August 2 - 18th, 2020: Epic Road Trip '20!
Just returned from a completely epic road trip! A huge loop from NJ out to Utah and back east again. Visited 7 different national parks & monuments, as well as a whole bunch of other sites. Just an incredible trip.
I could talk for weeks on end about the various parks, monuments, sites & attractions but since this is a Model X forum, I'll focus on that.
In one word:SPECTACULAR! We just picked up our 2020 Model X LR at the end of June, and I guess you could call this its "shakedown cruise"... can't imagine pushing it much harder, and it responded spectacularly at every turn. Super comfortable ride, great performance, and really, really pleased at its wattage burn. Don't think it could've done much better. Average wh/mi burn at the end of the trip was about 307 wh/mi. Given that we climbed up to 8,100 feet above sea level (and back down again) - don't think I could've asked for more.
Supercharging was an absolute breeze. A Better Route Planner was my copilot and almost spot-on at all points. I wish Tesla would just purchase it and integrate with the in-dash navigation.... it's brutally clear that ABRP has fantastic algorithms!
3 of us - myself, my wife & my son, in a 6-seater Model X were super comfortable. My wife's stroke of BRILLIANCE was to pack all of our clothing in packing cubes instead of suitcases. We used the frunk for our clothes, and it was just perfect. Each day we'd grab that day's packing cube, and bring that into our hotel room. Kept everything organized, easy to manage and sorted! Can't overstate enough how fabulous the frunk is.
The only "glitch" if you will were the Colorado wildfires this week. Neither the in-dash nav nor ABRP picked up on the county roads closed in the mountains. We ended up driving 2 hours west of Aspen, had to backtrack all the way back there, and head due east all the way to Grand Junction CO. Then headed south and across I-50 west. Cost us almost a full day to get to Colorado Springs... But given how big this itinerary was, that's a very minor glitch indeed.
The most expensive part of the entire trip were the car washes! Our hotels were covered with Marriott points, and we have free Supercharging... so just washing those darn bugs off the nose of the vehicle was the most expensive cost of the entire trip.
Conclusion: Model X is the *ultimate* road trip vehicle! This was the first time we've ever road tripped off the eastern seaboard, and can't wait for the next one. We're looking forward to the next 200,000+ miles in our X. I couldn't have ever imagined doing this in our previous Enclave... would've been exhausting to say the least. Autopilot + FSD really saved the day here!
States visited: NJ-PA-OH-IA-IL-WI-MN-SD-WY-UT-CO-KS-MO-KY-OH-WV-PA-NJ
6,638 miles drive
15 states visited
2,039 kW used
307.17 wh/mi average
$0.00 Supercharging cost
0.00 gallons of fuel
0.00 CO2 emissions
Highest elevation: 8,100 feet above sea level
Bugs splattered: 10,578,841
8 national parks & monuments:
- Devils Tower
- Mt. Rushmore
- Little Bighorn Battlefield
- Yellowstone
- Grand Teton
- Arches
- Canyonlands
- St Louis Arch
Other sites:
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- Millenium Park, Chicago
- Crazy Horse Memorial
- Sturgis Rally (just driving through - bioweapon defense mode ACTIVATED!)
- Deadwood, SD
- Jackson Hole, WY
- Aspen CO
- Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
- Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum, KY
- Every freakin' roadside attraction you can think of
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