There is a destination charger now Lake McDonald Lodge!
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Another Tesla destination charging option is the Whitefish TLC B&B. Very nice and interesting owners. Check it out at
www.whitefishtlc.com Can be a little hard to find so call for directions.
www.whitefishtlc.com Can be a little hard to find so call for directions.
hill
high fiber member
I realize that much of Whitefish (Big Fork too) is - shall we say, 'upper crust' ... what with the great skiing on Big Mountain & all ... but there IS a bit of irony that Tesla doesn't have an SC yet, to cross through Arkansas. Yet Montana (iirc) is in the top 2 or 3 least densely populated states. Arkansas otoh, is one of the 3 major paths crossing the U.S.
Montana, not so much. don't get me wrong - having Viet Nam vet friends, we get into Glacier for free when we go w/ them. Probably 4 or 5 times in the past decade. I just get easily intrigued with deployment.
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Dynastar
Member
Going through Montana is the primary northern route to drive across the USA. Trust me, the SC up here are not for our huge population (just over 1 mil). In fact most of north-central and north-eastern Montana is virtually inaccessible by EV, with very few towns and fewer charging opportunities.
goneskiian
Active Member
Not to mention that Arkansas is like 1/4 the size of Montana.
OK, I googled it, it's actually a bit more than 1/3rd (53,179 square miles vs. 147,164 square miles).
Besides, who wants to stop in Arkansas?
Edit: To be fair, yes, that's a pretty glaring hole in the SE supercharger map. I'm sure they'll fill it "soon".
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hill
high fiber member
yes - when we sold our last MT property not too long ago, the 406 area code was still more than enough for the whole state ... all the cel phones, land lines, faxes, pagers etc. As for 'primary route' - that's true too - if one's driving to Seattle or Portland. But that route is still small potatoes compared to folk 10's of millions (commercial & private) driving in to the land of fruits & nuts - Cali.
I's 20 - 40 - even 70 each handle substantially more traffic.
And driving across the divide via the 90? Winter? you really gotta feel lucky trying that in winter.
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Ecarfan,
I am new to this page. I saw your post about a house in Glacier with a charger outside? I'm traveling to Glacier next month and would love the info!
Anybody hear anything about Kalispell supercharger? I haven’t seen anything, but haven’t been through since last summer.... The red lion in Kalispell and the koa in st Mary’s... look to be our plan, going to sun road still closed due to fire up to Logan pass....
We just "did" Glacier along with Arches & Dead Horse (UT), Yellowstone & Grand Teton (WY), Pt Reyes, Yosemite, & Joshua Tree (CA), Badlands & Custer (SD), Niagara Falls (ON) and others over the past two months. Three days at Glacier.
The nearest supercharger is in Missoula, which is plenty to get you to Glacier. We spent the first two nights at the Western Inn RV Park and Lodge in Columbia Falls. The room was spartan but adequate. They have Tipi's (Teepee's?) available as well, but that was a bit too far from normality for the three of us. I knew we would be there at a peak time (early August), so I called ahead to confirm that there was 50 amp (NEMA 14-50) service available. The service was available, but I didn't realize that only 2 of the 20 or so that had the 50 amp service; the rest had a 20 or 30 amp service which required a much different adapter (rounded plugs, NEMA 6-20?). When we got there, I found out that I could use the NEMA 15-40 for the first night but that both 50 amp slots had just been reserved for the second night. In retrospect, I should have booked and paid for it when it was still available. My error. By that time, all the 50 amp RV slots we could find in the area had been reserved (again, high season).
When I had access to the charger at the RV park, we had plenty of freedom and flexibility to do whatever we wanted at Glacier.
When I didn't, I ended up renting an ICE car near the airport for $50-$60 for the one day so that we could have full flexibility.
As planned, we spent the third night at the Red Lion in Kallispell which has a destination charger in the parking lot. It was another 20 miles or so farther away than the RV park, but with the price approaching $300 for the one night (again, high season) , I opted for the RV Park at a half the price.
The nearest supercharger is in Missoula, which is plenty to get you to Glacier. We spent the first two nights at the Western Inn RV Park and Lodge in Columbia Falls. The room was spartan but adequate. They have Tipi's (Teepee's?) available as well, but that was a bit too far from normality for the three of us. I knew we would be there at a peak time (early August), so I called ahead to confirm that there was 50 amp (NEMA 14-50) service available. The service was available, but I didn't realize that only 2 of the 20 or so that had the 50 amp service; the rest had a 20 or 30 amp service which required a much different adapter (rounded plugs, NEMA 6-20?). When we got there, I found out that I could use the NEMA 15-40 for the first night but that both 50 amp slots had just been reserved for the second night. In retrospect, I should have booked and paid for it when it was still available. My error. By that time, all the 50 amp RV slots we could find in the area had been reserved (again, high season).
When I had access to the charger at the RV park, we had plenty of freedom and flexibility to do whatever we wanted at Glacier.
When I didn't, I ended up renting an ICE car near the airport for $50-$60 for the one day so that we could have full flexibility.
As planned, we spent the third night at the Red Lion in Kallispell which has a destination charger in the parking lot. It was another 20 miles or so farther away than the RV park, but with the price approaching $300 for the one night (again, high season) , I opted for the RV Park at a half the price.
One more point - there is a single destination charger near the Lake MacDonald Lodge as well as a Clipper Creek J1772 unit.
The chargers are not limited to people staying at the lodge (we weren't staying there - wanted to, but no vacancy).
However, with only one charger (or two, if you count the slower J1772), you are rather limited if you aren't staying there overnight to charge. One person can occupy it for quite some time, even appropriately since they may need a full charge to get back down to Missoula.
The chargers are not limited to people staying at the lodge (we weren't staying there - wanted to, but no vacancy).
However, with only one charger (or two, if you count the slower J1772), you are rather limited if you aren't staying there overnight to charge. One person can occupy it for quite some time, even appropriately since they may need a full charge to get back down to Missoula.
Foxhound199
Member
That won't help anyone visiting in the foreseeable future. The lodge as well as the road to it are closed due to fire.
6 nights in the area visiting from north Idaho. KOA In both the east and west glacier were kind to us this last week. Nice clean bathrooms, pools, cabins/tent areas, and they were ok with letting me plug in to an empty 50 amp at night.. The three kids and the dog, wife and I had 3 days smoky, then welcome rain for a day , then 3 2 days beautiful and empty GNP... red lion in kalispel was nice and set out a cone, but the lot was half empty due to fires... took both east and west route around flathead lake. No problem driving home to west glacier, only 20-30min charge stop in superior which was nice to walk around with the dog...... almost 40,000 miles in our 90D S in less than 2 years. No regrets, our family spaceship! Never thought I would love a vehicle like I do this car!
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