Tesla Motors Club
My son and I decided to do a Father/Son Road trip to Californian and back. He lives in Boulder, so we started there. This trip is not for records, it is not meant to be Superchargers only, but is Supercharger enabled. We are taking a reasonable pace and enjoying our way on the Supercharger Highway with side trips on destination charging byways.
Saturday was the first day and we decided to do my normal route from Boulder to Pagosa by getting a good charge at the Silverthorne Supercharger, a little top off at the 70A J1772 at Wood's High Mountain Distillery - Home and then on to Pagosa. All went according to plan except the less than one hour charge at Wood's went longer because they were just starting the one year anniversary party, and we had too much fun talking to everyone. Here is a picture of the car charging in front of Wood's in Salida, CO.
Sunday, the goal was to make it to the Grand Canyon by sunset from Pagosa and enjoy ourselves along the way. We succeeded wonderfully. With a 100% charge in Pagosa, we really did not need to stop in Farmington, but decided to do so anyway as a ceremonial stop, and to stretch our legs.
We hit Gallup mid-day, but the problem with Gallup is that there is a severe shortage of places to eat. We plugged in and decided to get some snacks at one of the gas station/convenience stores just down the street and eat at the Burger King in Holbrook. When we came back to the car, leafarmer had just arrived as he put it "paddling his way off of the Texas island." He looked pretty tired. I gave him my calculated charge requirement of 125 rated miles for the 96 miles from Gallup to Holbrook. By the time we had 165 and were on our way.
WIth the downhill and slight tail wind to Holbrook, we only used 93 rated miles. EVTripPlanner had predicted 95. We drove a little faster, 80+, but had a slight tail wind, so it balanced out.
The Burger King in Holbrook, was, well, fast food, but it was better than the chips in Gallup. The service was slow, so by the time we left, we had 178 instead of our planned 150 to make it to Flagstaff.
Got to Flagstaff with 54 rated miles left; that would have been 26 if we had left Holbrook to plan so EVTripPlanner has been working pretty well for us. This place is great. The hotel staff is friendly, the lobby is great with free WiFi and there are several pretty good food choices in the neighborhood. Forgot to get a picture of the car charging here, but leafarmer arrived as we were leaving. We had just enough time to take the scenic route into the Grand Canyon via 91 and 64. Calculated 180 miles as my comfort level before plugging into a 14-50 at the Grand Canyon for an overnight charge. By the time we finished talking to leafarmer, we had 203 and were on our way. Found a decent drive through car wash a few blocks from the Supercharger in Flagstaff to clean up the old girl for some pictures later; she is 1.5 years old.
The evening drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was beautiful! We made it to the "Grand View" for sunset, and to the hotel on the rim with 83 rated miles left. Monday will be a day of hiking and touring while the MS gets a break and a nice 14-50 top off at Trailer Village. BTW, as opposed to other posts, we seem to have good cell phone coverage here at the South rim and the car has a data connection.
From my son, DoctorDisco: "I have really been enjoying the pace of long-form Tesla travel. Sure, you don't cover quite as much mileage as in an ICE vehicle, but it's much more pleasant! You must stop slightly more often and for slightly longer. This affords you to actually get up and stretch your legs. However, with these superchargers, it's never too long; never feels like we're waiting around for the car to juice up. Also, you inevitably take in more of the incredible and interesting changing environment around you. It makes for a far less physically and mentally exhausting travel day, and far less jarring in terms of travel disorientation. So far, it's been much more pleasant than any gasoline-oriented road trip I've ever been on. Let the ICE melt and rev some Joules! Yow!"
Saturday was the first day and we decided to do my normal route from Boulder to Pagosa by getting a good charge at the Silverthorne Supercharger, a little top off at the 70A J1772 at Wood's High Mountain Distillery - Home and then on to Pagosa. All went according to plan except the less than one hour charge at Wood's went longer because they were just starting the one year anniversary party, and we had too much fun talking to everyone. Here is a picture of the car charging in front of Wood's in Salida, CO.
Sunday, the goal was to make it to the Grand Canyon by sunset from Pagosa and enjoy ourselves along the way. We succeeded wonderfully. With a 100% charge in Pagosa, we really did not need to stop in Farmington, but decided to do so anyway as a ceremonial stop, and to stretch our legs.
We hit Gallup mid-day, but the problem with Gallup is that there is a severe shortage of places to eat. We plugged in and decided to get some snacks at one of the gas station/convenience stores just down the street and eat at the Burger King in Holbrook. When we came back to the car, leafarmer had just arrived as he put it "paddling his way off of the Texas island." He looked pretty tired. I gave him my calculated charge requirement of 125 rated miles for the 96 miles from Gallup to Holbrook. By the time we had 165 and were on our way.
WIth the downhill and slight tail wind to Holbrook, we only used 93 rated miles. EVTripPlanner had predicted 95. We drove a little faster, 80+, but had a slight tail wind, so it balanced out.
The Burger King in Holbrook, was, well, fast food, but it was better than the chips in Gallup. The service was slow, so by the time we left, we had 178 instead of our planned 150 to make it to Flagstaff.
Got to Flagstaff with 54 rated miles left; that would have been 26 if we had left Holbrook to plan so EVTripPlanner has been working pretty well for us. This place is great. The hotel staff is friendly, the lobby is great with free WiFi and there are several pretty good food choices in the neighborhood. Forgot to get a picture of the car charging here, but leafarmer arrived as we were leaving. We had just enough time to take the scenic route into the Grand Canyon via 91 and 64. Calculated 180 miles as my comfort level before plugging into a 14-50 at the Grand Canyon for an overnight charge. By the time we finished talking to leafarmer, we had 203 and were on our way. Found a decent drive through car wash a few blocks from the Supercharger in Flagstaff to clean up the old girl for some pictures later; she is 1.5 years old.
The evening drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was beautiful! We made it to the "Grand View" for sunset, and to the hotel on the rim with 83 rated miles left. Monday will be a day of hiking and touring while the MS gets a break and a nice 14-50 top off at Trailer Village. BTW, as opposed to other posts, we seem to have good cell phone coverage here at the South rim and the car has a data connection.
From my son, DoctorDisco: "I have really been enjoying the pace of long-form Tesla travel. Sure, you don't cover quite as much mileage as in an ICE vehicle, but it's much more pleasant! You must stop slightly more often and for slightly longer. This affords you to actually get up and stretch your legs. However, with these superchargers, it's never too long; never feels like we're waiting around for the car to juice up. Also, you inevitably take in more of the incredible and interesting changing environment around you. It makes for a far less physically and mentally exhausting travel day, and far less jarring in terms of travel disorientation. So far, it's been much more pleasant than any gasoline-oriented road trip I've ever been on. Let the ICE melt and rev some Joules! Yow!"