Minnesota winter camping adventure w/ @guthrie!

I’m getting a late start here, but this has been a whirlwind 24 hours. As soon as I got the Tesla Model Y, I came across camp mode. This has been an aspirational car for me for 10 years, but somehow, I didn’t know about that feature. Once @guthrie heard about camp mode, he made me promise we’d go for an overnight. I committed and now that the car is here, he began asking when we could go. I did some research, consulted with @lovejoy on best camp sites during the winter, then came up with Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.

I charged the car to 80% […for all intents and purposes, that’s fully charged, as to preserve battery health]. We set out, hit some traffic and made a stop for food. The drive was about an hour and 20 minutes. It was dark when we arrived at Nerstrand and it didn’t look good. No lights on at the visitor center. I knew there was a self service kiosk for RV site reservations, but once I approached the area designated for RV’s, all three entrances were gated up. @guthrie and I talked about the likelihood of this happening, and sure it enough, our plans went awry.

All hope wasn’t lost, however. I considered @lovejoy as a contingency in case this very thing occurred. Leavening Nerstrand, we navigated to the closest EV charger. My hope was to find something between the state park and Hastings, MN. This is where novice Tesla owners learn lessons the hard way once they’re actually on the road. There is a huge difference between a destination charger and a super charger. I drove 23 minutes to pay per minute charger that was literally slower than the one in my garage. 9 hours and 27 minutes to fully charged!

After this fail, I drove another 26 minutes to a destination charger […this is around the time the distinction between the two became obvious] at a hotel 40 minutes outside of St. Paul. 7 hours and 48 minutes to fully charged. With my remaining battery reserves, I drove the rest of the way to a Target parking lot. I rolled up to the awaiting charger with 4% battery remaining! No joke. If it died, or was 10 miles further, I would have had to get towed. It was stressful. EV owners call it range anxiety, but it was a learning experience for me.

Stubbornly, as the car rapidly charged to 80% in less than an hour, I did check in with @lovejoy about his getaway in the Minnesota woods. He was happy to offer that space for @guthrie and I to complete our camping mission, and once charged, we made our way to Hastings. We pulled through the gate and set up. I laid down the Tescamp mattress and we changed in to pajamas. @lovejoy even showed up and offered us keys to his nearby RV in case we ran in to any heating or battery issues with the Model Y.

Minnesota winters aren’t a joke. If something unexpected did happen and there wasn’t a way for us to get help, you will die. The outside temperature of the car was 7º, but once camp mode was finally initiated, @guthrie and I enjoyed a toasty 68º cabin temperature. Camp mode shuts off the entire car except for the climate control and HVAC system. Other than @guthrie tossing and turning, it was a comfortable night. I didn’t get much sleep but that wasn’t because of the car conditions.

In the end, this night was about making memories with my son and testing out the car for future roadtrips. I still intend on visiting @roadscape this winter/spring which will require a drive across the country. This venture with @guthrie gave me all the knowledge and confidence in the world to do that and not have to get a hotel. The next morning, @guthrie and I met @lovejoy at a coffee shop in town, which was the perfect end to an arduous but rewarding experience in Minnesota EV camping.