I'm not sure there's even a restaurant inside the Hampton inn. There are zero options around this charger for food or activities.
@BlueShift
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Supercharger - Evanston WY
- Thread starter rhumbliner
- Start date
I'm not sure there's even a restaurant inside the Hampton inn. There are zero options around this charger for food or activities.
@BlueShift
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
Hamptons are good for coffee and a potty break. I'm sure outfitting I-80 across WY was a challenge for the Supercharger team.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
No walls around the cabinets has become common on the more recent builds. Fencing has not kept out the vandals in CA and I'm guessing there aren't as many aesthetic codes to satisfy in these parts.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
Likely has to do with the location of the electrical connection and minimizing trenching and parking lot damage.
There do look to be two or three restaurants about a quarter mile to the east, so it could be worse. There are even sidewalks!
Oh boy, funny you should ask.
I had some real headaches with my tires on the trip I just got back from. I left home with ~40k miles on my car and was still using the original tires.
The first headache was a slow to medium leak in one of my tires. I didn't notice running anything over, but it looks like it might have been a nail or something similar. The warning light came on at ~37psi and this was the first I knew of a problem. I kept driving, monitoring the psi on the dashboard and I was losing about 1 psi/minute. I was only about 10-20 miles from the next town and supercharger so I reduced my speed to a moderate level (50-60mph or so) and limped to the supercharger. Here is the problem. It was the 4th of July and I was in Las Vegas, NM, so basically the middle of nowhere.
I called AAA and roadside assistance and they were basically of no use because of the holiday. AAA literally told me to call back tomorrow lol. I think Tesla would have maybe sent a flatbed from Albuquerque but that would have taken forever and I would have only gone that route as a last resort. Really spending the night at the Comfort Inn at the supercharger probably would have been a better option than that even as depressing as it would have been to spend the holiday there by myself with no means of transportation.
Anyways, I called every googleable number possible for tire repair and towing services in the area. The only one that answered the phone said he only did towing and didn't fix tires. Finally a tire place answered the phone but it turns out this place was in some sort of supermarket and it was just the checker at the grocery store who answered the phone. He told me the tire department was closed for the holiday. I sort of explained my predicament and he actually gave me his buddy's cell number. This was a guy who worked in the tire department but was on his day off for the holiday. Anyways, this guy really bailed me out. He showed up at the supercharger about 20 minutes after I called, jacked up the car, took the tire off, put it in the backseat of his car and drove down to his shop, plugged it up and drove back to my car about 45 minutes later and put it back on my car. I waited in the hotel lobby while he did it. All in all this slowed me down by about 2 hours but I was back on the road and happy as could be. I paid him an exorbitant fee for his work, but I was just happy to be moving again. He didn't even want to take as much as I offered, but I insisted.
The other option there which I fortunately didn't have to try would have been to limp to a gas station, put some air in, which would have bought me some time to get to Walmart or Allsup's where I hopefully could have purchased some fix-a-flat and tried to fix it on my own that way. I'm not particularly handy with tires and cars in general so this would have been a poor option for me, especially since it would have involved driving around for at least a mile with almost no pressure in that tire.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
Definitely carry a compressor for those sorts of circumstances. Goop usually is a false security blanket and a plug kit is the way to go, but does require a modicum of handiness. It's a skill worth learning as I found out during a blizzard in Colorado on a Sunday with no tire stores open.
One morning I rode into Las Vegas, NM and there was a state trooper taking a statement from a guest whose car window was smash and grabbed--thankfully I had slept at a rest stop just up the road rather than lingered for a nap by the supercharger.
One morning I rode into Las Vegas, NM and there was a state trooper taking a statement from a guest whose car window was smash and grabbed--thankfully I had slept at a rest stop just up the road rather than lingered for a nap by the supercharger.
So at this point, I tell myself I'm getting new tires when I get home. Unfortunately I didn't make it that far...
I ended up hitting a 2x4 or something similar going about 85mph on I-90 between Butte and Missoula, MT just after sunset. I saw it at the last minute but it was too late to swerve out of the way. I had autopilot engaged, but I was paying close attention, especially since I almost hit a moose on this stretch last time I drove through (at 80-90mph, hitting one of those can literally kill you). But the vision was not the greatest driving into the sunset with bugs caked on my windshield (I had cleaned it in Butte, but this was the worst stretch of bugs I had seen in quite a long time and they were already caked on 30 miles later) and I didn't see this 2x4 till it was too late.
The tire did not completely blow out, but I was dropping psi at a rate of about 20psi/minute. This was not the same tire as in New Mexico, so just a random coincidence, although the fact that they both had ~45k miles on them with the tread being thinner could have contributed. I actually lucked out and had just seen a sign that said REST AREA 2 MILES, so knowing that I was extremely close to the rest area, I decided to limp in and park there, which was infinitely better than being stuck on the side of I-90 with cars speeding past as it got dark. I had about 15psi as I parked there and 0psi shortly thereafter.
I was also fortunate that I had some cell service at the rest area. This area is indescribably rural and there was no guarantee that it would work. I had to stand out in the middle of the parking lot to get a signal, but that's way better than nothing. So I call Roadside Assistance, leave a message, and they eventually call me back. Ended up getting a flatbed to show up a couple hours later. He had originally gone to the wrong place due to a miscommunication but eventually he found me. By this point I had reserved a room at a hotel about a mile from the Les Schwab in Missoula. So he took me and the Tesla to Missoula, dropped the car off at Les Schwab and then dropped me off at the hotel.
In the morning I walked down to the Les Schwab and after waiting a few hours they told me the tire was shot and I needed 4 new ones. They said 1 new one or 2 new ones wasn't an option for whatever reason. This might have been a hard sell, who knows. I was totally fine with getting 4 new tires if they had the appropriate tires in stock, but they were just giving me one option and they didn't have anything with low-rolling resistance and certainly nothing that Tesla itself recommends. I did not know much about tires on a Tesla but with all the waiting I had time to search this forum and google and what they were selling me didn't seem like the greatest match. But anyways, I didn't feel like I had much choice because I wasn't gonna sit in Missoula for a few days while they ordered it and it was unlikely that any other place in town had the right tires either and I would have needed a tow to get there. So now that I'm home, I need to sort all this out and figure out if I need to get new tires again and just eat the loss on the tires I purchased in Missoula.
It's possible that I was just extremely unlucky, but all in all this experience has me questioning the wisdom of the car not having a spare tire, then keeping the tires inflated to a high psi, and then of course having very specific needs for replacement tires. The system of having a ranger or whoever come in with a spare might work fine if you are in a metro area, but it's completely unavailable in rural areas and then you end up on a flatbed to the nearest tire shop which doesn't even stock appropriate replacement tires for the car.
I ended up hitting a 2x4 or something similar going about 85mph on I-90 between Butte and Missoula, MT just after sunset. I saw it at the last minute but it was too late to swerve out of the way. I had autopilot engaged, but I was paying close attention, especially since I almost hit a moose on this stretch last time I drove through (at 80-90mph, hitting one of those can literally kill you). But the vision was not the greatest driving into the sunset with bugs caked on my windshield (I had cleaned it in Butte, but this was the worst stretch of bugs I had seen in quite a long time and they were already caked on 30 miles later) and I didn't see this 2x4 till it was too late.
The tire did not completely blow out, but I was dropping psi at a rate of about 20psi/minute. This was not the same tire as in New Mexico, so just a random coincidence, although the fact that they both had ~45k miles on them with the tread being thinner could have contributed. I actually lucked out and had just seen a sign that said REST AREA 2 MILES, so knowing that I was extremely close to the rest area, I decided to limp in and park there, which was infinitely better than being stuck on the side of I-90 with cars speeding past as it got dark. I had about 15psi as I parked there and 0psi shortly thereafter.
I was also fortunate that I had some cell service at the rest area. This area is indescribably rural and there was no guarantee that it would work. I had to stand out in the middle of the parking lot to get a signal, but that's way better than nothing. So I call Roadside Assistance, leave a message, and they eventually call me back. Ended up getting a flatbed to show up a couple hours later. He had originally gone to the wrong place due to a miscommunication but eventually he found me. By this point I had reserved a room at a hotel about a mile from the Les Schwab in Missoula. So he took me and the Tesla to Missoula, dropped the car off at Les Schwab and then dropped me off at the hotel.
In the morning I walked down to the Les Schwab and after waiting a few hours they told me the tire was shot and I needed 4 new ones. They said 1 new one or 2 new ones wasn't an option for whatever reason. This might have been a hard sell, who knows. I was totally fine with getting 4 new tires if they had the appropriate tires in stock, but they were just giving me one option and they didn't have anything with low-rolling resistance and certainly nothing that Tesla itself recommends. I did not know much about tires on a Tesla but with all the waiting I had time to search this forum and google and what they were selling me didn't seem like the greatest match. But anyways, I didn't feel like I had much choice because I wasn't gonna sit in Missoula for a few days while they ordered it and it was unlikely that any other place in town had the right tires either and I would have needed a tow to get there. So now that I'm home, I need to sort all this out and figure out if I need to get new tires again and just eat the loss on the tires I purchased in Missoula.
It's possible that I was just extremely unlucky, but all in all this experience has me questioning the wisdom of the car not having a spare tire, then keeping the tires inflated to a high psi, and then of course having very specific needs for replacement tires. The system of having a ranger or whoever come in with a spare might work fine if you are in a metro area, but it's completely unavailable in rural areas and then you end up on a flatbed to the nearest tire shop which doesn't even stock appropriate replacement tires for the car.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
Your experience is an example of why I always carry a plug kit, some other tools and a pump in my car, as well as a spare tire on road trips. People who live in urban areas like to ridicule the "be prepared" approach — "just call for roadside service!" — and mention that they have never had a flat in X years of driving. My experience is different: it is so much easier to just fix a flat or change a tire and go on with a trip than deal with the issues you did.
With luck I will never have to use my plug kit or spare tire — the best insurance policy is one that never has to be used! I do use my 12 V pump/light and pressure gauge on occasion to adjust the pressure of my tires before setting out in the morning, since all of my road trips involve large elevation and temperature changes, both of which affect tire pressure.
Getting back on topic... one thing I thought was strange about the Evanston supercharger is that the bollards were numbered for at least a few days prior to the electricity actually being turned on. So presumably it had been turned on, tested by a tech and then turned off for some reason. Has anyone ever seen this happen at any other supercharger? I always thought stickers on the pedestals meant it was good to go.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
I think the only indication of whether they're live or not is the lit up TESLA logo--not sure that stenciling the numbers has any bearing.
+1. I spend way too much time on remote rural roads to be willing to drive without a spare, jack, lug wrench, pump and 2" x 12" board as a jack base (for soft surfaces), and it tees my off that so many cars nowadays, even CUVs/SUVs which are more likely to be driven on remote/dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, lack spares and often spare tire wells. I'll carry a spare in the cargo area if I have to, but the failure to provide this space is inexcusable in vehicle types likely to be driven in the back of beyond.
goneskiian
Active Member
Thanks for sharing your experiences all! Especially the tire emergencies! I have added a jack, tire plug kit, and the compressor/tire goop from Tesla for such times. I'll have to add the "soft surface" support now too! 
As for "special tires" for Tesla's, there really isn't such a thing. As long as they are the proper sizes I wouldn't worry too much and just drive them. Unless you were looking for a "silent", "summer performance", or "mud and snow" rated tire in particular, any all season tire will drive just fine.
As for "special tires" for Tesla's, there really isn't such a thing. As long as they are the proper sizes I wouldn't worry too much and just drive them. Unless you were looking for a "silent", "summer performance", or "mud and snow" rated tire in particular, any all season tire will drive just fine.
E-GAL
Member
Charged at Evanston today. No restaurant nearby, so charged up and began driving east, away from the freeway. Pulled into the lot for a "family restaurant" (don't remember the name) but then noticed the Lincoln Highway Tavern next door. Turns out they have wonderful hamburgers and home-made fries, and the waitress was fun. It's a little far to walk, but it was a good lunch.
ThisIsTrue
Re-member
Would you Be So Kind as to post a link to what you think is good (preferably on Amazon)? I have a compressor, but not a plug kit yet. Thanks.
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