We start out our day In Tinkham Campground in Washington. We do a little fishing in the morning and I noticed something moving nearby the camp while I am doing some early morning work. It was a light golden color and long tail and I just saw it partially as it moved silently behind a tree next to me. Hmmm, I thought, that was the biggest squirrel I have ever seen and went back to typing. Later, Kathy comes back from fishing saying she saw the largest cat prints in the sand down by the river. I think I was almost eaten by Mountain Lion (or cougar depending on where you live).
We decide that today, we want to get to Coeur d’Alene Idaho. It is the that little sticky up bit of Idaho that keeps Washington from touching Montana.
We pack up and get on our way. First thing I notice once we get back on I-90 is how gawd awful the road surface is. I mean dirt road rough but made from concrete. Now I know why the highway noise in the campground was so loud (and different). Washington has the worst road surfaces in the First World. I thought the car was broken until we got off that stretch of highway. I mean really bad, for a really long way.
Our first stop is going to be Ritzville ID Supercharger. It is a fair bit away, but the T3PO says we can make it easy. The weather is typical Washington, cloudy.
We soon leave the Mountains and hit the dry plains of Washington. It is all down hill to the Columbia River. Awesome range numbers!
Once you cross the river, you climb up to the top of the rim again and then just head downwind. There are lots of windmills here for a reason, it is windy. And that wind blows straight down I-90.
We registered 999 miles range indicated for most of this stretch!
We rock up to Ritzville Supercharger with more than half our battery left. The ABRP map below shows us charging in Ellensburg and Ritzville, but that was not necessary at all.
Our consumption map after we cross the Gorge. It got better. Off the charts good.
Ritzville Supercharger
Nothing spectacular about this charger, but I met some nice people that had a roof rack on their Model 3. Then another guy shows up with one on his too. I felt left out.
Anyway, he tells me about his day as he is returning from getting his window repaired and while on the way back he had a flat tire. He was having a bad day, so now I felt a bit better about not having the roof rack. But what really stuck in my head is the flat tire. Tesla’s do not have spare tires. He said he used a fix-a-flat product and worked a treat. We are off to the auto parts store!
Coeur d’Alene Idaho
This is a beautiful spot. Glad we made It here, but again, we got there late in the day, so we did not get to enjoy it much. It is very commercialized so don’t go here to ‘camp’.
We start our campground search and find a few. Each of them is full. Beyond full. We drive around the lake and it is a BIG lake and find nothing but private property. Ok, don’t panic! Lets use the reliable standby, the RV park!
We find the Wolf Creek RV park not too far away, but they are of course closed for the night. Kathy gets us in using her phone Ninja Skills.
The place is not much to speak of, but beggars can’t be choosy. Good day of over 300 miles on one charge. Lots of Autopilot today, probably high 90% of the time the car did all the driving.