dewber
Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2021
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 58
- Location
- Washington
- Vehicles
- ‘21 Subaru Crosstrek, ‘21 Taycan RWD
- Thread starter
- #1
After you wonderful folks convinced me to buy a 2021 RWD out of state instead of waiting for a 2022 to show up (backstory), and after a few weeks of delays due to transport arrangements + the stop sale recall, I decided to go pick up the car myself from Porsche Downtown Chicago and drive it back home to Seattle, WA. Truly a once in a lifetime experience (well, until the next car... 
) Got back safe a few days ago.
To sum up the trip: this is, by a large margin, the best car I've ever had the pleasure of driving. Yes, there are a few rough edges (mostly software issues). But I'm super happy with my purchase and made some unforgettable memories with my friend + cousin who both joined me for parts of the trip.
Highlights/Thoughts:
Route:
Here's a rough sketch of the route we followed. We didn't stop at every single charging station on this, but rather marked them as backups. We chose the southern route, skipping the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming because of charger availability - South Dakota in particular is pretty empty of chargers.
We divided the trip up into four legs:
Leg 1: Downtown Chicago -> Grand Island, Nebraska
Total: ~625 miles, 9.5h on the road.
Leg 2: Grand Island, NE -> Grand Junction, Colorado
Total: ~675 Miles, 10h on the road (9.5 + 0.5h for a scenic detour at the end)
Leg 3: Grand Junction, Colorado -> Richland, WA
Total: ~925 Miles, 14.5h on the road. This was a long day. If you have the time I'd recommend stopping in Boise instead (a more reasonable 600Mi/9h) but I had to push to get back for a half day of work the next day.
Leg 4: Richland, WA -> Seattle, WA
Total: 210 Miles, 4h. Piece of cake after the day before. We slept in.
Photos:
At the dealer:
On the road
At home!
) Got back safe a few days ago.To sum up the trip: this is, by a large margin, the best car I've ever had the pleasure of driving. Yes, there are a few rough edges (mostly software issues). But I'm super happy with my purchase and made some unforgettable memories with my friend + cousin who both joined me for parts of the trip.
Highlights/Thoughts:
- Range and EA plug-and-play charging was great. I was nervous after seeing reports of issues on this forum but the 350KW stations worked every single time except for:
- Kum & Go in Iowa - that one I had to swipe card and pay $20
- T & T in Huntington, OR - the 350KW stations were broken, and I had to use the 150KW.
- But there was never a location where I couldn't get a charge, which is the most important part.
- Super happy with my options.
- Performance Battery and Premium Package reduced range anxiety and made this super comfortable, and are must haves for me.
- Electric Sport Sound was cool for 30min then turned off for the rest of the trip
- Heated steering wheel was nice especially since it got colder in last few days
- Other stuff was mostly cosmetic but I think my car is beautiful
- I didn't have any other "performance" options - no PASM, no RAS, etc. and I don't feel like I missed out on anything.
- I am still using the car in "Guest" Mode/can't login to PCM. Didn't really bother me as charging worked but I'm still unable to login even though my Porsche ID is setup and shows the car connected to my account. Will try some things I've seen on the forum, I think I'll probably be able to get it resolved soon.
- Cool stops:
- Also listed below (see "notes"), but these were cool places to eat/stop:
- Phat Jacks BBQ Lincoln NE
- Scooter's Coffee Ogallala NE
- Colorado National Monument Grand Junction CO
- The Rockslide Brewery and Restaurant Grand Junction CO
- Green River Coffee Green River UT
- Costa Vida (Mexican Food) Perry UT
- Some Bagels and Gelato Richland WA
- Also listed below (see "notes"), but these were cool places to eat/stop:
Route:
Here's a rough sketch of the route we followed. We didn't stop at every single charging station on this, but rather marked them as backups. We chose the southern route, skipping the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming because of charger availability - South Dakota in particular is pretty empty of chargers.
We divided the trip up into four legs:
Leg 1: Downtown Chicago -> Grand Island, Nebraska
Total: ~625 miles, 9.5h on the road.
| Charging Stop | Distance Covered | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Casey's General Store 100 E Bestor Dr, Geneseo, Illinois, 61254, US | 152 Miles | On the first stop, couldn't figure out how to connect the CCS plug to the car but realized I didn't push it in hard/far enough ? Also tried the famous Casey's breakfast pizza! |
| Kum & Go 3105 Grand Prairie Parkway, Waukee, Iowa, 50263, US | 206 Miles | No problems with range, finished up with a 40 mile buffer. Ended up having to swipe credit card to charge here, it was the only time EA plug and play didn't work. |
| Casey’s General Store 110 NW 20th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68528, US | 178 Miles | After charging, stopped at Phat Jack's BBQ for dinner - really good! |
| Quality Inn Grand Island 7838 S Hwy 281 Grand Island, NE 68803 United States | 87 Miles | Super convenient EA chargers right in front of the hotel, got an almost full charge before going to bed for the night. Also, free breakfast included - scrambled eggs, pancakes, and more. |
Leg 2: Grand Island, NE -> Grand Junction, Colorado
Total: ~675 Miles, 10h on the road (9.5 + 0.5h for a scenic detour at the end)
| Charging Stop | Distance Covered | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walmart Supercenter 201 PONY EXPRESS LANE, Ogallala, Nebraska, 69153, US | 186 Miles | Uncrowded highway + flat roads + no rain = got to push the pace a little bit ? Scooter's Coffee across the street makes a good latte! |
| Walmart Supercenter 1300 Barlow Rd, Fort Morgan, CO 80701 | 130 Miles | |
| Colorado Mills Mall - Black Hawk 14500 W. Colfax Ave, Lakewood, Colorado, 80401, US | 90 Miles | Got here around noonish, and every single EA stall was taken. We drove down the road to a Greenlots station at the local Nissan dealership but were unable to connect, so we ended up going back to the mall after ~20 min and magically all the cars that were there previously were gone. There is a large bank of Tesla superchargers next to the EA ones - Colorado seemed like the most EV-friendly state that we visited. Ended up charging to 99% because we weren't sure how range would be affected by the mountains. In the meantime, we got lunch at the mall Panera and watched the final 10 laps of the 2021 F1 US Grand Prix. |
| Target 110 W. Meadows Dr., Glenwood Springs, Colorado, 81601, US | 150 Miles | The drive from Denver up to Glenwood Springs was one of the most enjoyable sections of road - you navigate through the mountains and can see several ski resorts, small mining towns and in general is just a cool vibe. It helped that the weather was perfect (clear sky, 60s) - driving in the snow/winter probably would have been much scarier. Glenwood Springs itself has a cute downtown area and a hot-springs-powered public swimming pool. We didn't stop since we wanted to make it to the monument before sunset but worth a look. |
| Detour - Colorado National Monument Grand Junction https://goo.gl/maps/7ACmEeWRqykgPj2L9 | 103 Miles | We made good time so decided to visit the Colorado National Monument. Super fun zig-zag drive up to the visitor center, made it just as the sun went down and was able to get a really cool view of Grand Junction, and some cool nighttime shots of the car. |
| SpringHill Suites 236 Main St, Grand Junction, CO 81501 Before bed - charged at Sam's Club EA chargers 5 min away https://goo.gl/maps/utvvpp7NforkfRNDA | 20 Miles | Went to The Rockslide Brewery and Restaurant for dinner - recommend the Ahi Tacos, Prosciutto and Shrimp pasta and their in-house beers. A ChargePoint charger is available in the hotel's parking lot. I didn't want to pay/wait so we ended up driving to Sam's club for the high speed EA chargers and got a Sonic Blast across the street for dessert ? When we were returning from Sonic, I saw the owner of a Chevy Bolt (charging at one of the other EA stalls) looking at the car. Seemed super curious as I saw him playing with the Porsche configurator on his phone after we got back |
Leg 3: Grand Junction, Colorado -> Richland, WA
Total: ~925 Miles, 14.5h on the road. This was a long day. If you have the time I'd recommend stopping in Boise instead (a more reasonable 600Mi/9h) but I had to push to get back for a half day of work the next day.
| Green River Coffee 25 East Main Street, Green River, Utah, 84525, US | 100 Miles | Super cool stop - feels like you're passing through the town from Cars off Route 66. Coffee is really good. A random dog (probably one of the Coffee shop's employees') passed by and sniffed the front of the car before going back inside. |
| Walmart Supercenter 1206 N. Canyon Creek Pkwy, Spanish Fork, Utah, 84660, US | 130 Miles | Stopped here because I didn't want to deal with downtown Salt Lake city traffic. I dropped my first co-driver at SLC airport and picked up my second co-driver. |
| Walmart Supercenter 1200 S. Commerce Way, Perry, Utah, 84302, US | 107 Miles | Costa Vida across the street had AMAZING tacos. We were shocked to find such good tacos in Utah. |
| Sinclair Stinker Store 326 ID 24, Heyburn, Idaho, 83336, US | 125 Miles | |
| Walmart Supercenter 2745 American Legion Blvd, Mountain Home, ID 83647 | 116 Miles | Not a ton to see in southern Idaho. The original plan was to stop and stay the night in Boise, but there was a shooting at the local mall + we wanted to push to reduce driving time the next day, so we drove straight through Boise. |
| T & T Country Store 40 WASHINGTON STREET W., Huntington, Oregon, 97907, US | 126 Miles | SPOOKY - station is ~15min off the highway, in the small town of Huntington. Sun had gone down at this point so we were driving in pitch dark for this. There were 4 EA chargers at the store but only 1 was operational - two were off, and I couldn't connect to the 350KW station. I was able to get connected to the single 150KW station but this was definitely a moment of nervousness. Fortunately we still had a pretty full battery from the previous stop and charged at ~110KW so it didn't take super long, but don't get stuck here on nearly empty if you can help it. Folks at the store were nice, nice variety of snacks and groceries and there's a small burger place next door. Didn't eat there though. |
| Space Age Fuel 77522 OR-207, Hermiston, OR 97838 | 165 Miles | Big truck stop, with a huge store selling all sorts of snacks, drinks, and massive donuts. On the approach to this it was raining quite heavily and I was thankful for the Taycan's weight/grip. About 10 min away from Space Age you come down a pretty steep hill into the valley, and as I was doing that, two 18-wheelers about 1/4 mile ahead of me collided and slid off the road. Fortunately they didn't roll over or block everything, and I saw both drivers out of their trucks inspecting the damage but definitely unnerving. |
| Stayed at Courtyard Marriott Richland 480 Columbia Point Dr, Richland, WA 99352 | 50 Miles | After 14+ hours in the car we were super glad to have a bed. Columbia Point (little dock/bay behind the hotel) is really pretty, popular summer destination in WA. |
Leg 4: Richland, WA -> Seattle, WA
Total: 210 Miles, 4h. Piece of cake after the day before. We slept in.
| Charging Stop | Distance Covered | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Taco Bell Ellensburg 1406 Canyon Rd, Ellensburg, WA 98926 | 100 Miles | Before departing, we got bagels at Some Bagels and Gelato in Richland - these we SO GOOD, like true NYC/east coast style. Shockingly good. They also sell Gelato, but didn't opt for that at 9am. I recommend taking the backroad route (SR 240 and 243 following the Columbia river) - you get to see a bunch of Washington fruit farms, vineyards and dams. Very scenic. Charging station is behind a super modern Taco Bell. |
| Finish - Seattle, WA | 110 Miles | Started raining as we got into the Snoqualmie pass area, but stayed warm enough so that we weren't worried about icy roads. Somewhat mountainous - lots of pretty Washington foliage and evergreens. |
Photos:
At the dealer:
On the road
At home!
