12,305 miles over 7 weeks - Road Trip

[rigs21k]

Would love to see a photo of the mattress in the trunk. It seems to me the back seats don't go down far enough to make it flat. Did you do anything to even it out?

Posted above but also here's post I made before the trip with a good discussion. I'm #75
Thoughts on Tesmat camping mattress for Model 3

 

[IronCoffee_Max]

The 14-50 nema that comes with the car for home charging. There's a slightly different one you can google for certain RV hookups but I didn't encounter them

Our 2020 M3 came with the J1772 adapter only, not the 14-50 - so that’s why I asked. I wonder if earlier models came with different adapters.

Anyhow good to know that the 14-50 is what I’d need for a trip like that.

 

[RayK]

@AlexParker Your car should have come with the mobile connector (UMC) and a 5-15 plug (aka, a standard three-prong 120V plug). The J1772 adapter isn't in the same category as the 14-50 plug. Each type of 120V or 240V plug for the UMC is $35 at the Tesla store.

And yes I believe I received both the 5-15 and 14-30 plugs with my 2018 LR RWD.

ref: Mobile Connector

 

[rigs21k]

Our 2020 M3 came with the J1772 adapter only, not the 14-50 - so that’s why I asked. I wonder if earlier models came with different adapters.

Anyhow good to know that the 14-50 is what I’d need for a trip like that.

oh that stinks I didn't know they were doing that now. Definitely grab the 14-50 and then there's an adapter for that if you really want to be able to use the other RV type but like i said I never needed to.

 

[IronCoffee_Max]

@AlexParker Your car should have come with the mobile connector (UMC) and a 5-15 plug (aka, a standard three-prong 120V plug). The J1772 adapter isn't in the same category as the 14-50 plug. Each type of 120V or 240V plug for the UMC is $35 at the Tesla store.

And yes I believe I received both the 5-15 and 14-30 plugs with my 2018 LR RWD.

ref: Mobile Connector

Thanks - yes I’m aware of the differences, but that’s why I was asking what he used because he mentioned that he used what came with the car and I got the impression that perhaps the adapters the cars came with have changed over the years, so I wanted to clarify. I bought a 14-30 for my home (which works awesomely).

 

[margem123]

Was laid off in April so decided to take a road trip while I had the time and the space and thought it might be of interest. I have a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and now after the trip it's about to cross 40k miles. I'm not a big participant on here but I did appreciate some of the threads on mattresses for the Tesla and settled on something similar to what was advised in the thread after testing out some of the more expensive beds designed for the tesla. Just a few tips and stats and then I'll drop in some of the pictures.

• I couldn't have been more impressed with the car. Not a single issue despite AC blasting sitting in traffic in 110degrees in AZ, snow and cold temps in Montana, 100s of miles of back gravel roads, etc It certainly has it's battle scars but it performed like a champ.
• 12,305 miles and my loose estimate (some free charging at RV parks or friends, some electric used overnight while camping) I would say I averaged around 6 cents per mile of supercharging.
• I used autopilot for probably around 70% of those miles maybe more
• Camping was incredibly comfortable and I ended up with a 4" twin foam mattress topper that I'd roll out in the back. That was more comfortable then the hotel beds i slept in. Of course even when rolled up tight it took up about 1/3 of the trunk so that was the downside. Ran me about $80 on walmart.com. The others i tried that fit in the trunk compartment just weren't comfortable enough. AC overnight was absolutely clutch in AZ and Utah.
• Supercharging was pretty easy to find. Only thing I'd say I sacrificed was maybe a couple of treks through the backroads in the mountains I might have taken on the long days as opposed to staying on the highway. In the remote areas when I was staying for a couple days there was always RV parks if there wasn't a supercharger which work great. I bought a special adapter but didn't end up using it. The standard charging adapter worked at every RV park.
• Surprised also if I got stuck I could always find a free camp site to stay at mostly using freecampsites.net. I did knock out a night or two at bass pro shops when I was in an urban area and couldn't find a close enough camp site.

Overall incredible trip and I can't wait to do it with the Cybertruck with a little more room.

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Was laid off in April so decided to take a road trip while I had the time and the space and thought it might be of interest. I have a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and now after the trip it's about to cross 40k miles. I'm not a big participant on here but I did appreciate some of the threads on mattresses for the Tesla and settled on something similar to what was advised in the thread after testing out some of the more expensive beds designed for the tesla. Just a few tips and stats and then I'll drop in some of the pictures.

• I couldn't have been more impressed with the car. Not a single issue despite AC blasting sitting in traffic in 110degrees in AZ, snow and cold temps in Montana, 100s of miles of back gravel roads, etc It certainly has it's battle scars but it performed like a champ.
• 12,305 miles and my loose estimate (some free charging at RV parks or friends, some electric used overnight while camping) I would say I averaged around 6 cents per mile of supercharging.
• I used autopilot for probably around 70% of those miles maybe more
• Camping was incredibly comfortable and I ended up with a 4" twin foam mattress topper that I'd roll out in the back. That was more comfortable then the hotel beds i slept in. Of course even when rolled up tight it took up about 1/3 of the trunk so that was the downside. Ran me about $80 on walmart.com. The others i tried that fit in the trunk compartment just weren't comfortable enough. AC overnight was absolutely clutch in AZ and Utah.
• Supercharging was pretty easy to find. Only thing I'd say I sacrificed was maybe a couple of treks through the backroads in the mountains I might have taken on the long days as opposed to staying on the highway. In the remote areas when I was staying for a couple days there was always RV parks if there wasn't a supercharger which work great. I bought a special adapter but didn't end up using it. The standard charging adapter worked at every RV park.
• Surprised also if I got stuck I could always find a free camp site to stay at mostly using freecampsites.net. I did knock out a night or two at bass pro shops when I was in an urban area and couldn't find a close enough camp site.

Overall incredible trip and I can't wait to do it with the Cybertruck with a little more room.

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Amazing journey. Thanks for sharing!

 

[M109Rider]

Sounds like a great trip. I’m in the middle of one myself. Should be back this Friday. I’ll post details. Over 11,000km’s in 3 weeks.
Model 3 AWD has been flawless.

 

[Rottenapplr]

It was! Incredible experience and lessons throughout. If you want some of the other side outside of the Tesla experience you can take a quick read of my linkedin article. Josh Rigstad on LinkedIn: 7 weeks and 12,305 miles on the road during this break that has provided | 24 comments

Did you encounter any difficulties with the pandemic? We are working remotely and thinking about traveling and working during this time period. I would love to go to different states. Please advise

 

[Siciliano]

Wow! I'm really jealous. Happy to see you came out of it unscathed. Those pics give me such a sense of calm, while at the very same time are a little unnerving because of the stark isolation. I could only dream of such a trip (business owner, 2 kids, jealous & overprotective wife ).

I did get another good thing out of it - thanks to your odometer pic, I noticed that you can rename trips, which I had no idea about. I had to do a little poking around in other forums to figure it out because the manual isn't exactly clear on this...I also had no idea you could scroll down on the odometer "page"! I learn something new almost every day about this beauty.

 

[jnhashmi]

@rigs21k : Thanks for the photos. It does look comfy. I'm 5-10" and I think my head goes just beyond the top of the seat. I don't understand what you mean that you removed the rear bench. Do you mean in addition to folding down the rear seat backs you somehow removed the rear seat part too?

 

[Xambler]

Our 2020 M3 came with the J1772 adapter only, not the 14-50 - so that’s why I asked. I wonder if earlier models came with different adapters.

Anyhow good to know that the 14-50 is what I’d need for a trip like that.

Order it early. When we bought our 2020 model 3 I bought a 14-30 adapter for home charging at the delivery center. After getting home and finding out the car didn’t come with a 14-50 as our sales rep had indicated I immediately ordered the 14-50 (we travel a lot). It took over 2 months to get the 14-50...popular item.

 

[rigs21k]

Did you encounter any difficulties with the pandemic? We are working remotely and thinking about traveling and working during this time period. I would love to go to different states. Please advise

I didn't have any issues. Certainly as you know this thing changes week to week and I heard like two weeks ago that Connecticut was starting to enforce the 14 day quarantine with fines. I just can't really see that impacting you. Every state is different so you just kind of have to be alert to the rules going in but honestly it really didn't impact my travel since I was camping other then some places were packed due to COVID (ie outdoor areas) and some places were empty due to COVID. It's an ever changing story but I would encourage you to do it with the necessary precautions.

 

[rigs21k]

@rigs21k : Thanks for the photos. It does look comfy. I'm 5-10" and I think my head goes just beyond the top of the seat. I don't understand what you mean that you removed the rear bench. Do you mean in addition to folding down the rear seat backs you somehow removed the rear seat part too?

I didn't remove the rear bench that was another user PNWLegacy earlier in the thread so you might want to ask them. I just folded the seats down and yes there is a slight incline but it wasn't a problem for me with the 4" foam mattress. I will say I made sure that I didn't park on a hill or if I did I had my head pointed slight downhill otherwise it would exaggerate the incline too much. I'm 6' and there was enough stiffness in the bedding to comfortable carry my head/pillow etc that was just barely over. I could see and extension being of value though if you really wanted to go nuts.

 

[Gasaraki]

Was laid off in April so decided to take a road trip while I had the time and the space and thought it might be of interest. I have a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and now after the trip it's about to cross 40k miles. I'm not a big participant on here but I did appreciate some of the threads on mattresses for the Tesla and settled on something similar to what was advised in the thread after testing out some of the more expensive beds designed for the tesla. Just a few tips and stats and then I'll drop in some of the pictures.

• I couldn't have been more impressed with the car. Not a single issue despite AC blasting sitting in traffic in 110degrees in AZ, snow and cold temps in Montana, 100s of miles of back gravel roads, etc It certainly has it's battle scars but it performed like a champ.
• 12,305 miles and my loose estimate (some free charging at RV parks or friends, some electric used overnight while camping) I would say I averaged around 6 cents per mile of supercharging.
• I used autopilot for probably around 70% of those miles maybe more
• Camping was incredibly comfortable and I ended up with a 4" twin foam mattress topper that I'd roll out in the back. That was more comfortable then the hotel beds i slept in. Of course even when rolled up tight it took up about 1/3 of the trunk so that was the downside. Ran me about $80 on walmart.com. The others i tried that fit in the trunk compartment just weren't comfortable enough. AC overnight was absolutely clutch in AZ and Utah.
• Supercharging was pretty easy to find. Only thing I'd say I sacrificed was maybe a couple of treks through the backroads in the mountains I might have taken on the long days as opposed to staying on the highway. In the remote areas when I was staying for a couple days there was always RV parks if there wasn't a supercharger which work great. I bought a special adapter but didn't end up using it. The standard charging adapter worked at every RV park.
• Surprised also if I got stuck I could always find a free camp site to stay at mostly using freecampsites.net. I did knock out a night or two at bass pro shops when I was in an urban area and couldn't find a close enough camp site.

Overall incredible trip and I can't wait to do it with the Cybertruck with a little more room.

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Nice!. You should look at the Tesmat. It folds up in to the the truck understorage area.

 

[rigs21k]

Nice!. You should look at the Tesmat. It folds up in to the the truck understorage area.

I tried it. Super uncomfortable maybe ok for a night but not beyond it. I sent it back. The topper takes up more space but is comfortable and a third of the cost.

 

[PNWLeccy]

I didn't remove the rear bench that was another user PNWLegacy earlier in the thread so you might want to ask them. I just folded the seats down and yes there is a slight incline but it wasn't a problem for me with the 4" foam mattress. I will say I made sure that I didn't park on a hill or if I did I had my head pointed slight downhill otherwise it would exaggerate the incline too much. I'm 6' and there was enough stiffness in the bedding to comfortable carry my head/pillow etc that was just barely over. I could see and extension being of value though if you really wanted to go nuts.

The first couple of times I used some backpacking sleeping pads (Sea To Summit Comfort Plus) which are really comfortable but are blow up and have a slick surface. With the seats folded down and a slight incline, I found myself slipping down a bit with my feet pushed against the inside of the trunk. Removing the rear bench seat leveled it out and made it a lot better, then I upgraded to the exped megamat duo which has both foam and inflatable which makes it adjustable and more comfortable.

You can remove the rear bench by finding a lever/latch under the seat on each side and pulling it towards you to release it. Pull up slowly and unplug the white seat heater plugs on each side before removing, then throw down a blanket on top of the battery underneath so the seat backs dont get damaged when folded down. Here's a video that makes everything I've explained unnecessary...

 

[Xambler]

I didn't have any issues. Certainly as you know this thing changes week to week and I heard like two weeks ago that Connecticut was starting to enforce the 14 day quarantine with fines. I just can't really see that impacting you. Every state is different so you just kind of have to be alert to the rules going in but honestly it really didn't impact my travel since I was camping other then some places were packed due to COVID (ie outdoor areas) and some places were empty due to COVID. It's an ever changing story but I would encourage you to do it with the necessary precautions.

Wife and I have traveled a fair amount during covid...both during lockdowns as well as during the limited openings (mostly Florida, GA, NC). Picture below is the surreal Florida I-75 welcome center rest area in the afternoon. Never have seen it not packed to the brim but during the lockdowns most rest areas and chargers were like this. Problems we did have was just avoiding charging in areas with protesters (skipped Atlantic station for example in Atlanta...no big loss as the first time we used it we averaged only 40 mph charge speed over 3 different super chargers). Even so, there were still a decent amount of cars and trucks on the road...just less tourist travel I assume. No shortage of places to grab food (we just did grocery store stuff but pizza and fast food was widely available). Saw more accidents than normal on the freeway during the complete lockdown times...seemed more than a fluke so just watch your speed I guess.