The Test: Seattle -> Lake Easton -> Coeur d'Alene

Decided to take the kids camping for one night at Lake Easton State Park and then head out to Coeur d'Alene for the weekend for a little Silverwood and Boating. My wife and I with the three littles (ages 9, 7, and 4). Camping gear, long distance travel...makes sense to take the Sequoia. But wait...we decided to push Tess and see what she could do.

- I put the jump seats down and had the three littles across the back row. The trunk and frunk were packed to the gills with gear and clothes...but everything fit! Tent, sleeping pads, cooler, camp stove, camp chairs, duffel bags, food, etc. It all fit. We even had some room left in the cabin if needed.
- Range charged and had the easy drive to Lake Easton but obviously lost 30 miles of range given the altitude change. Everything went smooth camping (pics below).
- Left the campsite and it was the perfect timing to pull into Ellensburg for some lunch. Pulled into the supercharger and there was one other MS there. I plugged in and got a red ring: "Charge cable not connected." Hmmm... took it out and re-inserted it a few times (with some force). Still wouldn't register. OK...starting to sweat now. Pulled over to the next space and plugged in. "Charge cable not connected." Uh oh, is it my car? Unplugged/replugged...charging begins. SWEET. We walked over to Taco Del Mar for lunch. Came back to 235 miles of range.
- Was going to push it to Coeur d'Alene but the subtle elevation change and high speeds killed us. So we stopped in Ritzville and took the kids over to get a little snack. Supercharger started on the first plug-in this time. Came back to plenty of charge and had to talk Tesla with two passer-bys.
- Smooth trip to Coeur d'Alene and we pulled into the SpringHill Suites (rumored future location of a supercharger). Backed right into their EV spot and checked in. They informed me I didn't need to do anything...just plug in and the charge is free. Plugged in and charged. 18 miles/hr. Full battery this morning. Side note, I HIGHLY recommend this hotel. Great rooms and the free EV charger is simply awesome.
- Silverwood and back today. Upon pulling back in I had two people stop to ask questions. Both people noticed my car charging last night and admitted to checking the car out and had tons of questions. Having a Tesla parked at your EV charger is a nice promotion for SpringHill! ;-)
- Tomorrow we're heading out to the lake then heading home. I'm ranging charging as we speak. Hoping that we can possibly make it home by skipping Ritzville. Elevation is in our favor tomorrow. We'll see.

Bottom line: What Sequoia?

Got back last night. Wanted to provide one data point for anyone in the future...

We range charged overnight, drove around Coeur d'Alene a bit in the morning and then started the drive home. Probably had around 255 rated miles when we got on the freeway. The big decision point was whether to stop in Ritzville or not. We chose to skip it. Drove 75 the whole way, encountered a brief rain storm, not much wind and pulled into Ellensburg with 25 rated miles left. We got a little nervous going up the huge hill after the bridge over the Columbia River, but the downhill on the backside let us safely cruise into Ellensburg. 2 Adults, 3 kids, and both the frunk and trunk were completely packed with gear.

Alysashley79 said:

We also made this trip with the tesler back in July. Though I had some serious headwinds between ritzville and ellensburg and even after a range charge in ritzville pulled into ellensburg with 28 rated miles. Hope the kiddos enjoyed silverwood as much as mine did.

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Whoa. So I left Coeur d'Alene with a range charge and arrived with 25 miles left and you left Ritzville with a range charge and arrived with 28 miles left. That's crazy! I had no idea headwinds could have THAT much of an impact. I'm glad we didn't hit those!