recently the CRV and Fit. I traded the Fit for the Chevy Bolt EUV and we Love it But I want to trade the CRV Hybrid for something more to its size and the Ariya might be it. My test drive yesterday and your video might be the deciding factors. The Ariya is perfect. Solid, stable, quick, quiet and smooth as silk. Everything about an EV in a sleek, stylish frame. You answered so many questions; the battery warranty of 8 years and no history of fires. That fire thing scared us at first but I think GM solved it but it lingers a bit. We love modern but don’t want it to be too space shippy. I got used to one pedal driving quickly but I’ll have to remember to use the brakes in the Ariya and I’m not sure I understand the physics of the e-pedal. You used the pro pilot system. I have not tried Supercruise. I like all the safety bells and whistles but I’m not ready for self driving. Your demo of self parking however was pretty amazing. All of this come down to Does my wife like it??? Again, think your video might help as well as a test drive. Thanks for doing such a great video with no music and no nonsense headlines. I’m turning to YouTube to make big decisions and truth is the best sales pitch. Thanks Again!!!
Her Reply:
Miss GoElectric
Thank you, Pete.😊 I am glad the review was helpful for you. The Ariya is a great balance of having a lot of modern tech without being intrusive. The goal here is always to provide an honest view of what a vehicle does well and doesn't, that realistically impacts the buyer, so I appreciate you sharing your experience. Please keep me posted if you end up purchasing & how you wife likes the vehicle if/when she drives it! 🤓 Feel free to comment again if you have any other questions 😊 Thanks for watching and commenting! 😊
You’re welcome and thank you for responding. This is truly a new age of communication. Yes, my goal was to drive as many EV’s as possible because that’s really the fun and freedom of shopping a car, we’ve been so programmed to just trading in the Hondas that the Thrill of buying was pretty much lost BUT we loved the Hondas. But now the EV is a whole new ballgame and I’m in! To me everything about the EV driving experience is Better than ICE and I’ll never go back But there is that range factor on road trips. The only downside of this transition is the EV charging infrastructure and it keeps getting better. 99.9% or our driving is within 50 miles, we charge on 240 at home so I don’t miss gas stations at all. But when we go to Charlotte about 100 miles, I would want to charge up while there. Our Hyatt has a charge station and I think this will be part of the wave of the future. I could tell in yesterday’s drive that the Ariya would be a great replacement for our 21 CRV Hybrid so I hope my wife will take a test drive to prove it to herself. She doesn’t want to be in a space ship even if she’s not driving and she is preconceived about Nissan but, like you point out, Nissan has a great track record with EV’s starting with the leaf and talked to a local owner who loves hers. I have a few months to fool around but ironically I just got an email from Honda finance telling me that my lease is almost over and I have three options; turn in, trade in or buy. Carvana has changed the car landscape. They sent me an offer for the CRV that’s about 5k more than my purchase price. Theoretically I could buy mine and sell it to Carvana and use that money to buy the car I want. Or just buy it and hold it for awhile and use it for our longer trips where plugging in could be a challenge. I’m just thinking out loud to you so forgive me. I’ll figure it out but I will ask you, have you had any dealings or opinions about Carvana? What we Don’t’ want is to have strangers coming to the house to “look” at the car. So Carvana might be our ticket. Thanks for listening and thanks for responding. I will figure it out and I’ll let you know. First thing I’m going to do is look up if Nissan dealerships provide charging stations… Thanks Again!
