R1T towing an inTech Sol Dawn

[VandalSibs]

Great report, thanks!

It is crazy to think about all those huge trucks with the massive 5th wheel campers going 80+. They literally have to be getting about 4 or 5 mpg.

One of my aunts and her husband towed a 5th wheel in the 90s with a big old Chevy duely truck, with dual 50-gallon tanks. We were driving the gorge with them, and were stopping so often we were pretty sure they were getting negative gas mileage. And my wife tells me something similar happened with her dad when going up the Vantage hill with an F350 and a 26-foot trailer.

Wind is a crazy thing.

Plus side, Oregon has put up an insane number of wind turbines along the gorge, so they must be generating lots of power ..

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[VandalSibs]

Day 7 - only one leg towing, the next campgroup on the trip being only 41 miles from the previous one, and the route maxing at 55mph meant decent numbers - 1.5mi/kWh!

Things learned on this trip today:

1. Lubing up the hitch ball and the coupler on the trailer means there is much less squeaking. What a crazy thought. Maybe I should do that more often?

2. The 50 amp circuit at this particular state park didn't like when I pulled 32 amps... The Tesla mobile charger I'm using when camping powered off about 10 or so minutes in. I cycled the circuit breaker (and noticed it was very, very hot), reduced to 22 amps, then waited. Checked the circuit breaker again and it was still very hot to the touch, so I reduced to 16 amps. Circuit was cooler, but still warm.

Gonna charge up here at 16 amps max, but since all the stuff we plan on doing near this park is within a 10 or so mile circle, charging needs should not be too crazy. And break glass in case of emergency, there's an EA station in a nearby town.

 

[HyperionMark]

Day 7 - only one leg towing, the next campgroup on the trip being only 41 miles from the previous one, and the route maxing at 55mph meant decent numbers - 1.5mi/kWh!

Things learned on this trip today:

1. Lubing up the hitch ball and the coupler on the trailer means there is much less squeaking. What a crazy thought. Maybe I should do that more often?

2. The 50 amp circuit at this particular state park didn't like when I pulled 32 amps... The Tesla mobile charger I'm using when camping powered off about 10 or so minutes in. I cycled the circuit breaker (and noticed it was very, very hot), reduced to 22 amps, then waited. Checked the circuit breaker again and it was still very hot to the touch, so I reduced to 16 amps. Circuit was cooler, but still warm.

Gonna charge up here at 16 amps max, but since all the stuff we plan on doing near this park is within a 10 or so mile circle, charging needs should not be too crazy. And break glass in case of emergency, there's an EA station in a nearby town.

Ya, there are some really old wiring and breakers at some state parks. My guess is corrosion is the culprit. I've seen several where you really have to throttle back.

 

[VandalSibs]

Back from the trip, with overall numbers:

Day 1:
144.7 mi
1.20 mi/kWh
120 kWh
Home to EA Kennewick

47.0mi
1.03 mi/kWh
46 kWh
EA Kennewick to Tesla Boardman

78.8mi
0.87 mi/kWh
90 kWh
Tesla Boardman to RAN The Dalles

128.1mi
0.95 mi/kWh
136 kWh
Tesla Boardman to Ainsworth State Park (forgot to reset after the RAN, so here's the combo stats)

Day one numbers are low due to crazy headwinds. Would have been much better otherwise, in my opinion.

Day 2
39.5mi
1.37 mi/kWh
29 kWh
Ainsworth State Park to RAN Happy Valley (wanted to do a quick top-off)

Approx. 100mi
Approx. 1.3mi/kWh
Approx. 76 kWh
RAN Happy Valley to Neihalem State Park (rough guess... Got so excited to get to the campground that I didn't get numbers before we went to get dinner, resulting in messed up numbers)

All the incidental driving we did when not towing was charged up at camp sites.

Day 7
41.0mi
1.50 mi/kWh
27 kWh
Neihalem State Park to Fort Stevens State Park

Day 10
103.2mi
1.40 mi/kWh
74 kWh
Fort Stevens State Park to RAN Happy Valley

105.1mi
1.28 mi/kWh
82 kWh
RAN Happy Valley to Maryhill State Park

Day 11
62.8mi
1.12 mi/kWh
56 kWh
Maryhill State Park to Tesla Boardman

193.9mi
1.31 mi/kWh
148 kWh
Tesla Boardman to Home (with top-off stops at EA Kennewick and EA Ritzville)

Total

964.5mi
1.25 mi/kWh
824 kWh

The truck handled wonderfully, stable in 20mph headwinds (with gusts even higher). Camping was a blast with the exception of Maryhill State Park - it's in between two sets of rail tracks, which run all night. Not ideal.

Two nit-picks about the navigation software.... It does not give very clear directions on when to stop charging and continue driving when towing. I'm pretty sure it lead to having to stop more often and over-charge.

And normally I love Rivian's conservative estimates for arrival range, but it's exaggerated when towing due to the fact that we never went the normal speed limit. We always did the "truck" limit (legally required in Washington State, FYI: sum total weight of the truck and trailer was over 10k lbs), so it guesses at how fast we would be going would be off. Once again, throwing off how often we needed to stop and charge. It got old...

And finally, hopefully Rivian will get around to adding an option to show % of battery remaining in the navigation mode, not just miles.

Wife and I are looking forward another trip similar to this!

Charging at the RAN in The Dalles, OR.

Campfire-baked fresh salmon and left over local clam chowder.

Locally sourced crab cake and shrimp eggs benedicts

Obligatory picture of the ocean.

A classic Willy's Jeep at the Fort Stevens ranger station.

Total trailer stats (for the total ownership of the truck). It was always over-guessing the weight of the trailer...


Side note - I'm curious if driving a non-performance dual motor R1T on the beach would be do-able (in the future)....

 

[VandalSibs]

A quick little 2025 update - two camping trips so far, one back to Steamboat Rock State Park (more tree coverage this time!) and to Farragut State Park. Got decently rained on in Farragut, but nothing that a few canopies and a nice campfire couldn't handle.

Next year I'm planning on at least one camping trip to Montana, which will be the first time we'll be towing over some mountain passes - 4th of July Pass outside CdA, ID and Lookout Pass right into Montana).

If anyone has any recommendations for Montana State Parks, pass them along here!

 

[Shavaloo]

I want a Rivian so bad, but we prefer to camp in dispersed Forest Service or BLM land and try to avoid parks and commercial campgrounds unless absolutely necessary. I’d have to rely on fast charging, but I’m starting to see how it might work for medium length. It’s the driving cross country thing that looks more painful unless I stop doing the ten hour days I like to do across the mid-West where I can’t get through fast enough. Wish there was an auto train so I could just leave the East, sleep, and wake up in the mountains.

 

[VandalSibs]

Have you looked at various state parks for camping? Lots of them are in similar or nearby areas, but tend to have power at the minimum...

You might also look thru some of the other threads here from people that do super-long trips with their trailers.

 

[Shavaloo]

Yeah, we’ll do state parks if that’s all there is, but not our preferred location. Definitely better than a KOA, but our trailer can easily go for a week off grid, which is what we prefer. Have mapped out many of the routes we’ve taken in the past on plugshare and some of them would just not be possible because there just aren’t any chargers. We’d have to find amenable state parks in those areas.

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