2020 EV Roadtrip- Off to the West!

Our final numbers for this trip are below. We laughed a lot, had a few issues with traffic/weather (to be expected on any road trip), camped in the car, stayed in a 5 star hotel, ate at a Michelin star restaurant, hiked up TWO volcanoes, went into an ice cave, explored the Grand Canyon, saw the Milky Way, got up close and personal with a deer, elk, coyote, and antelope (oh and a cute little chipmunk that was running around one of the stops too), saw a bird hovering midair, fought off tumbleweeds, saw a bunch of cool historical sites including the Oregon Trail, saw the sunrise over the salt flats and walked around on them, drove through the mountains and the desert, hiked around lava fields, saw some pretty waterfalls, and spent quality time together for a week. Whew! (did I forget anything I feel like I forgot something. LOL) What an amazing trip! Final numbers: 12 states 8 days 7 nights 4 nights car camping 3 nights in hotels 2 sisters 1 car Total miles driven:  4333 T...

After a good night's sleep we had the last of the oatmeal for breakfast and got ready to head for home. This is our last driving stretch for the trip! We went a lost further than planned in mileage and added and extra day (and state- we will cut through a corner of Iowa today) but we had a great time and saw some amazing places! Vanessa wanted to take the first driving shift today so she started us out from the hotel. Today's charge stops included Grand Island and Lincoln in Nebraska and the Kansas City charger on the north end of town (a city charger, not a supercharger so it goes a touch slower). We had fewer stops for charging today because in Nebraska we stayed both placed longer than the car needed so we were able to skip a few charge stops. Normally I don't recommend charging above 80%, but on a road trip it's ok as long as you are going to be there that long doing other things. It's bad on the battery to charge to full regularly, but occasionally is ok. T...

Sunday morning. We woke up in the car to a pretty heavy rain, but no storms. We got the bed rolled up and into the trunk without having to get out of the car and rearranged our stuff back into the trunk and back seat areas to head out for the day. Another bowl of instant oatmeal and off we went, into the rain. Thankfully the roads were at least mostly flat this morning since we were travelling through the valley alongside the river.  We did lose about 10% charge having camp mode on overnight since we were not plugged in and it got chilly (even for Vanessa, who basically froze me out all vacation). We lost another 10-15% because of the bad weather through the valley and short mountain stints on this morning's drive as well, but since we had charged to full before leaving Jackson we were still ok. We arrived in Rock Springs with about 17% left. Closer than I like, but the exact reason I always allow 30% extra. If we had gone with the recommended 15% cushion we might not have made it!...

As promised- numbers for days 5 & 6 are here. Two days left! Day 5 total time today: 9 hours miles driven = 560 miles charged = 787 cost of gas: $58.67 assuming 25 mpg cost of electricity: $37.82 Total miles driven: 2792 Total Gas Savings: $263.00 Day 6 total time today:  11 hours miles driven = 432 miles charged = 460 cost of gas: $39.13 assuming 25 mpg cost of electricity: $25.10 Total miles driven: 3224 Total Gas Savings: $277.03 Be sure to subscribe to the blog (over in the column on the left) to get an email notification when I add a new post. You will need to confirm your email by clicking the link in a message from "feedburner." No spam involved, you should only get an email when a new post is made. :-) Vanessa's blog:   Travel the World History For anyone interested in taking a ride or getting more info on Tesla's (or EVs in general) get in touch and I am happy to help. If you want to buy a Tesla, please use my referral code to...

We woke up this morning around 930, went downstairs for a real breakfast (we have been having instant oatmeal most days bc it’s quick and easy in the car), and went back to the SC to top off our charge to 100% so we would for sure have enough power to get from Twin Falls to Craters of the Moon (COTM), drive around, leave climate control on when we got out to walk around, and still make it to Idaho Falls to charge again. We left with about 300 miles (so not totally full but close enough) and we got to Idaho Falls no problem. We again could have probably left at 85ish% and been ok, but we weren’t sure what the weather would be like and how much time we would spend at the volcano, so better safe than sorry. My sister took the first driving shift again because it looked to be mostly alongside the mountains, rather than over or through them. Just outside of town is where the giant baby elk was hanging out, looking like he couldn’t decide if he should cross the road or not. She slowed...

This morning we woke up at 530 (ok I did) and I got back up front to move the car to the east side of the truck stop we had camped at overnight so we (I) could watch the sun rise over the salt flats. Vanessa popped her head up every once in a while, and said to let her know when the “whole disc” was up. I think she missed the best part of God’s show though, because the lead-up to the sun actually appearing was really pretty. A bunch of color changes happened in the sky over the mountains while the sun was rising and as it came up over the horizon it reflected off the salt flats and made them look like shimmering water.  I will put some pics in here, but they don’t really do it justice.    After the show we moved back around to the west side of the building to try to get a little more sleep, but it was super busy so I wasn’t able to. Vanessa had never really woken up fully (just popped her head up again when I told her it was time and then went back to bed) s...