I am back from my first long road trip with my new Tesla 3. I did 4000 miles from Woodbury, MN to Phoenix, AZ and back in nine days.
I went out via Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, then south to Trinidad, CO, and west across New Mexico and Arizona to Flagstaff, finally south to Phoenix to visit my sister.
There were plenty of Tesla Superchargers along the way and I was the only Tesla charging at almost all of them. I drove at 85 MPH on most of the freeways, easy with the Tesla and range was fine even with AC on. The auto steering function made driving feel secure and even gave me time to look around at the scenery without having to stay totally focused at staying in my lane 100 percent of the time. The car did that for me unfailingly. You just have to keep a hand on the steering wheel all the time. The car is quick, quiet, stable, and fun and easy to drive all the time.
The sound system is great for a car system. There are 14 speakers and all I had to do is say "play bluegrass" or what ever kind of music I wanted and the Tesla immediately found it.
From Phoenix back home I cut northeast from Flagstaff through Hopi Indian country to see Monument Valley and Arches National Park. The interval from Flagstaff to the next closest Supercharger on this route was at Blanding, Utah and the Tesla GPS system said I would arrive with only 5% remaining charge so I stopped at Tube City, AZ as a hotel there had a level 2 Tesla charger. I charged there for an hour. There was no fee as long as I showed my receipt for lunch at their restaurant to the hotel desk when leaving. This got me to the Blanding Supercharger with no range issues. The Blanding, UT Supercharger was the nicest one I stopped at. It was right at the town's welcome center and museum. The lady at the welcome desk inside even offered free ice water. There were three Tesla 3s charging there at the same time, a red one, a white one, and my blue one. Very patriotic. All American made!
From there I drove to the Grand Junction, Colorado Supercharger and north to the Rock Springs, WY Supercharger to visit the Dinosaur excavation site at Vernal, UT and drive across the mountains and through the Flaming Gorge area. This was another push the limits stretch. Thus I stayed overnight in Vernal and topped up at a 240V charger at a near by RV Park.
I note that I never had to use the brakes at all on long mountain downhill stretches. The built in regeneration capacity of the electric motor just used all that excess gravity to recharge the battery a lot for free. I see now why they claim the break pads should last over 100,000 miles. I really never needed to use the brakes hard at all during the trip.
Then it was across the freeway in Wyoming for a ways and angling NE on two lane roads back to Spearfish in the northern Black Hills. I stopped overnight there using the Supercharger in Rapid City and finally home across South Dakota with Supercharger stops in Murdo and Mitchell SD, and finally Worthington, MN and home.
I had absolutely no issues at all with the new Tesla. It ran perfectly and its automation kept me from ever getting tired. The AC was great even in the 105 degree SW heat. Sun overhead with its glass roof was no issue at all, the built in sun block in the glass kept the interior cool just fine.
This was the first long road trip for pleasure only I have made in 20 years and was the easiest one of all thanks to my new Tesla. Its a wonderful road car.
Frank
