Chicago to Little Rock, AR Thanksgiving trip planning thoughts and suggestions

[thx1139]

So we are heading to Little Rock, AR next week for Thanksgiving. Supercharger use will be minimal unfortunately. Maybe next year will be better.

So our current route is from Home to Effingham IL Supercharger. This is about 200 miles. We have a 85D with 4 passengers and backpacks. Probably about 700 pounds total. First question we can stop a little out of our way 20 miles from Home and top off. Do we need to? Adds about 5 miles to route. So instead of 200 miles door to Effingham Supercharger it would be 185. I dont think we need to bother if we arent racing.

Then we drive 187 miles to Sikeston, MO and charging overnight at an RV park next to the Holiday Inn Express where we will stay.

Then next day with a full charge we drive about 145 miles to Memphis and get some BBQ while charging. Any suggested chargers near good BBQ places? We love Cozy Corner, but doesnt look like any charging nearby so likely we will try something new. We have had BBQ and Rendezvous before as well.

Final leg is 150 miles to my sisters in Little Rock. How many miles should we have on the car before leaving for her house?

Legs
200 miles home to Supercharger
190 miles Supercharger to overnight charge
145 miles to Memphis
150 miles to Little Rock

Also my sister only has a 110 outlet in her garage. We have never charged with 110V. How many miles per hour should we expect?

 

[CHRGIT]

You should see 75-80 miles per day. Any chance you have access to a dryer or range plug?

 

[JeffS]

Range charge to 100% on your way out the door. Precondition, top it up and go. Hold it at 65 or 68mph and just have a chill trip to Effingham.
In my experience traveling in the Tesla, it's far more efficient on the clock to travel 65 or 68mph and go farther between charges, than it is to go 80mph and charge more often. At 80mph on flat land I was pushing 350wH/mile. At 68 I was at 300.

The trip is unbelievably flat. I would have no concerns making 200 miles to Effingham on a 100% range charge. Weather will be in your favor too. Mid 50's from LaSalle-Peru on south all next week.
In Effingham, one exit south of the I70/I57 junction where the Supercharger is (don't remember what the exit is exactly) there's a great diner. Niemberg's if I remember right. Effingham is famous for being a city of 20,000 people and 11 last names. So...you can do the math.

 

[thx1139]

Well we did it and the only real issue was the trip from Sikeston to Little Rock. The charger in Memphis was only a 24A J1772 charger. So we left Memphis with 149 miles to go and the car saying it had 161 mile range. The trip computer said -9% as we got out of Memphis. Had a couple RV parks although not on PlugShare that we could stop at in Forrest City, but before Forest City we were already back at 8% expected left over when we would arrive. Of course to do that we had to piss off some drivers as we drove 10 below the speed limit most of the time the first 75 miles. Ended the trip with 7% in reserve. Still Tesla really needs a Supercharger on the west side of Memphis where I55 and I40 converge. Then one near Little Rock. Really no stress free way to drive from Chicago to Dallas.

 

[drsrichardson]

Glad the trip went ok. My husband and I have loved our adventures between Chicago and Charleston. With Greenville open and Asheville about to open, we will probably have duller trips in the future. Happy Thanksgiving.