Midwest Road Trip!

[dave]

I need to go to Kansas City for work next week, coming from the Cincinnati area. Looks to be about 600 miles one way. My choices are to fly, take our second vehicle (minivan!), or take the S. I am leaning towards taking the Model S since I hate flying, and can't bear to be apart from her for a week. My wife thinks I'm nuts. She's probably right, but part of it may be that she doesn't want to drive the minivan while I'm gone...

Anyways, I need some suggestions on charging locations and hotels in the St. Louis and Kansas City area. Sadly, it looks like I'll probably have to make this a 2 day drive, stopping around St. Louis to charge overnight, in addition to some sort of top up charge between Cinci and St. Louis, and then on day two between St. Louis and Kansas City. Unless Tesla put in a Supercharger I didn't know about...

It looks like I'll be taking 64W across Indiana, and then 70W across Missouri. Does anyone have any advice or recommendations?

 

[Liz G]

I need to go to Kansas City for work next week, coming from the Cincinnati area. Looks to be about 600 miles one way. My choices are to fly, take our second vehicle (minivan!), or take the S. I am leaning towards taking the Model S since I hate flying, and can't bear to be apart from her for a week. My wife thinks I'm nuts. She's probably right, but part of it may be that she doesn't want to drive the minivan while I'm gone...

Anyways, I need some suggestions on charging locations and hotels in the St. Louis and Kansas City area. Sadly, it looks like I'll probably have to make this a 2 day drive, stopping around St. Louis to charge overnight, in addition to some sort of top up charge between Cinci and St. Louis, and then on day two between St. Louis and Kansas City. Unless Tesla put in a Supercharger I didn't know about...

It looks like I'll be taking 64W across Indiana, and then 70W across Missouri. Does anyone have any advice or recommendations?

There is a hotel in St. Louis (University City to be exact) that has charging. It is called the Moonrise Hotel. That's the only one in the area I am aware of.

If you needed to I might be able to let you charge up at my house in Wentzville. I'm about 210 miles from Kansas City, so it would be close. But I only have a 240 so 26 miles/hour of charge. But if you stayed over night at the Moonrise you'd just have to top up at my house. PM if you are interested and we can look at the dates to see if that would work.

 

[FlasherZ]

There is a hotel in St. Louis (University City to be exact) that has charging. It is called the Moonrise Hotel. That's the only one in the area I am aware of.

If you needed to I might be able to let you charge up at my house in Wentzville. I'm about 210 miles from Kansas City, so it would be close. But I only have a 240 so 26 miles/hour of charge. But if you stayed over night at the Moonrise you'd just have to top up at my house. PM if you are interested and we can look at the dates to see if that would work.

There are some street chargers downtown (across the street from the Edward Jones Dome), and the downtown Drury Inn would be easy walking from there.

 

[ibcs]

I doubt that it would make sense for your route, but I have an HPWC available in Englewood, OH just off Interstate 70. Your more than welcome to get a charge if it would not take you too far out of your way. It's setup at 80 Amp, so you would recover from empty in 4 1/2 hours or just top off to make it to Cinci. PM me if you are interested.

---Kent

 

[dave]

Liz - Awesome, I that Moonrise hotel in St. Louis sounds perfect. I will PM you about using your place for a "top off". Thank you!
FlasherZ - Thanks for the tips! If that Moonrise hotel is open, I think that will have me covered for my St. Louis stay.
Kent - Sorry, Englewood, OH is nowhere near this trip, thanks for the offer though!

What I still need:

- A place to stay and charger recommendations for Kansas City.
- A place to top off in Indiana on route 64 (or possibly I-70)
- A place to top off in Missouri on route 70 (As an alternate to Liz, or if the dates don't work)

I'm thinking I may have to do the RV park thing, which I'm a bit nervous about. If anyone has any recommendations along the route, I'm all ears.

Thanks for the help! Of course, my 14-50 is available to anyone coming up I-75 in the northern KY area.

 

[greencharge]

15 - 20 miles south of I-64 from Mt Vernon, IL there are few 50amp RV hook ups by the Rend Lake and KOA camp ground at Benton, that would be about 280 miles from Cincinnati, I would think about time for a top up on way to St Louis. Allstays camp&RV app is a great to locate campgrounds, till superchargers arrive it's going to be my north star for roadtrips.

 

[dave]

15 - 20 miles south of I-64 from Mt Vernon, IL there are few 50amp RV hook ups by the Rend Lake and KOA camp ground at Benton, that would be about 280 miles from Cincinnati, I would think about time for a top up on way to St Louis. Allstays camp&RV app is a great to locate campgrounds, till superchargers arrive it's going to be my north star for roadtrips.

Thanks Greencharge. I'll keep that in mind for an emergency. I'd have to spend an extra hour or two charging to make up for the 30- 40 mile detour, but I will keep that in mind if I can't find anything closer!

 

[Schnetzer]

Dave,

I live in KC and was looking at having my car delivered to the St. Louis Service Center hoping to shave sometime off the delivery window, so I was looking at charging options between here and St. Louis. I think your best bet would be to contact the Nissan dealership in Columbia. They are pretty close to 1/2 between the two cities and should give you what you need to close the gap.

Once you get to KC - I'd offer my place, but I don't have my 14-50 installed yet.

There are public ChargePoints at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center and Union Station downtown. Closer to me in Johnson County there is a mixed use district that has an Aloft hotel called Park Place and they offers public charging as well. Ultimately it depends on where you are headed and where you'd like to stay.

Hope that helps.

Liz - Awesome, I that Moonrise hotel in St. Louis sounds perfect. I will PM you about using your place for a "top off". Thank you!
FlasherZ - Thanks for the tips! If that Moonrise hotel is open, I think that will have me covered for my St. Louis stay.
Kent - Sorry, Englewood, OH is nowhere near this trip, thanks for the offer though!

What I still need:

- A place to stay and charger recommendations for Kansas City.
- A place to top off in Indiana on route 64 (or possibly I-70)
- A place to top off in Missouri on route 70 (As an alternate to Liz, or if the dates don't work)

I'm thinking I may have to do the RV park thing, which I'm a bit nervous about. If anyone has any recommendations along the route, I'm all ears.

Thanks for the help! Of course, my 14-50 is available to anyone coming up I-75 in the northern KY area.

 

[daxz]

Google can help with finding 50 Amp charging at RV parks: open map in vicinity of where you want to charge and search for: 50 amp rv
50 amp rv - Google Maps - Effingham to Indianapolis
50 amp rv - Google Maps - Columbia to STL

Try playing with zoom in level to see more choices in route.
then click on selections closest to route and see when they are open or other info.

Here are some listed with 50 AMP and their sites say they are open year round:
Indy Lakes Fishing Lakes and Campground in Indianapolis
Kan-Do Kampground Reservations in Missouri between KC/STL

 

[FlasherZ]

In case you find yourself in a bind and need a charge, I live close enough to I-64 about 40 miles east of St. Louis. You'd get off I-64 about 50 miles from St. Louis, come 10 miles north, then west. I live about 2 miles off off the state highway. You'd rejoin I-64 15 miles west, where it intersects the state highway I live on.

Compared to straight-line mileage, it'll be about 10-15 miles out of your way. PM me if you think you might need it, let me know.

 

[K Hall]

Rv 50 amp charging is what you need in transit. They are numerous. Get the apps Chargepoint and Allstays camps and RV. There are 35 Chargepoint stations in the KC area for you to topoff during the day but they are all 30 amp. Town center in Overland Park has one with hotels, dining and a movie theater. Only 16 to 20 miles per hour of charging though.

You are welcome to stop by my house in KC to charge. I have a 50 amp out door outlet that gives me about 32 miles an hour. My HPWC is still on back order. We live just south of the Plaza 230 miles from Wentzville.

What days will you be in KC?

Liz G. I will be in Wentzville tomorrow on business. Small world.

 

[Liz G]

Arg. I just saw this post. Younstill in town or was it just a one day stop?

 

[K Hall]

One day stop. Could be back if we get the deal completed. It's a nice town Liz.

 

[Liz G]

PM if you come back