We are off to Yellowstone today! Should be great but crowded. Who goes to Yellowstone on the fourth of July? A lot of people do, but we don’t have a choice if we want to go there as this has to be the day!
We pack up the Tesla and try to dry some things off as it rained last night. This led to me leaving our towels and fishing poles (gasp) at the campsite. No more fishing this trip, or ever, until I get them replaced.
We are going to head to West Yellowstone via Enis Montana. We decide to wash the Tesla in Enis because 1. It has a car wash and 2. We want some good pix of the car in Yellowstone. Once the car is clean, we head towards the highway which happens to also be the main street of Enis. Turns out, they are having a parade on main street, like right now.
The Parade
So there was no going around the parade. Main street (aka the Highway) is completely blocked off from traffic. So we either go 60 miles out of our way or we wait until the parade is over. Does not prevent us from trying to get around it. We find a side street that looks like it might get to the highway outside of town. We were wrong. In fact, we ended up actually driving on the parade route! In simple terms, we became part of the parade! We get the “Look it’s a Tesla!” as we drive along. We exit as soon as we can, but it was funny while it lasted.
We escape unharmed from Enis and get on our way to the West Yellowstone Supercharger.
We pass a lake called ‘Earthquake Lake”. Exactly when we hear about the 6.0 earthquake in California. Weird.
West Yellowstone Supercharger
This is a nice supercharger. Right at the edge of town and the entrance to the park. Nice. We plug in and head for breakfast/lunch. I have to walk back and move the Tesla because it is fully charged before I can order. Again, no waiting here.
A Murder of Crows. These boys where not scared of humans. Far from it.
Once charged, we plan on doing as much of the park as we can within our time allotment. We plan on exiting the south entrance and head for Jackson Hole WY as our final charge for the day. So whatever we do, this one charge is it. Good test! But as we have found this entire trip, range is not a problem at all.
Old Faithful Geyser
We both really wanted to see a geyser and as this one if pretty faithful, we choose it. We get into the park for free as we have a lifetime National Parks Pass. This thing paid for itself 10x over on this trip. If you are going to travel by car, visit every single National Park you pass, it is always worth it. The parks pass lets you visit every one for free.
The drive in offers spectacular scenery.
So, that was fun! We saw Foxes, Antelope, Bear, and Bison. Did not see any Elk or deer, which again, is weird because they are like everywhere.
The Tetons
The only (and I mean only) reason to visit Wyoming is Yellowstone and the Tetons. Such a beautiful place.
Just past the Tetons is Jackson Wyoming, home of the Jackson Hole Ski area. Love that place.
Jackson Supercharger
This charger is located just outside town in an upscale supermarket. There is pretty much everything you need right here, so this is a good place to charge.
After charging, we know that we have to find a spot to camp and that this going to be hard as today is the 4th of July and any ‘real’ campground will be full. So our options are going to be some true, off-road, car camping.
Scary. But you can camp off of any Forest service road (we asked the Ranger).
We drove off piste as it were and ended up here. The boonies (aka Wyoming). That is the roughest road possible in a Model 3. No kidding, the clearance is about 4 inches.
We should get some sort of award for this camp site. This is a remote wilderness area and animals (bears) are around. In fact, we had some deer living right next door.
Kathy did not want to use the Tesla as a $60k bear box, so she created the Kathy Bear Trap. That rig is meant to scare away bears that touch it. I don’t know if that will work, but whatever.
What a day. Lots of things to pack in to one leg of the journey. Distance was at least 300 miles on 1 charge. Our cost $2.45. The route shown would be if we did not do any just driving around, which we did. We drove all over the park, not just Old Faithful. We also did lots of dirt road scouting to find a camp spot.