Sounds like an odd story. But my sophomore roommate from college texted me the day after I received my Tesla. I decided to try my first trip to Kennewick. I should say that I have read a lot of threads and watched numerous videos on Tesla and knew about range anxiety. The navigation app worked great. I had researched all the super chargers along the way and knew that it should be pretty straight forward. I left on Friday afternoon about 3pm. The weather was cold, roads were in good condition. It's about 70 miles from my house so with a full charge that should be easy. I even thought about just going straight to Kennewick. The cold weather along with using the car heater lowered the efficiency significantly. I regrettably didn't keep as good of stats as I've seen some owners keep. This was my first foray. I decided to recharge in Richland right adjacent to the Best Western Hotel. Taco Del Mar for dinner and a Starbucks to go. Travel to Kennewick was pretty quick and uneventful. The car traveled really well. I hadn't set up slacker. So I ended up streaming from my phone (easy sync).
My Buddy and I decided to take his car skiing because with the weather, I was uncertain if I could make it there and back. When we got back, I gave Bob a ride to the supercharger near the Fred Meyer. I needed to charge the car and he needed groceries. I should mention that about midday it started snowing like a banshee. Cars were spun off the road right and left. His MDX handled beautifully. My Tesla Model X P100D also handled amazingly well. After I dropped him off I started heading back to Spokane with a pretty full charge (289 miles noted). On my way northward, by the time I was going past Connell, the snow was coming down pretty heavy. The snow plow trucks were doing a good job clearing the roads. But the snow was dry enough to blow all,over my car and windshield. Being a new Tesla owner, I didn't quite judge how much heat/defrost was necessary to keep the windshield clear. The windshield iced up pretty heavily. I also noticed that when I tried to use my washer fluid, it was empty. I made it ok to Ritzville uncertain if I had enough charge to go all the way to Spokane. The windshield,cleared while charging. Most everything was closed so I went into the Best Western and they are really nice and offered me complementary coffee and hot chocolate. Continuing on from Ritzville to Dpokane I ended up having to stop at the Cheney off ramp to try to get some washer fluid. The snow plows were still out in force doing a great job clearing the roads. The snow turned to freezing rain. I ended up,driving about 35-50mph along this route due to,poor,visibility and the same freezing problem. The convenience store was closed. Just letting the car sit while it warmed up and melted the ice on the windshield. I made it home safely and plugged the car in and went to bed. One may ask, would I do it again? Absolutely. The car handled great. I'm glad I took the cautious route and stopped to charge longer than the nav system recommended. It also gave me a primer for the trip I took the following weekend to Eugene. I'll save that story for a later thread. Thank you Elon for developing a team to create such a great car. Pretty technical car that takes some getting used to.
My Buddy and I decided to take his car skiing because with the weather, I was uncertain if I could make it there and back. When we got back, I gave Bob a ride to the supercharger near the Fred Meyer. I needed to charge the car and he needed groceries. I should mention that about midday it started snowing like a banshee. Cars were spun off the road right and left. His MDX handled beautifully. My Tesla Model X P100D also handled amazingly well. After I dropped him off I started heading back to Spokane with a pretty full charge (289 miles noted). On my way northward, by the time I was going past Connell, the snow was coming down pretty heavy. The snow plow trucks were doing a good job clearing the roads. But the snow was dry enough to blow all,over my car and windshield. Being a new Tesla owner, I didn't quite judge how much heat/defrost was necessary to keep the windshield clear. The windshield iced up pretty heavily. I also noticed that when I tried to use my washer fluid, it was empty. I made it ok to Ritzville uncertain if I had enough charge to go all the way to Spokane. The windshield,cleared while charging. Most everything was closed so I went into the Best Western and they are really nice and offered me complementary coffee and hot chocolate. Continuing on from Ritzville to Dpokane I ended up having to stop at the Cheney off ramp to try to get some washer fluid. The snow plows were still out in force doing a great job clearing the roads. The snow turned to freezing rain. I ended up,driving about 35-50mph along this route due to,poor,visibility and the same freezing problem. The convenience store was closed. Just letting the car sit while it warmed up and melted the ice on the windshield. I made it home safely and plugged the car in and went to bed. One may ask, would I do it again? Absolutely. The car handled great. I'm glad I took the cautious route and stopped to charge longer than the nav system recommended. It also gave me a primer for the trip I took the following weekend to Eugene. I'll save that story for a later thread. Thank you Elon for developing a team to create such a great car. Pretty technical car that takes some getting used to.
