I'm back from the CH-KC, Tuesday-Saturday trip. It was a success, in large part to the advice from all of you guys - thanks. Here is the nutshell report. Note that on the way down I stopped more than was necessary (and more than on return) due to range anxiety. And my grading is relative to those SC's I've used, which haven't been many.
Tuesday:
Peru, IL @ 830 am. Easy on/off highway, 1 MX w/ MA plates charging, Big HyVee with clean restrooms and a Starbucks. Good place to walk dog (clean grass). 100kwh+. Grade A
Springfield, IL @1100 am. Easy on/off highway, nobody there. Giant Scheels outdoor store, clean restrooms, mediocre (but friendly) deli, great dog walking. 100kwh+. Grade A
St. Charles, IL @ 1230 pm. Close to highway but busy intersection so a bit of time to get on/off highway. Only 5 chargers, 2 occupied on arrival, 1 left and another filled its spot almost immediately, all w/ MO plates. Strip center, didn't go in anywhere, pretty lousy grass area for dog. 100kwh+ (wasn't sharing). Grade C (in part b/c I bet it gets really crowded at times)
Columbia, MO @300 pm. Easy on/off highway, nobody there. Holiday Inn and a Jimmy Johns - HI w/ clean restrooms but not otherwise an interesting place to hang. Great dog walking. 100kwh+. Grade B+
Independence, MO @530 (not necessary but wanted extra charge before reaching destination). Roundabout and somewhat time-consuming way off highway, nobody there, great BassPro to wander. Good dog walking. 100kwh+. Grade B+
Saturday:
Columbia, MO@ 11 am -- nobody there
Springfield, IL @ 2 pm. -- 3 spots occupied (all non-IL plates). Had 1A w/ nobody in 1B - started at 100+, dropped to 40 quickly. Switched to 1B, got 100+
Normal, IL @530 pm. I really disliked this SC. Long, convoluted way off highway, up on Level 3 of a garage. Yes, 8 stalls with 4 new (only 1 occupied by IL plate MS), and fast charge. Lousy dog walking. My poor grade is likely due to my personal preference to travel longer and easier rather than shorter and harder - had I gone through Peru I would have added about 10-15 minutes to my overall trip time (maybe longer) but it would have been so much easier/less stressful (for me, YMMV). And I don't understand why Tesla put the SC in the center of town -- I think the primary (maybe sole) purpose of SCs should be for the long distance traveler, not for locals (for example, I've never used a CH area supercharger other than as an experiment when I first got car). I don't mean to overstate it - it was still absolutely fine and extremely functional, but since I'm grading relatively -- Grade D.
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Bottom line, despite my somewhat harsh grading, the trip was great. My standard is whether I can drive it like an ICE and not add too much overall time to the trip. I drove as fast as I do in an ICE and on the return made it in about an hour more than our typical ICE trip (9:50 in the MS; 8:45 in my Audi, google maps has it as a 7:55 drive time, in the ICE we typically stop just for gas/restroom/stretch, not meals)