1,793 mile one way road trip in R1T -- from Phoenix to northwest Washington + packing 800lbs

[Duckman]

Great report, but not a single pic of either 400 lb dog??‍

Hahaha!

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[Duckman]

Wait, what? The Kingman RAN is open? Huh, that’s big news and great to know. Where is it exactly? Off Andy Devine near the In N’ Out?

I’m in Phoenix (most of the time anyway). We may be neighbors.

Thanks for sharing this valuable information! I’m sure I’ll refer to it sooner than later.

It's on Stockton Hill just after you get off of I-40 and about a quarter mile before the EA chargers.

 

[ciderarchitect]

I feel your pain on those Anderson and Yreka chargers! Had a the same problem you did with lots of people and broken chargers in November, but both were better in April but Yreka was rate limited to 50KW for the stations that are bunched together. The one stand alone one in the middle of the parking lot was full speed.

Going through Portland, I like to stop in Tigard at the Walmart, there's a nice dog park about a mile from there that's great for getting the zooms out of restless pups.

Northgate is about a mile from my house, are those not EA stations any more? There used to be 3-4 EA by the Bank of America on the NE corner of the mall property.

The chargers you are thinking of are still EA. Used them a couple weeks ago, and walked to check out the Kraken HQ!

 

[Duckman]

Thanks so much for the writeup. As someone from the PNW an a home in Phoenix this is very relevant.

Curious, how do you know when you pull into a charging station 2 of the 4 stations are "kaput"?

On one the screen said not available, on another it was just dark and did not have the usual EA screen. Tried it anyway, not working.

 

[Taco Corp]

Tigard is too close to Eugene for a stop. Eugene is half way between my place in Blaine, WA and my daughter in Davis CA. There may well be EA chargers at Northgate. That's where I thought I was going, but the computer l;ead me to the QFC a mile or so east where there was only the EVGo station. Hoping I can figure out how to use Chargepont on EVGo.

Oh right those ones on Holman Road, forgot those were open now.

 

[Ingo B]

Great write up. I too came from a Ridgeline (purchased 2006 model in 2005 - early adopter!). The guide was a little surprised when I didn't react to him showing me the in-bed storage and center console storage space. That truck gets a lot of grief from the truck community, but it is objectively one of the best out there for the majority of people whose idea of extreme truck activities include camping, snowboarding, and hauling lumber from Home Depot. Same boat as Rivians, I suppose. We're either ridiculously smart folks who see what others cannot, or just gluttons for punishment.

 

[Duckman]

Nice writeup. Can you show your setup on how you locked down everything in the truck bed? I'm headed on a trip in a few weeks and need to lock down stuff in the bed without a tonneau cover. Thanks.

OK, I did not do the full set up, but enough to illustrate what we did.

1st pic is 7' bike cable I bought a 2 pack from Amazon in case I stacked the bins and need more cable. The other cable is the Gear Guard cable which I used on the Yetis, but I could have used 2 bike cables. The padlocks are long shackle wide gap. I used 10 of the silver locks and 4 of the bronze ones. 4 each on the bins and 2 each on the Yetis plus 2 on the bike cable. Silver locks were a 12 pack of keyed alike on Amazon. Bronze ones were keyed alike I had from Walmart.

Pic #2 is how I did the Yetis. I actually had 2 Yetis and used the gear guard to secure them through the padlocks.

3rd pic is Costco bins. Each bin has 6 slots that can take a padlock. I used 4 locks on each bin and ran the cable through 1 or 2 of them on each bin. I played around with different arrangements. You can get 4 bins in L patterns or you could stack them and have 8. Without the cargo bars of course. But I was taking 45 and 65 Yetis which were my second L with just 2 bins. If you stack the bins they are still in the slip stream which is important. In the photo I did not use 4 locks each nor did I lock the cable to the tie downs as I was in a hurry.

ONe thing I learned when experimenting with the layout pattern was do the locks upside down. Especially the cable to tie down locks. They are much easier to unlock that way

 

[emoore]

OK, I did not do the full set up, but enough to illustrate what we did.

1st pic is 7' bike cable I bought a 2 pack from Amazon in case I stacked the bins and need more cable. The other cable is the Gear Guard cable which I used on the Yetis, but I could have used 2 bike cables. The padlocks are long shackle wide gap. I used 10 of the silver locks and 4 of the bronze ones. 4 each on the bins and 2 each on the Yetis plus 2 on the bike cable. Silver locks were a 12 pack of keyed alike on Amazon. Bronze ones were keyed alike I had from Walmart.

Pic #2 is how I did the Yetis. I actually had 2 Yetis and used the gear guard to secure them through the padlocks.

3rd pic is Costco bins. Each bin has 6 slots that can take a padlock. I used 4 locks on each bin and ran the cable through 1 or 2 of them on each bin. I played around with different arrangements. You can get 4 bins in L patterns or you could stack them and have 8. Without the cargo bars of course. But I was taking 45 and 65 Yetis which were my second L with just 2 bins. If you stack the bins they are still in the slip stream which is important. In the photo I did not use 4 locks each nor did I lock the cable to the tie downs as I was in a hurry.

ONe thing I learned when experimenting with the layout pattern was do the locks upside down. Especially the cable to tie down locks. They are much easier to unlock that way

Wow that’s awesome. Thanks for the pics. I’ll probably do this instead of a DIY tonneau cover.

 

[Duckman]

Wow that’s awesome. Thanks for the pics. I’ll probably do this instead of a DIY tonneau cover.

Not totally secure, but weatherproof and gonna discourge the casual opportunistic thief. Having the cargo bars makes it almost impossible to get a bin out when you have the bed full with 2 L patterns. Plus bins are about $14 each, cables about $14 each, and locks maybe $5 each in bulk.

I am going to put my Thule on the racks and I don't think I will even have to lock the bins or Yetis. You won't be able to get anything out from under the Thule and the racks. Saw a nice after market manual tonneau on the forum, but $1,000! Still cheaper than the Riv one even if it existed.

 

[ibwatson]

Great write-up, thank you! We leave tomorrow to do Portland, OR to Palm Springs, CA. Two questions:
- What would you say your average non-traffic speed was?
- A little worried now about the I-10 route from Grapevine to Palm Springs... any tips on how best to navigate that?

 

[Duckman]

Great write-up, thank you! We leave tomorrow to do Portland, OR to Palm Springs, CA. Two questions:
- What would you say your average non-traffic speed was?
- A little worried now about the I-10 route from Grapevine to Palm Springs... any tips on how best to navigate that?

Average speed on the flats was probably 70-75. Hill climbs were 60-65 slower on some of those mountain curves in southern Oregon.

Re: I-10. Remember I am traveling to and from Phoenix, not Palm Springs. After years of fighting I-10 from the LA end of the Grapevine through to PS and beyond to PHX, I finally gave up a while ago. Even before the R1T.

For a couple of years we took the eastern route south through Nevada but I would be leery of charging with an EV. I now turn off at Bakersfield and take CA58 to Barstow and I-40 from Barstow to Kingman. It's a great route to AZ. I used to take Palmdale/Lancaster turnoff to avoid LA but it is a disaster too and can be worse than I-10. No way around either I-10 or Palmdale/Lancaster if your destination is PS. Sorry.

 

[HaveBlue]

If you end up coming through LA on the 5, use the 210 East to avoid downtown and most of LA. The 210 runs parallel to the 10 about 5 minutes north. Wave as you drive by.

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