Road Trip to Boise, 1600 miles Grandma-EV, August 8, 2024April 29, 2025 July 31 – August 4, 2024, Santa Rosa, CA to Kuna, ID(Posted 4/26/2025. This post was delayed almost a year before posting.)We took a long roadtrip to visit good friends who moved to the Boise, Idaho area for a long weekend and to a Country Western concert. We had done this route in our Bolt several years ago, and it was a harrowing experience. 4 charging stops, a LONG stretch of high desert that was also a charging desert. Unexpected wind, rain, and late Spring snow. We almost didn’t make it as that last leg into Boise is uphill and no chargers.This trip was a lot more pleasant. We only needed 2 charging stops! I wanted to charge at Electrify America in Sparks, Nevada, and in Winnemucca, Nevada. However, the EA app and PlugShare told us 3 of 4 chargers were out of service in Sparks. So we stopped at an EA at Savemart in Truckee, California. No waiting for a 350kW charger. We used the bathrooms in the store. We walked across the parking lot ot get a Starbucks. Talked to a guy with a VinFast. It was pleasant.Highway 80, in the SierrasI drove the first half while Grandpa-EV worked remotely on his laptop on his cleverlyCustom-built Laptop desk.designed a computer desk and used a hotspot from his phone. (Why would you pay GM for a hotspot in the car when you have unlimited data on your phone that you already pay for?)On to our next stop, Winnemucca. Darn that Starbucks! Our bladders couldn’t make it so we stopped in Lovelock, NV, at another EA at a Safeway. We didn’t NEED to charge, but like they say on Out of Spec, “ABC! Always be charging.” So we connected again to a 350kW. We both used the bathroom in Safeway, and the doggo loved the shady, grassy park across the street. That shade was important as the temperature was now around 100°!We only charged long enough to get “things” done. Maybe 10 minutes? Then on to Winnemucca. The EA charger is at Walmart. It is a LONG walk to use the bathroom, and the front bathroom was broken, and the one in the back of the store was being cleaned! Yikes! I managed to use a family single-user bathroom. One cabinet was not working, it was one of two 350s. We randomly picked the working one. There was a little grass for the dog, but absolutely no shade. It was so hot on that black asphalt. Grandpa-EV hoofed over to Taco Bell to get lunch, while I wrangled the pooch. 30 minutes or so later, we were back on the road.Again, the truck could go farther than we could. We stopped in a tiny town called Rome at a little mom & pop convenience store. Use the bathroom, got a snack, and walked the dog. We got to our destination about an hour later than expected because of our extra breaks, not due to charging. We had about 30% battery left. Efficiency was 1.8 kW/mile.The next day, wanting to show off the new truck, we took our friends on about a 300-mile day trip. No charging needed because Grandpa EV ducked out early that day and DC fast-charged The Truck back up to 80%. Four adults and 2 small dogs. It was a great ride. Lots of time to show off all the things the truck could do. We had a picnic at the falls in sweltering heat, but it was nice. On the way back, our friends’ puppy peed in the truck, thankfully, it was all contained on our new rubber mats from GM. That was a good buy!Old dog and puppy. New best friends. Puppy who “Christened” our truck.While there, we used the truck for truck things to help with a couple of projects for our friends. Getting heavy planter boxes from the store, and hauling pegboard sheets the size of plywood to build a peg wall over the garage workbench.Truck doing truck things 1 of two planter boxes transported. Pegboard that was transported in our truck. Super Cruise!We used SuperCruise a lot on our 1600-mile road to Boise and around, then back to Northern California. We didn’t have problems crossing over the line, which others have reported. We did have a few times when SuperCruise dropped off, and we had to take control. We had some cornering oscillation.It doesn’t like it when a passing lane merges back to one lane. Almost every time that happened, we had to take over.Occasionally, it kicked off for no apparent reason. It doesn’t like the sun at certain angles, we think.It also accused me of looking away too much, a couple of times, when I hadn’t. Maybe reflection off my glasses? I have transition lenses that darken. I am amazed that it can see my eyes through those lenses!It caught me dozing off once! Rattled my seat, and yelled at me. Great job! Driving with SC makes it easy to nod off, because you don’t have as much to do. I needed to add some conversation, singing, or whatever stimulus to stay focused.There were places where there were miles of construction with fresh pavement and no lines. Sometimes SC worked, and sometimes it didn’t. Even without lines, sometimes there was enough of a color change where you could see the center and/or the right edge. In those places, it would work. This was on a “B” (not a major) highway, too.Curves are not great. The wheel started oscillating on tight or twisty turns. Most of the time it was so annoying we just turned off SC, especially on curvy areas or big sweeping curves. A couple of times it made a drastic course correction and jerked the wheel, which was startling. It seemed like the wheel was turning in discrete, stair-step increments instead of a smooth curve, like a digital curve instead of an analog one. I don’t find this too much of a problem as I like to drive on winding roads.SuperCruise did great lane changes. We had it set to change lanes automatically, and it did. It did… blinker, move over, accelerate back to set adaptive cruise control speed. And even move back into the slow lane when clear. OR you can put on the blinker to tell it you want to change lanes. You can also resist the lane change to stay where you are. Though the little swerve this causes makes you look drunk. Haha!SuperCruise also worked well with towing the light sailboat on a previous trip.We found SuperCruise very useful and available in most highway or freeway places. I still don’t trust it 100%, but you shouldn’t. You still have to pay attention.Super Cruise Bottom line – We loved it! Return TripKuna, ID. This is where we started our journey. The battery was at about 30% so we had to hit a charger to juice up for the trip.ChargePoint, Nampa, ID. This was a Volvo-branded ChargePoint at a Starbucks. We had charged here a couple of times during our stay. We like Starbucks and it wasn’t too far from our friends’ house where we were staying.Electrify America, Winnemucca, NV. Back to the familiar Walmart parking lot in Winnemucca. At least it wasn’t as hot this time. We made it here with no additional bio-breaks.Electrify America, Sparks, NV. I REALLY wanted to stop here. I love the surrounding businesses. The apps told us they were all working this time. So we cruised into the Target parking lot and yes, all 4 cabinets were working and full with a waiting line. It was hard to estimate how many of the cars cruising around or parked with anxious-looking drivers sitting in them were part of the waiting line. Not desperate to charge, we cruised on out of there, back to the freeway.Electrify America, Truckee, CA. Back to the SaveMart parking lot. Evidently, Sunday is a much busier day to charge than Wednesday when we came out. There was a waiting line. We waited maybe 15 minutes and then were able to plug into a 350kW charger. It was hot, we tried to run the cabin AC while charging. Our charge rate was only 40-45 kW. We turned off the AC and the charging ramped back up to well over 200kW. We repeated this a couple of times. If this is normal, that is very disappointing. However, it was suggested on the Silverado EV forum that, if I had waited a minute or two, the charging speed may have ramped back up WITH the AC on. Now I can’t wait for another hot day to try this out.Electrify America, Rocklin, CA. We didn’t charge as long or to the state of charge we needed to get home. We thought we might charge faster with a different charger. So we left early and went further down the road. It also helped that there was an In-N-Out Burger nearby and Grandpa-EV was hungry. It was hot, but we kept the AC off. This charger worked well, but it was in the parking lot of a big mall and the bathroom was a long. long walk through the massive mall. (Bathrooms are a priority for me, can you tell? haha) Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Discover more from Grandma-EV Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email. Type your email… Subscribe Roadtrips
We took a long roadtrip to visit good friends who moved to the Boise, Idaho area for a long weekend and to a Country Western concert. We had done this route in our Bolt several years ago, and it was a harrowing experience. 4 charging stops, a LONG stretch of high desert that was also a charging desert. Unexpected wind, rain, and late Spring snow. We almost didn’t make it as that last leg into Boise is uphill and no chargers.This trip was a lot more pleasant. We only needed 2 charging stops! I wanted to charge at Electrify America in Sparks, Nevada, and in Winnemucca, Nevada. However, the EA app and PlugShare told us 3 of 4 chargers were out of service in Sparks. So we stopped at an EA at Savemart in Truckee, California. No waiting for a 350kW charger. We used the bathrooms in the store. We walked across the parking lot ot get a Starbucks. Talked to a guy with a VinFast. It was pleasant.Highway 80, in the SierrasI drove the first half while Grandpa-EV worked remotely on his laptop on his cleverlyCustom-built Laptop desk.designed a computer desk and used a hotspot from his phone. (Why would you pay GM for a hotspot in the car when you have unlimited data on your phone that you already pay for?)On to our next stop, Winnemucca. Darn that Starbucks! Our bladders couldn’t make it so we stopped in Lovelock, NV, at another EA at a Safeway. We didn’t NEED to charge, but like they say on Out of Spec, “ABC! Always be charging.” So we connected again to a 350kW. We both used the bathroom in Safeway, and the doggo loved the shady, grassy park across the street. That shade was important as the temperature was now around 100°!We only charged long enough to get “things” done. Maybe 10 minutes? Then on to Winnemucca. The EA charger is at Walmart. It is a LONG walk to use the bathroom, and the front bathroom was broken, and the one in the back of the store was being cleaned! Yikes! I managed to use a family single-user bathroom. One cabinet was not working, it was one of two 350s. We randomly picked the working one. There was a little grass for the dog, but absolutely no shade. It was so hot on that black asphalt. Grandpa-EV hoofed over to Taco Bell to get lunch, while I wrangled the pooch. 30 minutes or so later, we were back on the road.Again, the truck could go farther than we could. We stopped in a tiny town called Rome at a little mom & pop convenience store. Use the bathroom, got a snack, and walked the dog. We got to our destination about an hour later than expected because of our extra breaks, not due to charging. We had about 30% battery left. Efficiency was 1.8 kW/mile.The next day, wanting to show off the new truck, we took our friends on about a 300-mile day trip. No charging needed because Grandpa EV ducked out early that day and DC fast-charged The Truck back up to 80%. Four adults and 2 small dogs. It was a great ride. Lots of time to show off all the things the truck could do. We had a picnic at the falls in sweltering heat, but it was nice. On the way back, our friends’ puppy peed in the truck, thankfully, it was all contained on our new rubber mats from GM. That was a good buy!Old dog and puppy. New best friends. Puppy who “Christened” our truck.While there, we used the truck for truck things to help with a couple of projects for our friends. Getting heavy planter boxes from the store, and hauling pegboard sheets the size of plywood to build a peg wall over the garage workbench.Truck doing truck things 1 of two planter boxes transported. Pegboard that was transported in our truck. Super Cruise!We used SuperCruise a lot on our 1600-mile road to Boise and around, then back to Northern California. We didn’t have problems crossing over the line, which others have reported. We did have a few times when SuperCruise dropped off, and we had to take control. We had some cornering oscillation.It doesn’t like it when a passing lane merges back to one lane. Almost every time that happened, we had to take over.Occasionally, it kicked off for no apparent reason. It doesn’t like the sun at certain angles, we think.It also accused me of looking away too much, a couple of times, when I hadn’t. Maybe reflection off my glasses? I have transition lenses that darken. I am amazed that it can see my eyes through those lenses!It caught me dozing off once! Rattled my seat, and yelled at me. Great job! Driving with SC makes it easy to nod off, because you don’t have as much to do. I needed to add some conversation, singing, or whatever stimulus to stay focused.There were places where there were miles of construction with fresh pavement and no lines. Sometimes SC worked, and sometimes it didn’t. Even without lines, sometimes there was enough of a color change where you could see the center and/or the right edge. In those places, it would work. This was on a “B” (not a major) highway, too.Curves are not great. The wheel started oscillating on tight or twisty turns. Most of the time it was so annoying we just turned off SC, especially on curvy areas or big sweeping curves. A couple of times it made a drastic course correction and jerked the wheel, which was startling. It seemed like the wheel was turning in discrete, stair-step increments instead of a smooth curve, like a digital curve instead of an analog one. I don’t find this too much of a problem as I like to drive on winding roads.SuperCruise did great lane changes. We had it set to change lanes automatically, and it did. It did… blinker, move over, accelerate back to set adaptive cruise control speed. And even move back into the slow lane when clear. OR you can put on the blinker to tell it you want to change lanes. You can also resist the lane change to stay where you are. Though the little swerve this causes makes you look drunk. Haha!SuperCruise also worked well with towing the light sailboat on a previous trip.We found SuperCruise very useful and available in most highway or freeway places. I still don’t trust it 100%, but you shouldn’t. You still have to pay attention.Super Cruise Bottom line – We loved it! Return TripKuna, ID. This is where we started our journey. The battery was at about 30% so we had to hit a charger to juice up for the trip.ChargePoint, Nampa, ID. This was a Volvo-branded ChargePoint at a Starbucks. We had charged here a couple of times during our stay. We like Starbucks and it wasn’t too far from our friends’ house where we were staying.Electrify America, Winnemucca, NV. Back to the familiar Walmart parking lot in Winnemucca. At least it wasn’t as hot this time. We made it here with no additional bio-breaks.Electrify America, Sparks, NV. I REALLY wanted to stop here. I love the surrounding businesses. The apps told us they were all working this time. So we cruised into the Target parking lot and yes, all 4 cabinets were working and full with a waiting line. It was hard to estimate how many of the cars cruising around or parked with anxious-looking drivers sitting in them were part of the waiting line. Not desperate to charge, we cruised on out of there, back to the freeway.Electrify America, Truckee, CA. Back to the SaveMart parking lot. Evidently, Sunday is a much busier day to charge than Wednesday when we came out. There was a waiting line. We waited maybe 15 minutes and then were able to plug into a 350kW charger. It was hot, we tried to run the cabin AC while charging. Our charge rate was only 40-45 kW. We turned off the AC and the charging ramped back up to well over 200kW. We repeated this a couple of times. If this is normal, that is very disappointing. However, it was suggested on the Silverado EV forum that, if I had waited a minute or two, the charging speed may have ramped back up WITH the AC on. Now I can’t wait for another hot day to try this out.Electrify America, Rocklin, CA. We didn’t charge as long or to the state of charge we needed to get home. We thought we might charge faster with a different charger. So we left early and went further down the road. It also helped that there was an In-N-Out Burger nearby and Grandpa-EV was hungry. It was hot, but we kept the AC off. This charger worked well, but it was in the parking lot of a big mall and the bathroom was a long. long walk through the massive mall. (Bathrooms are a priority for me, can you tell? haha)