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Epic Road Trip

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I went on an epic road trip with my model Y to pick up my Roadster that was in Seattle at Carl Medlock’s shop. 4774 total miles, 49 supercharger stops for at total of 2344kWh of energy at a cost of $741 for the charging at the superchargers. Here are the highlights of the trip. Click the links for each day to see more pictures.

IMG_9275a.JPG


Day 1 – Tuesday March 1
Left my hometown Frisco TX early in the morning and made the following supercharger stops.
Henrietta TX, Childress TX, Amarillo TX, Clayton NM, Trinidad CO.

Day 2 – Wednesday March 2
Departed from Trinidad CO and made the following supercharger stops.
Poncha Springs CO, Montrose CO, Green River UT, Price UT, Draper UT, Burley ID

Day 3 – Thursday March 3
Departed from Burley ID and made the following supercharger stops.
Twin Falls ID, Boise ID, Ontario OR, Baker City OR, Pendleton OR, Kennewick WA, Cle Elum, WA
The first three days were largely uneventful. I had nice clear weather and made good time through the Rockies. I ran into some light rain, mist/fog, and intermittent drizzle in Oregon and Washington states.

Day 4 – Friday March 4
Picked up the Uhaul trailer in the morning. Met Carl at his shop in Seattle. Got a nice tour. Visually inspected my roadster and loaded it up on the trailer for the trip home. As you can imagine, my range was drastically reduced by pulling the trailer. I could “easily” make about 100 miles range on a 90% charge. I only made two supercharger stops for Day 4. Federal Way WA, Kelso WA.

Day 5 – Saturday March 5
Very long day. I woke up early and hit the road with the trailer. 8 Supercharger stops.
Woodburn OR, Salem OR, Springfield OR, Myrtle Creek OR, Medford OR, Klamath Falls OR, Alturas CA, Susanville CA. Temperatures really started dropping after sundown, and I was a nervous wreck on the last leg to Susanville. The temps were in the teens and totally affected range. I had to slow down to 50mph to make it to Susanville.

Day 6 – Sunday March 6
Reno NV, Gardnerville NV, Hawthorne NV, Tonopah NV, Beatty NV, Las Vegas NV, Henderson, NV
Seven charging stops, and I had to unhook the trailer in Reno and Las Vegas. Temperatures were cooler than I anticipated, but my range is ok to make it to my charging stops.

Day 7 – Monday March 7
I decide to go south to I-10 and I-20 instead of cutting across I-40. The gaps between superchargers are too big with the trailer. And the temperatures were forecast to be in the 30’s and 40’s (Fahrenheit).
Kingman AZ (West Andy Devine), Wickenburg AZ, Phoenix AZ (Agua Fria Freeway), Casa Grande AZ, Tucson, AZ (West River Road).

Day 8 – Tuesday March 8
Willcox AZ, Deming NM, El Paso TX, Van Horn TX
Spent a lot of time charging to 100%. There were some big gaps on Day 8. 134 miles between Wilcox and Deming. 130 miles between El Paso and Van Horn. I had to go 55-60 mph to make those legs and most of the time the speed limits were 75 mph.

Day 9 – Wednesday March 9
On the home stretch, I thought it would be pretty easy. The biggest gap between superchargers was 113 miles between Midland and Sweetwater. But from Pecos to Midland, the wind started picking up, and I had a strong crosswind. I saw the trip computer eating away at the predicted range, and I was forced to slow down. My progress became even slower as as I was forced to charge near 100% to make it between superchargers. The crosswind finally let up after sunset when I left the Cisco supercharger. My range estimates started to increase, so I was able to skip the Fort Worth supercharger and go all the way to the Arlington supercharger for my last charge before getting home.
Pecos TX, Midland TX, Sweetwater TX, Cisco TX, Arlington TX, and finally back home in Frisco TX.

In hind sight, I was pretty lucky throughout the whole trip with very decent weather with minimal precipitation and minimal winds except on the final day of my journey. If the wind suddenly picked up during one of the long 130 mile gaps, I would have been screwed. I tried to keep a backup plan going at each charging stop. I would pull up PlugShare and RV-Parky to look for Level 2 chargers in case I needed them on the way to my next charger. But that would have been disastrous if I had to pull over in the middle of the day to get an emergency charge at a Level 2 charger. It would pretty much add an extra day to my trip. If you made it this far, thanks for reading my post.

Edited to insert links.
 
Last edited:
can you tell me more of the towing specs?
The Uhaul trailer did not have brakes, only lights. I didn't measure tongue weight. The weight of the loaded trailer only compressed the suspension on the Y about as much as me standing on the ball hitch (I weigh in the neigborhood of 200 lbs). Visually, everything looked nice and level, most of the Roadster weight was sitting over the tandem axels. I know the total weight of the trailer exceeds the "recommended" maximum towing capacity, but in this case I think the tongue weight is within the recommended levels. I've towed my roadster on a Uhaul trailer on short road trips here in Texas (Frisco, Austin, and back), so I knew how the Y handled. It felt safe on short trips, so I had the confidence that it would be safe on my epic road trip.

I'm not a towing expert, so don't take my situation as proof that the Y can handle situtions that exceed the recommended towing limits. Maybe the factory Y tow hitch is over engineered, or maybe I got lucky? IMHO tongue weight is more important than the overall towing capacity. Your situation might be different. As always YMMV.
 
How long ago was that?

It seems recently the cost of shipping has gone up. About a year ago, I shipped the roadster to Seattle, and it was about $1800. Now its $2300. TX <-> Seattle.
Out of curiosity, when you did that, did they use a truck transport or a train? I ask becuase right before the pandemic I had a car shipped from Dallas to the PacNW, and it costed me around a grand. They loaded my car onto a train, and had it picked up with a flatbed at the local train yard.
 
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I went on an epic road trip with my model Y to pick up my Roadster that was in Seattle at Carl Medlock’s shop. 4774 total miles, 49 supercharger stops for at total of 2344kWh of energy at a cost of $741 for the charging at the superchargers. Here are the highlights of the trip. Click the links for each day to see more pictures.

View attachment 780168

Day 1 – Tuesday March 1
Left my hometown Frisco TX early in the morning and made the following supercharger stops.
Henrietta TX, Childress TX, Amarillo TX, Clayton NM, Trinidad CO.

Day 2 – Wednesday March 2
Departed from Trinidad CO and made the following supercharger stops.
Poncha Springs CO, Montrose CO, Green River UT, Price UT, Draper UT, Burley ID

Day 3 – Thursday March 3
Departed from Burley ID and made the following supercharger stops.
Twin Falls ID, Boise ID, Ontario OR, Baker City OR, Pendleton OR, Kennewick WA, Cle Elum, WA
The first three days were largely uneventful. I had nice clear weather and made good time through the Rockies. I ran into some light rain, mist/fog, and intermittent drizzle in Oregon and Washington states.

Day 4 – Friday March 4
Picked up the Uhaul trailer in the morning. Met Carl at his shop in Seattle. Got a nice tour. Visually inspected my roadster and loaded it up on the trailer for the trip home. As you can imagine, my range was drastically reduced by pulling the trailer. I could “easily” make about 100 miles range on a 90% charge. I only made two supercharger stops for Day 4. Federal Way WA, Kelso WA.

Day 5 – Saturday March 5
Very long day. I woke up early and hit the road with the trailer. 8 Supercharger stops.
Woodburn OR, Salem OR, Springfield OR, Myrtle Creek OR, Medford OR, Klamath Falls OR, Alturas CA, Susanville CA. Temperatures really started dropping after sundown, and I was a nervous wreck on the last leg to Susanville. The temps were in the teens and totally affected range. I had to slow down to 50mph to make it to Susanville.

Day 6 – Sunday March 6
Reno NV, Gardnerville NV, Hawthorne NV, Tonopah NV, Beatty NV, Las Vegas NV, Henderson, NV
Seven charging stops, and I had to unhook the trailer in Reno and Las Vegas. Temperatures were cooler than I anticipated, but my range is ok to make it to my charging stops.

Day 7 – Monday March 7
I decide to go south to I-10 and I-20 instead of cutting across I-40. The gaps between superchargers are too big with the trailer. And the temperatures were forecast to be in the 30’s and 40’s (Fahrenheit).
Kingman AZ (West Andy Devine), Wickenburg AZ, Phoenix AZ (Agua Fria Freeway), Casa Grande AZ, Tucson, AZ (West River Road).

Day 8 – Tuesday March 8
Willcox AZ, Deming NM, El Paso TX, Van Horn TX
Spent a lot of time charging to 100%. There were some big gaps on Day 8. 134 miles between Wilcox and Deming. 130 miles between El Paso and Van Horn. I had to go 55-60 mph to make those legs and most of the time the speed limits were 75 mph.

Day 9 – Wednesday March 9
On the home stretch, I thought it would be pretty easy. The biggest gap between superchargers was 113 miles between Midland and Sweetwater. But from Pecos to Midland, the wind started picking up, and I had a strong crosswind. I saw the trip computer eating away at the predicted range, and I was forced to slow down. My progress became even slower as as I was forced to charge near 100% to make it between superchargers. The crosswind finally let up after sunset when I left the Cisco supercharger. My range estimates started to increase, so I was able to skip the Fort Worth supercharger and go all the way to the Arlington supercharger for my last charge before getting home.
Pecos TX, Midland TX, Sweetwater TX, Cisco TX, Arlington TX, and finally back home in Frisco TX.

In hind sight, I was pretty lucky throughout the whole trip with very decent weather with minimal precipitation and minimal winds except on the final day of my journey. If the wind suddenly picked up during one of the long 130 mile gaps, I would have been screwed. I tried to keep a backup plan going at each charging stop. I would pull up PlugShare and RV-Parky to look for Level 2 chargers in case I needed them on the way to my next charger. But that would have been disastrous if I had to pull over in the middle of the day to get an emergency charge at a Level 2 charger. It would pretty much add an extra day to my trip. If you made it this far, thanks for reading my post.

Edited to insert links.
AWESOME! How'd the trailer feel? With the weight of the roadster at 2,693lb, and uhaul car hauler at 2,210 you we about 4903lb. 1400lb over capacity... Just wondering because I definitely plan to pull with my MY...
 
Thanks for all the detailed pics, supercharger stop choice details and just all the time to help everyone understand the issues with cross country planning. Having the tow really demonstrates how one can do this with other range reducing weather and speed issues. Also mentioning the “emergency” options like slowing dramatically and level 2 are really helpful for EV road trip planning newbies like me.
 
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did they use a truck transport or a train?
It was transported on a truck. I have OVMS installed so I could check the GPS and see that the truck had several drop offs and/or pickups in Houston. After driving cross country for a few days, then the truck had some drop offs and/or pickups in Oregon and Washington before the roadster was finally dropped off in Seattle.
Here are some pics.
IMG_6775.JPGIMG_6934.JPGIMG_6935.JPG
 
- What did you dislike most about the MYLR driving experience after doing it for two full weeks?

- Your favorite Supercharger stop was .... ? :)
It's difficult to come up with something I dislike about the MYLR. If there was one thing, it was driving at night and the annoying red trailer mode icon that showed up on the screen. During the day the icon would be blue, but any time I turn on the lights, the icon would go red. Everything worked properly, but the icon would show red. I did a few searches in TMC, but I didn't find an example of anyone that ran into the same problem.

My favorite Supercharger stop was Alturas CA.
 
Frisco Dad, this is a great tale. Love the energy graph going over the pass!

You might be amused by the coincidence of my residences in past decade coinciding with your drive - I'm very familiar with many of the roads you traveled:
  • Seattle
  • Portland
  • Gardnerville (actually Genoa, the tiny historic town you drove through to get to the station at the base of the Kingsbury Grade).
  • Presently, a couple miles from Frisco, pretty near "Democracy Drive".
I'm an enthusiastic recent first-time owner and have been enamored by the Roadster since it came out when I lived near Gardnerville (recall seeing one in a parking lot there). DM me if you'd like to meet for coffee, and share all your Roadster stories.
 
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Glad everything went without any issues, I had to disconnect a few times binging a car back from Quebec and its not fun. I like night driving so most of the times the chargers were empty, it seems you are always pulling over to charge when towing. Just to correct, the u-haul car trailer does have brakes, they are inertia controlled, its what the hydraulic reservoir on the trailer tongue is for.
 
the u-haul car trailer does have brakes,
@X.l.r.8 thanks for the correction. There was a 3rd chain that I had to hook to my Y. I assumed that the trailer brakes were only emergency brakes that would get triggered if the trailer became unhooked and pulled on the 3rd chain. Good to know. Thanks again.

And you're right. It is a chore to unhook and rehook the trailer. Unlike you, I like driving during the day. Part of my road trip enjoyment was being able to see the countryside and the gorgeous views. Typical day for me would be to wake up before dawn so that I could hit the road just as twilight starts and you can see the glow in the eastern horizon. I would drive all day and stop at around sunset. It does mean more traffic and more congestion at the charging stops in the middle of the day, but I got pretty efficient at hooking and unhooking the trailer. I had to unhook on 8 of the 31 supercharger stops that I made with the trailer. When I went to return the trailer, the Uhaul employee was having a hard time disconnecting the chains, so after about 2 minutes of fumbling I offered to disconnect the trailer and it was off in less than a minute.
 
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I had to unhook on 8 of the 31 supercharger stops that I made with the trailer.

Here’s hoping Tesla starts building more pull-through that can accommodate a trailer, particularly since they are eventually releasing the Cybertruck. 🤞

While Megachargers will be designed for trucks, one wonders if they will outfit them to accommodate standard Supercharging for those with trailers rather than rebuilding existing supercharger stations, some of them with very constrained footprints.
 
How is Elon going to fix the trailer/towing charging issue? MOST all Superchargers are back in with very few having just ONE pull thru. Cybertruck is near, so do the Superchargers get expanded/added to with pull thrus? dunno, but i suspect towing/trailering will be on the increase with gas/diesel prices. yes, you pay a higher cost up front for that EV truck but the cost savings to fuel a towing EV will be epic!

Great trip and thanks so much for sharing! And how is the Roadster doing? range? condition? etc.

although the Y stole the show, to be sure!
 
The real question is how can Tesla assess the potential demand, and weigh allocating extra resources to that small segment, as opposed to more chargers for all? I don't have the conclusion, but if it were allocated to capacity that saved you 15 minutes of wait time a month, trailer-users might not mind a wasted hour a year on the trailer-unfriendly locations.
 
The real question is how can Tesla assess the potential demand, and weigh allocating extra resources to that small segment, as opposed to more chargers for all? I don't have the conclusion, but if it were allocated to capacity that saved you 15 minutes of wait time a month, trailer-users might not mind a wasted hour a year on the trailer-unfriendly locations.

Or, as they install new stations, change the design to make more of them pull through. That way they are serving both segments and spending no additional resources (although, I guess, they might have to have more real estate in some cases).
 
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Or, as they install new stations, change the design to make more of them pull through. That way they are serving both segments and spending no additional resources (although, I guess, they might have to have more real estate in some cases).
I noticed a lot of the superchargers in Europe are setup like gas stations, where they are lined up so that two cars pull thru at a time in each lane.
 
The pull thru design may be more important going forward, as Tesla opens up new chargers for all EV's, assuming they use federal funding for said chargers... With EV's having charge ports all over the place, front, rear, left, right, etc, pull thru might make the most sense...
 
I went on an epic road trip with my model Y to pick up my Roadster that was in Seattle at Carl Medlock’s shop. 4774 total miles, 49 supercharger stops for at total of 2344kWh of energy at a cost of $741 for the charging at the superchargers. Here are the highlights of the trip. Click the links for each day to see more pictures.

View attachment 780168

Day 1 – Tuesday March 1
Left my hometown Frisco TX early in the morning and made the following supercharger stops.
Henrietta TX, Childress TX, Amarillo TX, Clayton NM, Trinidad CO.

Day 2 – Wednesday March 2
Departed from Trinidad CO and made the following supercharger stops.
Poncha Springs CO, Montrose CO, Green River UT, Price UT, Draper UT, Burley ID

Day 3 – Thursday March 3
Departed from Burley ID and made the following supercharger stops.
Twin Falls ID, Boise ID, Ontario OR, Baker City OR, Pendleton OR, Kennewick WA, Cle Elum, WA
The first three days were largely uneventful. I had nice clear weather and made good time through the Rockies. I ran into some light rain, mist/fog, and intermittent drizzle in Oregon and Washington states.

Day 4 – Friday March 4
Picked up the Uhaul trailer in the morning. Met Carl at his shop in Seattle. Got a nice tour. Visually inspected my roadster and loaded it up on the trailer for the trip home. As you can imagine, my range was drastically reduced by pulling the trailer. I could “easily” make about 100 miles range on a 90% charge. I only made two supercharger stops for Day 4. Federal Way WA, Kelso WA.

Day 5 – Saturday March 5
Very long day. I woke up early and hit the road with the trailer. 8 Supercharger stops.
Woodburn OR, Salem OR, Springfield OR, Myrtle Creek OR, Medford OR, Klamath Falls OR, Alturas CA, Susanville CA. Temperatures really started dropping after sundown, and I was a nervous wreck on the last leg to Susanville. The temps were in the teens and totally affected range. I had to slow down to 50mph to make it to Susanville.

Day 6 – Sunday March 6
Reno NV, Gardnerville NV, Hawthorne NV, Tonopah NV, Beatty NV, Las Vegas NV, Henderson, NV
Seven charging stops, and I had to unhook the trailer in Reno and Las Vegas. Temperatures were cooler than I anticipated, but my range is ok to make it to my charging stops.

Day 7 – Monday March 7
I decide to go south to I-10 and I-20 instead of cutting across I-40. The gaps between superchargers are too big with the trailer. And the temperatures were forecast to be in the 30’s and 40’s (Fahrenheit).
Kingman AZ (West Andy Devine), Wickenburg AZ, Phoenix AZ (Agua Fria Freeway), Casa Grande AZ, Tucson, AZ (West River Road).

Day 8 – Tuesday March 8
Willcox AZ, Deming NM, El Paso TX, Van Horn TX
Spent a lot of time charging to 100%. There were some big gaps on Day 8. 134 miles between Wilcox and Deming. 130 miles between El Paso and Van Horn. I had to go 55-60 mph to make those legs and most of the time the speed limits were 75 mph.

Day 9 – Wednesday March 9
On the home stretch, I thought it would be pretty easy. The biggest gap between superchargers was 113 miles between Midland and Sweetwater. But from Pecos to Midland, the wind started picking up, and I had a strong crosswind. I saw the trip computer eating away at the predicted range, and I was forced to slow down. My progress became even slower as as I was forced to charge near 100% to make it between superchargers. The crosswind finally let up after sunset when I left the Cisco supercharger. My range estimates started to increase, so I was able to skip the Fort Worth supercharger and go all the way to the Arlington supercharger for my last charge before getting home.
Pecos TX, Midland TX, Sweetwater TX, Cisco TX, Arlington TX, and finally back home in Frisco TX.

In hind sight, I was pretty lucky throughout the whole trip with very decent weather with minimal precipitation and minimal winds except on the final day of my journey. If the wind suddenly picked up during one of the long 130 mile gaps, I would have been screwed. I tried to keep a backup plan going at each charging stop. I would pull up PlugShare and RV-Parky to look for Level 2 chargers in case I needed them on the way to my next charger. But that would have been disastrous if I had to pull over in the middle of the day to get an emergency charge at a Level 2 charger. It would pretty much add an extra day to my trip. If you made it this far, thanks for reading my post.

Edited to insert links.
Sounds Like an EPIC trip. I will say that as a new Tesla Owner who has yet to charge at a supercharger, I am VERY disappointed to see that after doing the math, the cost for that trip is equivalent to that of a Gas car that gets 26 Miles per Gallon and paying $4.00/gallon... this is nowhere near the savings it should be!!