Today we make it to Oregon (hopefully). We have to traverse a lot of Idaho to get there and even then, we don’t really know how far into Oregon we can actually make it We are heading to Prineville (every bit as big as you are thinking). It does not have a Super Charger, so some planning is in order.
Twin Falls Super Charger
We can make it to Twin Falls ID easily with about 30% after camping in the Tesla. I really do enjoy using the TesCamper or Campla or Teslamper or something.
Twin Falls was a little more spectacular than I thought it would be! Big gorge and bridge. Very impressive. I can see why Evel Kneivel wanted to jump over it. The historical monument of his launch point was just down the road, but Kathy did not want to go see it for some reason.
The bridge. I think bungee jumping here would be a cool attraction, but has not been done as far as I can see.
From Twin Falls we start planning our next stop. We put in Prineville and get this notice on the Tesla trip planner.
We can make it, but will need to do some Hyper-Mileage stuff. And, we don’t know how, or where we will charge when we actually get there. Time for plan B. We use our other tool A Better Route Planner. This is a web site from Sweden that allows you to create and analyze routes, chargers, times, cost, etc. using your car’s specifications to plan a route for you. Works pretty good and you can use right on the web browser in the car. Do that Chevy. Anyway, it shows that we can charge in Baker City OR at a Super Charger. The Tesla does not know of this Super Charger, interesting. We go to the Tesla web site and sure enough there is a charger there. We can get to Baker City with no problem. From there, we can charge to 100% and get to Prineville with over 40%. That leaves us with plenty of options as the next SC is in Bend OR about 40 miles from Prineville.
Boise ID Super Charger
We stop at the Boise Super Charger for lunch, some coffee, and just a break. We don’t really need the charge, but we need to stop and eat once in a while. Tesla as done an EXCELLENT job of placing Super Chargers. They are usually about 150 miles apart or about 3 hours drive. They are convenient, fast, safe, located nearby to food, bathrooms, etc. They change the whole way you travel when travelling electric. No other electric (or gas) car owners can do what we are doing, and that in and of itself speaks volumes.
Baker City Super Charger
We rock up to the Baker City Super Charger actually pretty late in the day. We need to find some where to camp. We do a quick search (on the Tesla Browser) and find a campground about 20 miles or so away in the right direction!.
While we are at the charger, we start talking to the Model 3 owners next to us. They look to be camping in their Model 3 too! They are traveling the entire country in the next 2 months! They have some great gear: 2 Bikes, Tent for the open trunk area, cots and more. They are Bill and Tommy and they are on an excellent adventure!
They are also looking for a place to camp for the night and we tell them about Union Creek (where we are going). They seem to think that is a good idea and suggest we meet up there. We charge to 100% as per our plan in trying to get to Prineville with a workable amount of juice.
Union Creek Campground
We rock up and Bill and Tommy are already set up. We take the spot next to them. This has got to be a world’s first. Two Tesla Model 3 in the same campground, both parties sleeping/camping in their electric cars.
This place is literally the best campground I have ever been to. It has water, ELECTRICITY, paved sites, running water toilets, a nearby lake, clean and tidy. Very nice.
We plug into the 110v outlet. It has a 220v outlet, but our Tesla plug is not a match. We have seen this in more than 1 place now. Bill has a connector but it does not work for him. Either way, we are plugged in so we can sleep in climate control comfort without any worries on our charge. We will leave in the morning with 98% charge. Woot!
We had a GREAT time with Bill and Tommy. Very cool people and we had some very cool talks about Tesla and stuff in general. I need to post about just that, and that will be the next blog post. Look for it. Until then we are off to Prineville OR