For the second leg, I forced myself to get up early and leave early since I knew I was in for a long drive, especially with my range anxiety I knew I was going to stop more than what was required/ recommended. Before I leaving, I was able to check out the surrounds and was able to get a nice long walk in for both me and for my dog, Sophia. I left La Crosse, an extremely beautiful town in Wisconsin, around 7:30am to head to Rapid City SD.
My first stop was in a small charging station off the freeway in Albert Lea MN, not too much here, there was a McDonald’s which was pretty nice, I left here as soon as the Tesla navigator said I could leave and make it to the next super charger with at least 20% charge remaining. The trip to the next super charger was nice, and kind of scenic but man it was windy and cold, that combined with the fact that I completely loaded up my model 3 with stuff, made my power consumption much higher than I initially thought. My next stop was Worthington MN, nothing too special here, it was right across a holiday inn express, charged up and headed to Mitchell SD. Mitchell was a pretty decent stop, I was able to walk the dog around, donate some stuff at goodwill and use the restroom at DQ. My next stop was Oacoma, which was actually a pretty awesome drive in. When you are getting closer to Oacoma, you see this huge body of water and it looks awesome! There was also a cool looking buffalo statue across the street. I wanted to stick around a bit longer and grab a bite and explore the surroundings, but it was getting late and I wanted to keep on schedule as much as I possibly could.
On to the next one! My last stop before Rapid City was Murdo SD. Murdo seemed like a very small town, there wasnt too much, the lady at the lobby of the hotel was pretty nice, let me get some coffee and use the restroom. I really charged up my car before heading out of Murdo, I charged for about an hour and 10 min, mainly due to my anxiousness and hearing that Murdo to rapid city is pretty rough due to the altitude changes. I left with the battery at 231mi of range, at the time I was nervous since I was traveling with a bunch of luggage and since I wasn’t sure how much the extra weight would set me back especially if I was to go uphill. Safe to say it was a tad unnecessary, I was able to reach Rapid City with around 30-35% of my charge left.
Once I got to Rapid City, even though it was late, I instantly fell in love with the city. I was different from most other cities I visited. It had that downtown feel to it, but it also felt like there was a lot of culture and heritage that was very proudly displayed in the forms of statues and monuments.
