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Northern Virginia to Mammot Caves National Park

Phild

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I'll be heading out tomorrow morning on a little road trip with my son (9 yrs) and dog from Northern Virginia to Mammoth Caves National Park. Stops along the way include at Natural Bridge and Great Smokey Mountain. On the way home planning to stop a New River Gorge for some white water rafting.

My intent is to stay at the parks, but in Mammoth, I'm a little concerned about chargers in the area and being able to make it to New River Gorge. May have to do a private campground to get electric hookup.

In any case, if folks are interested, I'll do my best documenting the trip. This will be my first road trip in the Rivian, and EV, so we'll see how it goes.
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tk21

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I'll be heading out tomorrow morning on a little road trip with my son (9 yrs) and dog from Northern Virginia to Mammoth Caves National Park. Stops along the way include at Natural Bridge and Great Smokey Mountain. On the way home planning to stop a New River Gorge for some white water rafting.

My intent is to stay at the parks, but in Mammoth, I'm a little concerned about chargers in the area and being able to make it to New River Gorge. May have to do a private campground to get electric hookup.

In any case, if folks are interested, I'll do my best documenting the trip. This will be my first road trip in the Rivian, and EV, so we'll see how it goes.
Interested in how it goes - I’m in NoVA too and awaiting my R1S and that’s a trip I’d be interested in.
 

R1Sky Business

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I'll be heading out tomorrow morning on a little road trip with my son (9 yrs) and dog from Northern Virginia to Mammoth Caves National Park. Stops along the way include at Natural Bridge and Great Smokey Mountain. On the way home planning to stop a New River Gorge for some white water rafting.

My intent is to stay at the parks, but in Mammoth, I'm a little concerned about chargers in the area and being able to make it to New River Gorge. May have to do a private campground to get electric hookup.

In any case, if folks are interested, I'll do my best documenting the trip. This will be my first road trip in the Rivian, and EV, so we'll see how it goes.
We ARE interested!!!!
 

R1Sky Business

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I'll be heading out tomorrow morning on a little road trip with my son (9 yrs) and dog from Northern Virginia to Mammoth Caves National Park. Stops along the way include at Natural Bridge and Great Smokey Mountain. On the way home planning to stop a New River Gorge for some white water rafting.

My intent is to stay at the parks, but in Mammoth, I'm a little concerned about chargers in the area and being able to make it to New River Gorge. May have to do a private campground to get electric hookup.

In any case, if folks are interested, I'll do my best documenting the trip. This will be my first road trip in the Rivian, and EV, so we'll see how it goes.
Remember...plugshare and ABRP....will treat you well. Best of luck.
 

Kunzene

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My intent is to stay at the parks, but in Mammoth, I'm a little concerned about chargers in the area and being able to make it to New River Gorge. May have to do a private campground to get electric hookup.
Check with Nolin Lake State Park, about 14 miles north of MCNP. They have a campground with RV hookups. Maple Springs Campground within the national park may also have electric hookups but the main park campground (which is really nice!) does not.
I’m only about 60 miles from Mammoth Cave and we visit frequently to hike & canoe. Was actually my first short road trip with the truck when I got it!
Message me if you need anything. Enjoy the trip!
 

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Phild

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Day 1.
Made a platform to be able to fit the dog kennel in the cab. Just some scrap foam blocks to raise it above the sest posts and seat belt buckles.

Getting used to all the storage. Big decisions on where to put everything.

Drive was pretty straight forward and went as planned for the most part. Stopped in Stauton Walmart EA. A few mis-starts but nothing major. Headed further to Natural Bridge for a short hike, then to Peaks of Otter on the Blue Ridge for the night.

Starting attaching pics, but that's not gonna work at the moment.

On to Great Smokey Mountain tomorrow.

And thanks kunzene for the tips. Both options seem good. I'll prob decide the night before exactly what I'll do. Trying to stay flexible!

Rivian R1T R1S Northern Virginia to Mammot Caves National Park 20220724_100630
 

R1Sky Business

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Day 1.
Made a platform to be able to fit the dog kennel in the cab. Just some scrap foam blocks to raise it above the sest posts and seat belt buckles.

Getting used to all the storage. Big decisions on where to put everything.

Drive was pretty straight forward and went as planned for the most part. Stopped in Stauton Walmart EA. A few mis-starts but nothing major. Headed further to Natural Bridge for a short hike, then to Peaks of Otter on the Blue Ridge for the night.

Starting attaching pics, but that's not gonna work at the moment.

On to Great Smokey Mountain tomorrow.

And thanks kunzene for the tips. Both options seem good. I'll prob decide the night before exactly what I'll do. Trying to stay flexible!

20220724_100630.jpg
Looks like a happy adventurer...
 
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Phild

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Sorry guys, between cell coverage and my laziness, I did a very poor job of documenting the trip. So this post will be more of a summary and major takeaways. Happy to expand on anything.

We ended up cutting the trip short because my son made the cut for a swim meet. We had already decided we were taking Mammoth out to spend more time in Tennessee so wasn't a big deal.

Before I start, overall, love the truck and felt it was a blast to drive and was a total asset during the trip. I say this only because listing negatives or annoyances can detract from that message.

Pros:
Storage. I love the idea of using storage suited to the equipment or need. I think of it as clean (frunk), dry (gear tunnel, but maybe dirty), and wet (bed, tonneau stuck open).

Driver+. For generally open highways, it's great. Room for improvement, but it allowed me to plan charging or routes without pulling over (see con). And generally just felt less taxing after a long day on the road. 3 random braking events.

Pet Comfort. Really could not have pulled this trip off without it. Worked great.

110 outlets. I asked by guide before we left if they stayed on, and they do. Great asset at a primitive camp site. (But see con)

Range and efficiency. Was in Conserve almost the whole time. We went just over 1k miles and averaged 2.25. All estimates were pretty spot on.

Cons:
Maps! I had little to no confidence in the route , available chargers, or most efficient charging stops. On our longest driving day, I was able to remove 2 charging stops, and save an hour by planning using plugshare and other mapping apps. In one case it said I didn't have range to make it to a charger, that I ended up arriving at with 50 miles left. By far my biggest gripe.

Overnight drain. Granted I was using some low power devices overnight (Cpap), but lost up to 15 miles overnight. I'm not entirely convinced that was real, and wasn't added back once driving, but in a few situations were I was cutting it close to a charger the next morning, it added a bit of a pucker factor.

Where's camp mode? Having a phone near-ish the truck is just obnoxious. Can we please just have a setting to stay locked or unlocked? Could that have contributed to the drain overnight? Ended up putting my phone into airplane mode, as I didn't have signal anyhow.

Chargers. The Plugshare suggestion was definitely a good one, but even still, can be hit or miss. I didn't have any complete failures, but some non-op or slow chargers mucked things up a bit on the way out. Interestly, on the way home everything was super smooth.

National Park chargers. Actually had a Ranger tell me there were chargers at the visitor center. There were, but did not work, and by all accounts had not been for awhile. I feel like this could be a huge win for Rivian by meeting demand in these sorts of places. If I could have gotten 40-60 miles during a few hour hike, that would have relieved alot of stress I had.

I intentionally went into the trip with rough plans and wanted to use the national parks as much as possible. I did it, but with the tools available and limited charging in certain areas, that was a bit stressful. Until more charging is available, I'd probably elect for private campgrounds for those dead zones areas, like Great Smokey Mountains. Again, this was my first EV road trip, so take that for what it's worth!

Sorry again for the crappy report. I'll try for a better play by play next time. A few pics attached. Note the turkey.

Happy to answer any questions!

Rivian R1T R1S Northern Virginia to Mammot Caves National Park 20220726_072831


Rivian R1T R1S Northern Virginia to Mammot Caves National Park 20220724_191220
 

sorenson

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Day 1.
Made a platform to be able to fit the dog kennel in the cab. Just some scrap foam blocks to raise it above the sest posts and seat belt buckles.

Getting used to all the storage. Big decisions on where to put everything.

Drive was pretty straight forward and went as planned for the most part. Stopped in Stauton Walmart EA. A few mis-starts but nothing major. Headed further to Natural Bridge for a short hike, then to Peaks of Otter on the Blue Ridge for the night.

Starting attaching pics, but that's not gonna work at the moment.

On to Great Smokey Mountain tomorrow.

And thanks kunzene for the tips. Both options seem good. I'll prob decide the night before exactly what I'll do. Trying to stay flexible!

20220724_100630.jpg
Looks like a happy pup! Do you happen to know which size Ruff Land that is?

I have an “intermediate” size, and have been wondering if it will fit in that space. Did the crate feel decently stable with the foam pads?
 
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Phild

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Yeah, it's an intermediate. Fits pretty easily. I had two 4x4 foam supports and it worked fine. Not the most stable, but it never moved. My next attempt will be a solid foam sheet (needs to be 3") with cutouts for the obstructions. That should work better.

I've floated the idea of a 3d printed insert to a few folks. See if anything comes of it.
 

sorenson

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Yeah, it's an intermediate. Fits pretty easily. I had two 4x4 foam supports and it worked fine. Not the most stable, but it never moved. My next attempt will be a solid foam sheet (needs to be 3") with cutouts for the obstructions. That should work better.

I've floated the idea of a 3d printed insert to a few folks. See if anything comes of it.
Awesome, thanks! If you eventually come up with a more fitted solution, definitely update this thread.
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