On May 31, we jumped in the Model Y and started our journey to Seattle. Tomorrow (6/21), we get back home. Here’s how it went.
Random Thoughts On Long Travel
- Road-tripping in an EV is great. Tesla’s Supercharger network is thorough, reliable, and easy to use. While it takes longer to juice up the EV (15-20 minutes every 2-3 hours), we just plan our stops around charging. You have to pee? OK, we’ll be at a charging station in 20 minutes and you can go then. We also found that some hotels and cities have free charging. As I type this, our Y is charging for free at the Fairfield Inn in Burley Idaho:
- Not driving is the best type of driving. I’m a Car Person and enjoy sporty driving. However, I don’t enjoy it as much as I thought because I let the Tesla drive almost the entire trip. While Tesla still has kinks to work out, the autonomous software is really great on highways and country roads where we put on most of our miles. The car drove at least 99% of this trip.
- Free Friend Housing. The FI community is great. Everyone is so generous. Often when we’re traveling, we stay with friends that we met somewhere along our FI journey. (We did this very thing in Bozeman and Spokane on this trip!) We like to return the favor as much as we can, so we let others stay in our home when we’re out of town. This works out great. They get a place to stay and our houseplants have some companionship. This time, friends stayed at our place almost the whole time we were gone.
- Long-travel gets old. I like my routine. I like to eat mostly the same stuff at the same time. I like going to the local rec center first thing in the morning to work out. When I’m on the road, it’s very hard to maintain diet and exercise. This is especially difficult on a road trip. In the future, maybe we’ll just rent a home in one place for a month and join Planet Fitness.
- Cruises are fun. Mostly. I never thought I’d like cruises. As a kid, I remember seeing commercials for cruises where people were dressing up for formal nights, drinking like fish, and belly flopping into the pool. I don’t want part of any of this. But then I went on a cruise and found that the ships had gyms, running tracks, and even libraries. Perhaps my favorite part of a cruise is reading a book on a quiet corner of the deck, taking glances at the ocean every so often. However, I struggle with self-control and all that food is hard to pass up. ***BURP***
- The Oregon Coast is spectacular. We didn’t have a lot of time to see the coast, but what we saw was beautiful. The town of Yachats and everything we saw south of it was especially beautiful. I will return.
- Adam. I was walking around Bend when a reader of this blog recognized me. While this has happened before, it’s rare and always startling (I never thought anyone would read this!). It’s pretty cool to have made a little difference in someone’s life though. Adam, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry if I was a little frazzled! Please look me up next time you’re in Colorado. Stay awesome.
We took 4 days to get to Seattle. We stayed the night in Powell (WY), Bozeman (MT), Missoula (MT), and Spokane (WA). Going slow was a deliberate choice so we could enjoy the journey and stop in places like this:
We spent 3 nights in Seattle. The weather was perfect.
We spent 7 nights on a Royal Caribbean cruise up to Alaska:
We spent time in Oregon (Portland, Newport, and Bend) before heading home:
Life is good.
More 1500 Days!!!
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Slow travel is the best, and we are are planning to stop by Spokane this summer, so do tell your favorite spots Carl! Wish we knew more people across the US to stay with while traveling, and vice versa offer our house. Those pictures look beautiful, well done on the trip!
G’Day Carl, Adam from Bend here. Mate, I’m so sorry to jump on you like that …I was in my own little world listening to a podcast and was startled to see you walk by. I will definitely reach out next time I’m in CO….and next time you are in Bend if you want a tour guide zap me an email. cheers!
Thank you for posting here & making an in-person connection. What were the chances?!?
Absolutely loved reading your blog post on long travel! Your insights are incredibly valuable and provide such a refreshing perspective on the subject. I truly appreciate the way you weave together practical advice with personal anecdotes, making the content not only informative but also deeply engaging. Your writing style is both eloquent and accessible, making complex topics easy to understand and enjoyable to read. Keep up the fantastic work; I look forward to reading more of your wonderful posts in the future!
Thanks,
John smith
I’ve just come back from a month-long holiday – 2 weeks in Canada on the Vancouver side; then just under 2 weeks on an Alaskan cruise. We were probably in Alaska at the same time!
Weird, we are doing an Alaskan cruise this week! I’ve always wanted to rent a house somewhere in the mountains for like a month. Never lived anywhere else (except college) and thought it would be fun to try.
Your adventures sound amazing and I’m sure you made many wonderful memories to look back on. I’m so happy you found Yachats and the coast so beautiful. It is truly a blessing to live in this gorgeous slice of paradise. Hopefully you will get to return soon!
Wow, you there or near it? I can’t wait to make it back!
Yachats is my home. My trip to the grocery store is amazing!
What a freakin’ incredible place to live. It never gets old living by water.
Carl, we do a lot of traveling and I had always had a solid gym routine before. I experimented with buying a kettlebell, if we stayed at a place more than a month, and just leaving it at the place we stayed. It was pretty good but felt a bit wasteful.
Next I bought some exercise bands a TRX and some online programs for them. They were small enough that I could just fit them in my suitcase. That worked great and I feel like I got 95% there. I tend to buy a 16 week or so program, work though it and move onto another one.
For the last year of our travel I have gotten into bodyweight exercises and animal movement flow stuff. I’m really enjoying it and I feel like it’s getting me even further to where I want. It’s especially great for me as the punishment my body has taken over the years is receding (I’m turning 50 this year). I’m feeling much better than when I was throwing a bunch of weight around. I’m moving through the world with more body awareness, strength and control.
There are several programs out there. One of the original and best (in my opinion) is called GMB fitness. Full disclosure, I am going through an apprentice program with them to become a trainer. I wanted to get more about the theory and process behind programming and the different exercises. I don’t actually see myself becoming a trainer and trying to make a business out of it. I have been retired for 5 years now FI and just enjoy traveling and visiting family.
Sorry for the long winded comment. Cheers.
Thanks for the comment!
I’m typing this from a hotel room. The first thing I did after check in was look at the fitness room. It kinda sucked; just a bunch of treadmills and bikes. (Where is the pull-up bar and/or lat pull down thingy?!??)
I disassembled by door frame pull up bar and stuck it in my suitcase, but non of the doorways at this hotel will accommodate it. Bummer!
I like the idea of bodyweight stuff. No reason you can’t do push-ups or squats anywhere.
I’ll check out GMB. Thanks for mentioning it.
Your road-tripping experience in a Tesla sounds fantastic! I love how you’ve embraced the Supercharger network’s convenience—it’s great to hear how easy and reliable it is for planning stops. The way you’ve turned charging into a natural part of the journey, like syncing up bathroom breaks and exploring nearby spots, is such a smart approach. And free charging at hotels? That’s such a win! Your story captures the fun and freedom of EV travel so well—thanks for sharing your insights and showing just how seamless an electric road trip can be!