Supercharger - West Yellowstone, MT

[rpo]

I'd highly suggest cutting over to the California coast from Grants Pass to Crescent City and then hug the coast to at least Mendocino. It's beautiful.

 

[MikeBur]

Great suggestions, hadn’t put 2 and 2 together regarding the golden spike. Most of my interest in that comes from watching Hell On Wheels creative interpretation of history .

I suggest a couple of small side historical excursions that are along your route. When you are coming up through Utah, you pass by the site of the joining of the transcontinental railroad. It's about 27 miles to the west from Tremonton. They have a really interesting museum there about the process of building it and early railroad history, and they have real working replicas of the two locomotives that met at that point. They run those locomotives up and down the tracks several times a day, and they are open for tours 7 days a week.
Golden Spike National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)
Side benefit: You get to drive by the site of Orbital ATK Aerospace systems, which has a big display out front of the rockets and boosters that they make for NASA and the air force. (Google for photos)

And then the other cool thing is in Idaho. Between Pocatello and Idaho Falls, if you turn off at Blackfoot onto U.S. highway 26 for 42 miles, you get to Experimental Breeder Reactor 1. It's where they were figuring out the practical application of nuclear energy and was the first reactor in the world to be used to generate electricity. It was shut down in the 50's and is a museum now that has tours 7 days a week. It's only open during the summers, though--Memorial Day to Labor Day, but you're in luck.
Idaho National Laboratory - Experimental Breeder Reactor No.1 (EBR-I)
Craters of the Moon is near there too, but I don't recommend checking out fields of black lava rock in the desert in July, when it's over 100 degrees.

 

[purplewalt]

Best way to traverse and see this country is via an immersive road trip.

I like your comments - look here, see that. Is that what you mean as an immersive road trip?
I've been to many of your nooks, including wading up the Zion-Virgin river in a dry-suit.
Is there a treasure chest somewhere of these types of nooks? You mentions some - where else?
I want to do another immersive road trip. Have done much of the West. Thinking of a leaf-peep in the East and struggling to plan one out.

My idea of an immersive Road Trip is to outline some larger goals, but be open to the adventure of exploring this county (or any country).
Don't be afraid to try East Carolina Bar-B-Que, because you "only like" KC or Memphis style Bar-B-Que.

Don't be afraid to take half an hour to two hours to wander off the beaten path and be exposed to some new (to you) facets of this world.

There is a great book (my opinion) "1,000 Places to See Before you Die". Lots of interesting things to see and places to visit.

Example: I grew up in a very small town in Ohio.
On one of my trips, I noticed they had "Bicycle Museum of North America".
Literally, they have a bicycle over 200 years old.
A whole collection of antique bicycles.
Bicycles used in WWI and WWII, with guns.
On of first Battery operated bicycles by Lee Iacocca.
Pee Wee Hermann's Bicycle.
Over 300 bikes on display.
IIRC, over 900 bikes in their collection.
Plus some gems and other semi-precious stones.

Don't miss USAF Air Museum in Dayton.
Read David McCullough's "The Wright Brothers"
Visit their neighborhood.

Visit Springfield, IL.
Visit Lincoln's tomb, go inside, rub his nose (for luck) on the sculpture outside.
Visit and tour his neighborhood.
Visit the old Illinois state capital building and the new one too.
Visit and tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana Thomas house.

Search out and visit and stay at New Harmony, Indiana.
Tour the old and new buildings.
Learn about their religion, walk some of their labyrinths.
Visit Richard Mier's and Philip Johnson's additions to the town.

Visit Ogdensburg, NY.
Visit and explore Frederic Remington Museum.

Go up into Montreal and Quebec City.
WALK the streets, explore.
ALWAYS go to visit and talk with local farmers at Farmer Markets.
Buy something, give it away as gifts and souvenirs.

 

[AZ Desert Driver]

My idea of an immersive Road Trip is to outline some larger goals, but be open to the adventure of exploring this county (or any country).
Don't be afraid to try East Carolina Bar-B-Que, because you "only like" KC or Memphis style Bar-B-Que.

Don't be afraid to take half an hour to two hours to wander off the beaten path and be exposed to some new (to you) facets of this world.

There is a great book (my opinion) "1,000 Places to See Before you Die". Lots of interesting things to see and places to visit.

Example: I grew up in a very small town in Ohio.
On one of my trips, I noticed they had "Bicycle Museum of North America".
Literally, they have a bicycle over 200 years old.
A whole collection of antique bicycles.
Bicycles used in WWI and WWII, with guns.
On of first Battery operated bicycles by Lee Iacocca.
Pee Wee Hermann's Bicycle.
Over 300 bikes on display.
IIRC, over 900 bikes in their collection.
Plus some gems and other semi-precious stones.

Don't miss USAF Air Museum in Dayton.
Read David McCullough's "The Wright Brothers"
Visit their neighborhood.

Visit Springfield, IL.
Visit Lincoln's tomb, go inside, rub his nose (for luck) on the sculpture outside.
Visit and tour his neighborhood.
Visit the old Illinois state capital building and the new one too.
Visit and tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana Thomas house.

Search out and visit and stay at New Harmony, Indiana.
Tour the old and new buildings.
Learn about their religion, walk some of their labyrinths.
Visit Richard Mier's and Philip Johnson's additions to the town.

Visit Ogdensburg, NY.
Visit and explore Frederic Remington Museum.

Go up into Montreal and Quebec City.
WALK the streets, explore.
ALWAYS go to visit and talk with local farmers at Farmer Markets.
Buy something, give it away as gifts and souvenirs.

Perfect - Thanks for these Nooks. They will get folded into my bucket list. I think this could be called "living well" - what we all want to do.

 

[alpinehijinx]

Can anyone speak to whether or not you must pay to enter the Park to use the SC? The map makes it look like the Discovery Center is inside the Park. Passing south through here this month and would not need to pay the extra fee just to SC.

 

[RobertSeattle]

Can anyone speak to whether or not you must pay to enter the Park to use the SC? The map makes it look like the Discovery Center is inside the Park. Passing south through here this month and would not need to pay the extra fee just to SC.

You do not need to enter the NP to access the supercharger.

 

[Rocky_H]

Can anyone speak to whether or not you must pay to enter the Park to use the SC? The map makes it look like the Discovery Center is inside the Park. Passing south through here this month and would not need to pay the extra fee just to SC.

I've been through there. It's in the town outside the entrance to the park, and I have used it just coming through on the highway on the way up to Bozeman.

 

[Bighorn]

Coming from the north, you actually pass through the park, but you don’t need to pay as you don’t pass through an entrance.

 

[rp33]

SC is super slow outside west yellowstone! 7:30 am and the only car and charging at 44kw from the get go. Tried multiple stations. Smh...

 

[Nosken]

SC is super slow outside west yellowstone! 7:30 am and the only car and charging at 44kw from the get go. Tried multiple stations. Smh...

Was you car parked overnight close by? It could be "Cold Soaked if the overnight temperatures were cold, and you didn’t preheat the battery. Always best to charge on arrival.

 

[Bighorn]

Even relatively balmy temperatures in West Yellowstone are sufficient to temperature limit a morning supercharge. A true cold soak can preclude any charging at all for about an hour. A lesson that one learns the first time.

 

[smartypnz]

Even relatively balmy temperatures in West Yellowstone are sufficient to temperature limit a morning supercharge. A true cold soak can preclude any charging at all for about an hour. A lesson that one learns the first time.

A lesson to be learned when traveling.... aim for overnight several miles to the next Supercharger and pre-condition the battery getting there. I try to aim for breakfast down the road and getting a charge during that time. Not always doable, but try anyway.

 

[mspohr]

A lesson to be learned when traveling.... aim for overnight several miles to the next Supercharger and pre-condition the battery getting there. I try to aim for breakfast down the road and getting a charge during that time. Not always doable, but try anyway.

If you use the nav system to select the Supercharger as your destination, the car will "precondition" the battery to improve charging performance. The battery needs to be warm (?hot) to get max charge.

 

[goneskiian]

Or if the supercharger is at the hotel, charge when you arrive while checking in and/or unpacking. But only to about 90-95%. Then top it off while having breakfast and re-packing.

 

[Crazycolbster]

Future Tesla owner here, we went to Yellowstone over Memorial weekend and the park was absolutely packed full. How bad was the supercharging situation? We only saw a few Teslas, but then again, there could have easily been a lot more.

 

[corywright]

How bad was the supercharging situation?

I used the West Yellowstone Supercharger several times over the past weekend. Even though the park was very busy all weekend, I never saw more than four cars at the Supercharger at a time. However, on Sunday there was a black Model 3 parked across two stalls for several hours, and worse, it was not even plugged in.

 

[Crazycolbster]

I used the West Yellowstone Supercharger several times over the past weekend. Even though the park was very busy all weekend, I never saw more than four cars at the Supercharger at a time. However, on Sunday there was a black Model 3 parked across two stalls for several hours, and worse, it was not even plugged in.

Even with all that traffic, only about half utilization. Good to know. Thanks!

 

[mociaf9]

However, on Sunday there was a black Model 3 parked across two stalls for several hours, and worse, it was not even plugged in.

Maybe a car that ran out of juice and was towed to the supercharger and then dropped off?

 

[corywright]

Maybe a car that ran out of juice and was towed to the supercharger and then dropped off?

That is certainly a possibility that I hadn't considered, and it would make sense as the car was somewhat angled in between two stalls.

 

[PLUS EV]

Maybe a car that ran out of juice and was towed to the supercharger and then dropped off?

And then didn't get the 12V jumped and was bricked at the supercharger. This happened to me once, but at least I had the tow truck driver park me in one stall