Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip, Without (Many) Superchargers: Days 8-10

After seven days of traveling cross-country in my Tesla Model S electric car--including routes without Supercharger DC fast-charging sites--I had made it as far as Texas.

The trip demanded both forward planning and considerable thought toward contingencies, should conditions not permit the Tesla to go as far as I'd planned on any given leg.

Still, entering my second week, I had made it from New York's cold, snowy Hudson Valley all the way into the heart of big, flat, warm Texas.

YESTERDAY: Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip: Days 4-7

DAY BEFORE: Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip: Days 1-3

DAY 8: 285 miles, Amarillo, Texas, to Albuquerque, New Mexico

Through this desolate expanse, there are only two intermediate charging possibilities: RV parks in Tucumcari (112 miles) and Santa Rosa (173 miles.)

I wanted to see how it went before deciding which one.

Since Oklahoma City, I’ve followed the route of my flight years ago in the Piper Cub, whose primary navigational device was an Esso road map.

I still recall, just west of Amarillo, watching the table-flat farmland below literally fall off a cliff into a sagebrush-littered landscape of buttes and mesas that stretched ahead to the horizon—an instantaneous transition from Midwest to West.

Sure enough, I came to that same magical place along I-40 in the Tesla, though the effect wasn't quite as spectacular at ground level.

Nevertheless, I felt a sense of exhilaration. Dude, I’ve made it to the Wild West!

ALSO SEE: Road Trips In A Tesla Model S Electric Car: Lessons Learned (Dec 2013)

Winds were calm and progress was good, so I stretched the recharge stop out to Santa Rosa, which would leave me only 114 miles to my sister’s place in Albuquerque.

I pulled into the RV park with about 40 miles left.

But getting to Albuquerque required a serious climb to more than 7,000 feet, from Santa Rosa’s 4600 feet. So I stayed a full four hours (charging fee: $22) and picked up 120 miles, bringing my total to 160.

If I could squeak to the top of the pass, I could probably coast down and regenerate the last 20 miles and 2,000 feet down to the city. I did.

It was a good reunion with Beck, whom I haven’t seen in a while.

I charged overnight at the nearby Uptown Sheraton, where I’m apparently the first Tesla to use the hotel's new HPWC. Again, I’m treated like royalty even without staying the night.

DAY 9: 539 miles, Albuquerque to Needles, California

Apparently I’ve arrived in Albuquerque on the eve of their worst snowstorm of the year--although by New York standards it barely registers, an inch or two that mostly doesn’t stick.

But I-40, with ice and snow to the west, is reported “challenging.”

Though I’m happy to take on certain challenges, winter driving through remote country is not one of them.

MORE: 2014 Tesla Model S P85D: First Drive Of All-Electric AWD Performance Sedan

So I hang out with Beck and her neighbors for the day. No regrets; I needed the break.