X and Airstream Bambi - the new adventures 2017

[JimVandegriff]

We are sitting at the abandon, Oregon supercharger eating lunch after a short 36 mile jaunt up the coast, headed for Bullards beach state park for a week of camping. We were affected by a stiff at times headwind and did about 660 wh/mile.
One of the more interesting things about camping with our rig is that people really want to talk Tesla (and/or Airstream). We end up doing lots of Tesla talk daily. As I'm writing this, Illijana is outside talking to a guy who was working on a sign by the supercharger explaining the X to him. We think it is fun to do and part of doing our part for the environment.

 

[JimVandegriff]

Bandon

 

[Solarman004]

"One of the more interesting things about camping with our rig is that people really want to talk Tesla (and/or Airstream). We end up doing lots of Tesla talk daily. As I'm writing this, Illijana is outside talking to a guy who was working on a sign by the supercharger explaining the X to him. We think it is fun to do and part of doing our part for the environment."

Thank you for being great representatives of a clean transportation future. As more and more folks see first hand the value of EVs, they will become more and more mainstream.
When we first bought our 2005 Prius, people would come over at gas stations to ask about the car at almost every fill up. Now, hybrids are everywhere.
We like to "show the flag," like you are, with our MX. But, I think seeing an EV tow a large trailer has a much greater impact.
Well done!

 

[JimVandegriff]

One of the more challenging things this trip has been trying to get reservations at campsites at the times and places we would like. We prefer state park campgrounds, but the most popular in Oregon and Washington are completely booked for the times we want to be there. We did not make reservations early (lesson learned), and since we need power at night (for charging and my cpap machine - we don't have an inverter plug yet), we are not doing dry camping. Last summer we ended up spending 3 nights in a casino parking lot which was not a lot of fun, but this year wanted to try the free spirit style of camping - going somewhere, then choosing to go somewhere else when the feeling struck. Such free spiritedness was not to be in the world of tight camping availability. We decided to spend longer times at certain sites and take day trips with the X while leaving the camper at the RV park. Here then is our itinerary through Labor Day (after which there is no problem with free spiritedness).
Till July 17 - Bullards Beach state park, Bandon, OR
July 17-19 - Waldport KOA, Waldport, OR
July 19-24 - Netarts Bay Garden RV, Tillamook, OR
July 24-31 - Bay Center/Willapa KOA, Bay Center, WA
July 31-Aug 7 - Driftwood RV Resort, Copalis Beach, WA
Aug 7-8 - Potlatch state park, Shelton, WA
Aug 9-23 - Port Angeles KOA, WA (Where we get to take the ferry to Victoria, BC!)
Aug 23-25 Gig Harbor RV resort, Gig Harbor, WA
Aug 25-26 Lewis and Clark state park, Centralia, WA
Aug 26-28 Bayport RV park, St Helens, OR
Aug 28- Sept 1 - Ft Stevens state park, Astoria, OR
Sept 1 - 5 - Lincoln City KOA, OR
After this we will toodle down the coast till we get home.
We wanted to do a trip around the Olympic peninsula, but Ohmann's experience mitigated against this, at least until the Forks, WA supercharger gets activated. We figured day trips from Port Angeles would suffice this time. We met a Safari Condo Alto owner of the type that Silke and Rolf of TeslaXCanada have, and enjoyed talking trailer and X with them. They were aware of the trip Silke and Rolf had taken with their X and trailer. We are off to explore Coos Bay, and Charleston village today.

 

[ecarfan]

We met a Safari Condo Alto owner of the type that Silke and Rolf of TeslaXCanada have, and enjoyed talking trailer and X with them.

Hi Jim: was that a retractable roof or fixed roof Alto, do you recall? Where were the owners from? There aren't very many Alto trailer owners on the West Coast.

Your trip sounds great!

 

[JimVandegriff]

Hi Jim: was that a retractable roof or fixed roof Alto, do you recall? Where were the owners from? There aren't very many Alto trailer owners on the West Coast.

Your trip sounds great!

Retractable roof Alto. It was lovely, and rare, and being towed by a small Honda sedan! I did not get where the owners were from.
PS We would be happy to see anyone who wants to view our rig at any of our stopping points. Just send us a pm through this site.
When are you getting your trailer, ecarfan?

 

[ecarfan]

Jim my Alto F1732 (fixed roof) should be available for me in early 2018. Worth the wait!

Would like to meet up with you someday when my wife and I are on the road with your Alto!

 

[ohmman]

A couple of notes on your trip from my recent trek:

The Tillamook cheese factory is under construction and is a tourist trap/nightmare. Unless you're a huge Tillamook fan, I'd avoid it.

Bay Center KOA has a trail to the beach. The bay is interesting, as it is very shallow and loses 50% of its water volume when the tide goes out. There are oyster shells everywhere around here, as there is a lot of oyster production (9% of all US oysters). The KOA has a little display showing the methods of growing and harvesting oysters. Nothing fancy, but it's interesting.

When you're in Port Angeles, it's worth driving up to Hurricane Ridge on a clear day. You can see the Cascades, the Olympics, and Canada from the short hikes right near the visitors' center.

Keep us updated!

 

[BerTX]

We wanted to do a trip around the Olympic peninsula, but Ohmann's experience mitigated against this, at least until the Forks, WA supercharger gets activated. We figured day trips from Port Angeles would suffice this time. We met a Safari Condo Alto owner of the type that Silke and Rolf of TeslaXCanada have, and enjoyed talking trailer and X with them. They were aware of the trip Silke and Rolf had taken with their X and trailer. We are off to explore Coos Bay, and Charleston village today.

The problems with the trip around the Olympic Peninsula were unfortunate, but the loop should still be possible with a slightly different route plan. Instead of trying to go straight from Forks to Aberdeen, cut across to Moclips and continue down the coast on WA 109. The Moclips Hwy from US101 to WA 109 is fine, no problem towing and not much traffic on weekdays.

It is less than 100 miles from Forks to Seabrook, which has a free J1772 on the side of the road. There are also multiple RV parks along WA 109 as well.

 

[ohmman]

The problems with the trip around the Olympic Peninsula were unfortunate, but the loop should still be possible with a slightly different route plan. Instead of trying to go straight from Forks to Aberdeen, cut across to Moclips and continue down the coast on WA 109. The Moclips Hwy from US101 to WA 109 is fine, no problem towing and not much traffic on weekdays.

It is less than 100 miles from Forks to Seabrook, which has a free J1772 on the side of the road. There are also multiple RV parks along WA 109 as well.

It's only 107 miles from Forks to Aberdeen. The problem wasn't that distance; it was that we weren't overnighting/full charging in Forks (and I'm a bit glad we weren't staying at that park, honestly). I could have spent an extra couple of hours at that park and had little trouble. However, between the breaker popping off and the promise of a 14-50 during a beach walk, I didn't.

 

[BerTX]

It's only 107 miles from Forks to Aberdeen. The problem wasn't that distance; it was that we weren't overnighting/full charging in Forks (and I'm a bit glad we weren't staying at that park, honestly). I could have spent an extra couple of hours at that park and had little trouble. However, between the breaker popping off and the promise of a 14-50 during a beach walk, I didn't.

Ah, so yes, this is still not a good idea, especially coming from Port Angeles rather than Sol Duc as you did. There needs to be something reliable in Forks to make this possible.

 

[JimVandegriff]

Today was an interesting travel day from Bullards Beach State Park near Bandon, Oregon to the KOA in Waldport, Oregon. Total mileage (and this is the longest planned no charging between stops event of our trip) was 105.6 miles using 65.5 Kwh at 620 wh/m. We had a Tesla estimated 34 miles of range left when we pulled in (or 17 miles pulling our trailer). We did go to "yellow alert" status on the dashboard.
When we got here we found that the site they assigned us required us to unhitch the car from the trailer to fit the space. It also meant that our 14-50 Tesla adapter cord could not reach the car from where the electrical box was located. We have been looking for the Camco extension cord that Ohmann recommended but haven't found anyplace that carries a 14-50 male to 14-50 female extension cord yet. I plan to look in Newport or Lincoln City tomorrow or the next day. We are using a 30 amp extension cord married to our tt-30 male to 14-50 female and our 14-50 Tesla cord adapter dialed down to 24 amps (115 volts) and thus charging at 8 miles of range per hour.
Another non-Tesla, but camping related experience that shaped our day was attempting to get the water heater in our trailer fixed. It died suddenly yesterday for the second time in the year we have had the trailer. Both times, the circuit board manufactured by Atwood, was bad. We had it replaced about 2 months ago, and the new one failed yesterday. I looked up online reviews for RV repair places on our route today, and decided on RV Masters of Oregon in Reedsport. We pulled in there about noon (somewhat delayed by a late Tesla education session with new arrivals at the park we were leaving) and asked for help. Illijana beautifully described the experiments she had done with the unit, answered questions, and two technicians (including the business owner) came out to our rig to troubleshoot. They worked on the unit, testing possibilities, and finally replaced the circuit board with one from another manufacturer (Dinosaur Electronics) made in Lincoln City, Oregon. It works like a charm. We felt very lucky to have found such knowledgeable and accommodating people to fix one of the true joys of our Airstream - the separate hot shower.
We plan to do laundry tomorrow, check out the town, and maybe check out the Tesla destination chargers at the Cape Cod cottages here in Waldport. We have never used a destination charger and are unsure of the protocol for ones listing 'patrons only' in their descriptions, but we will check it out.
By the way, our new hitch receiver is still rock solid after this last week. More news to come, Jim

 

[ohmman]

Amazon will deliver that Camco extension cord to a campground. It was extremely valuable during our trip, even when we stayed hitched. The UMC only reaches so far.

By the way, our new hitch receiver is still rock solid after this last week.

And this makes me very happy. I've got more stress about this aspect of your trip than I ought to. So glad to hear you all are traveling safely.

 

[JimVandegriff]

Amazon will deliver that Camco extension cord to a campground. It was extremely valuable during our trip, even when we stayed hitched. The UMC only reaches so far.

Ordered! I even brought my amazon cc just for such instances (we ordered our 7 pin adapter from amazon last year during our 7 pin disaster.) I called our next campsite and they were fine with delivery. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[qadaemon]

Another non-Tesla, but camping related experience that shaped our day was attempting to get the water heater in our trailer fixed. It died suddenly yesterday for the second time in the year we have had the trailer. Both times, the circuit board manufactured by Atwood, was bad. We had it replaced about 2 months ago, and the new one failed yesterday.

Hey Jim,

I've had the same experience with the Atwood water heaters. A couple times the board had gotten damp and corroded almost immediately since there was no protection (by defect or design, I don't know). I repaired the board and components twice, then added conformal coating to a brand new one. I've no problems for a few years since then. I'm guessing your new board will be better made since it's not from Atwood, but if it happens again, all I used was MG 422B Aerosol to cover it.

 

[JimVandegriff]

Today was a travel day between Waldport, Oregon and Netarts Bay, Oregon. We decided to be adventurous after we left the Lincoln City supercharger behind, and take the back roads to get to Netarts Bay. It was a wild coastal road with some breathtaking views, and hair raising driving on a two lane road that was more like a lane and a half. We had fun though. We got to the campground, and somehow, two days before, people who were here had not changed spaces like they were supposed to, so our spot (last one available) was occupied. The staff went into action and got it sorted out, and into our space we went after about half an hour.
An interesting thing about being in commercial campgrounds is that our little 22 ft Airstream tends to be the smallest rig in the place. That seems true today as well.
We walked along Netarts Bay this afternoon and it is lovely. The weather was hot for the coast (temps in mid to higher 70's) and it was gorgeous.
Numbers on this beautiful day with no wind: 82.7 miles with 45.9 KWh used at 555 wh/m (love that number!).
Here are a few pics from the day - at the Lincoln City supercharger, then along Netarts Bay. We unwittingly disturbed a great blue heron who was on the edge of the bay, and its squawk let us know it was not happy with us as it flew away.

 

[JimVandegriff]

Netarts Bay

 

[JimVandegriff]

Great blue heron

 

[JimVandegriff]

Lost amidst the bigger rigs.

 

[JimVandegriff]

Final note for the day: we had a wonderful conversation with a young father in a converted bus who is a solar installer. He had two young children with him (8 and 6 years old) who were interested in the Tesla. We spent time demonstrating the car, and the kids were totally into it, as was their dad. Lots of fun to do Tesla ed each day.