Thank you for inviting us along for the journey. I’m an adult, financially comfortable father and I’m thinking and planning for a road trip around the U.S. when my daughter goes away for college. We travel internationally, multiple times a year. I don’t have it that bad the US of A is a safe place for me once I travel to certain parts of it. I’m a manhattanite. Not wanting to get political at all. That’s why I’m planning the trip, to kill of that notion. I love your clear layer out approach to visiting 48 states. I think I can take it on. I have a model Y and so I know I’ll have enough room. There are not many secure financially stable people on RUclips, documenting traveling the U.S. as an adventure. not van or car life, which is a completely different thing. Just traveling in my Tesla because I want to and I can. It maybe my midlife crisis or awakening… because of you I know how it can be done.
🏆Great video. You answered so many questions & truly inspired me. I used to want a B class, then a van, a Prius & now a TESLA, FINAL ANSWER. A follow-up video would amazing. I hope you are doing well transitioning back to reality. Please keep updating us on your Tesla experience.
Thanks for watching and your kind message. I’ve been enjoying my architecture work since and doing occasional flying trips. I miss the freedom of that year. My car is still doing great and I camp in it from time to time.
I have an EcoFlow delta 2 that charges from the 12v. It powers my starlink, fridge, microwave, toaster and coffee maker. We have a small teardrop camper but sometimes just use the car. I have a 2018 model 3p with free supercharging. We’ve been to most of the lower 48 and Canada. We especially like the tesmat curtain- fast to put up and blocks everything except the top window. 120k miles and going strong! Thanks for your super informative video
It’s basically impossible right now since the supercharging doesn’t transfer. I’ve made a couple of videos and hope to do a series on different levels of Tesla camping if I ever find the time haha. Thanks for your reply
You can just tap into the ODB 2 port for constant power even if the car is off. You can buy the plug conversion online to a 12v. I then converted to USB and power 4 dash cams. (This was before Tesla released sentry mode for my model s.). But I still have the dashcams running 24/7 to this day.
I actually tapped into mine for my phone mount/charger. I was unsure if it could power something like a fridge. And I didn't route it to the rear for charging my stuff at night, though that might have been a good idea.
@@ClaytonKimball Draining the Tesla low voltage battery is no fun (the car will shutdown completely). You would be better off using a Jackery type battery station as a buffer between the car and the fridge, with the bonus that you can add solar to help out with charging.
Nice camper! I have the same with 12v fridge and inverter because there is no MacDonald's where i usually go. (You can tap into power liftgate connector for 12v.) My fav spot for stealth camping in the city is Tesla stations. You can park right next to it and nobody will bother you. Or, just stay plugged in if the station is empty.
Great thoughts! Regarding parking next to Tesla stations, I agree that you fit right in. But I struggled with my charge port door popping open every time someone plugged in, which would wake me up.
No b.s. just clear and informative. Don’t have a Tesla but I’m thinking about getting one in a year or two. Thanks for your story and I’d like to thank your company for giving you the year off and letting you grow and follow the google pins!
We have a model 3 and will be getting a model Y soon. I plan on doing 6 to 8 week long adventures the model Y. I think having a hitch will also be a big benefit for adding a cargo box that doesn’t affect range much. Thanks for the detailed experience I look forward to seeing new and interesting places.
Love, love, LOVED this informative and interesting video! Thank you so much for sharing your journey. We are about to TesCamp for the first time tomorrow (after solo Prius camping :) ) so this is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I also have a model S with free supercharging and am looking forward to vlogging my adventures across North America and your video and story has been very helpful in planning and building confidence for my trip.
Thanks for this my friend. I'm at that stage of life where I'm looking to do something similar. I'm from the UK. I've done lots of traditional travelling in the Far East and North America but very little in Europe which is my next plan. Considering a model Y at the moment
We love traveling the US in our Teslas (3 and Y) In 2018 Tesla temporarily sold Model 3 Performance models with free supercharging. For about a month. Super awesome to have free supercharging.
Great Adventure and my greatest respects for using minimal equipment and living a quite spartanic life during your trip. But I guess seeiing all these exciting, beautiful new places would make everything worthwile!!
I see your previous comment in my email but not here. I’ve been debating on doing this for years. I recently bought a 2013 model s not even thinking about doing this with it and the last couple weeks I’ve been debating on taking a year off to do this. I’ve drove across the country multiple times in gas cars and always parked at rest stops and big travel gas stations. Most of my trip won’t be big cities or at least not JUST big cities so parking was one concern. (Maybe finding slow chargers to sleep at even sometimes) a lot of your little tips like where to cool down a soda were actually very helpful to me and the spare food and stuff in case. I have a performance model. Which model is yours? Mine is a 75D. Performance sounds fun! I would have loved a bigger battery often.
Thank you, it was very interesting to see your setup, as my wife and myself are doing quite a lot of long distance roadtrips (but in Europe). Approx. 550km a day.
This was a very good and informative video. Although I feel that in the end there were some things unsaid. Could easily made it longer in my opinion. Great insights and good tips
Awesome trip. Appreciate your chill manner and attitude. The magnets with the curtain is first principles genius. Did you ever try emergency room parking lots to sleep? Saw that suggested once and thought it brilliant. How can you eat fast food and Fruity Pebbles for breakfast and be rail thin? :)
Haha. You’re kind! I did try a few hospital parking lots. Some had some ambulance noise, but not all. Definitely a decent option. My genes, I suppose. 😊 I’ll admit I’m usually not ordering the larger things on menus.
Thanks for sharing. Great take-aways. I may not do a year but even for a week, these lessons apply. Lovely to watch and listen to. Quiet, unobtrusive personality, too. Humble. Love how you don’t like drawing undue attention. Seems like a high point for you. Question: What is it about the CrackerBarrel chain that makes its environments feel safer to park at despite feeling exposed in the untinted rental car?
You're kind. I mainly preferred being at Cracker Barrel because they seem to have policies allowing overnight stays. I wouldn't necessarily say they are safer than elsewhere. But there was peace of mind staying there versus somewhere else with an unclear or unallowed overnight parking policy.
The first few night (s?) I slept in a car I had no window coverings and I honestly thought I would have a heart attack just from the stress of being exposed. It never occurred to me that super tinted windows would be even close to adequate but it sounds like you were okay. Plus I like that you can see out while they can't really see in. I tried curtains at first, and that was a minor disaster. They were uncomfortable, moved when I moved, betraying my presence, took up some of my limited space. Then I made fitted window coverings out of black construction paper and I felt like I had maximum space while my windows looked dead black when I was sleeping. I used one of those sunshade window coverings in the front. I removed the front seat. I tried a memory foam mattress but honestly the best bed I ever made was just an old thin full sized futon mattress. You really need pillows if you're sleeping in your car, imo it's not optional. I personally hated to sleep anywhere unless there was tacit permission. Stealth camping in secret was really horrible for me. Not saying I never did it. Just saying I couldn't really sleep well, not really worth it.
Thanks for watching. I think the repair was like $8k, which was covered by my insurance. There were some bent frame components, the cracked radiator system, etc. For laundry I would go to a laundromat about every other week. I generally had good experiences at them, though one got gray stuff on lots of my whites, and some had annoying card payment systems with minimum amounts to add. Anytime Fitness memberships include all the gyms worldwide, though that feature starts your second month. It's a franchise system so owners at each location set their own prices. I checked occasionally and they seemed to range from like $35-80 per month, some being significantly nicer than others (cool building, towel service, etc). 99% have private bathrooms with showers. Note that if you regularly go to a gym that is not your home gym your contract states they will switch you. In my case I was going to different gyms almost daily, so that was never an issue. I prepaid for a year at my local gym and I think it ended up being around $30 per month.
Neat video, thank you! I didn't quite understand your heating comment vs AC as far as being quieter outside the car. Don't both the heat and the AC use the heat pump and therefore the same noise? Thanks!
I believe the first Tesla heat pumps were introduced with the Model Y. Before that they used resistive heaters, which are less efficient. But it is also silent. Whereas the AC compressor is fairly noisy and comes on for AC or heating by default, I suspect just to address humidity. Does that answer your question?
I did a solo Vancouver to Nova Scotia in June with an ice car but am looking for a Model S with free supercharging to put on some serious miles. Your journey gave me the push to do it. 👍
thats pretty awesome. How many miles do you have on your tesla now? I assume its well over 100K? did you have to go in for any service apart from the coolant issue?
I once got woken up by a tow truck driver. I usually back my car in so that the empty front seats are visible. But at this complex they had a no backing in policy so I stood out. I normally didn’t park at places like that but was struggling to find anywhere good that night.
@@ClaytonKimball so they called a tow truck because you parked the other way? That sounds insane. Did you wake up because they were towing you? Or did the guy wake you up and you explained the situation and he let you leave? I’m asking because I have a Tesla and am considering a long road trip like you did. Thx
@@The.Harsh.Truths I woke up when the driver was trying to see in through the windows. He could hear the AC running quietly. He gave up after not being able to see through the tint. But I realized he was going to tow it so I hopped out and explained. He was kind and I left.
You could, but I preferred eating out. Sometimes I reheated a meal to use again. In the time since this trip restaurant costs have gone up a lot. That might be harder now.
I typically had it set to 90%. But maybe a quarter of the time I knew I would need extra range and took it up higher. The last 2% is rarely worth it since it goes so slowly.
What a well planned-out year-long road trip. I am sufficiently impressed to eventually try to duplicate it at some level. Just got my Model Y and I'm getting close to having it outfitted similar to this fine gentlemen in and around Alaska - ruclips.net/video/HnvhAL3IVgY/видео.html
Thanks for the kind words and for watching! That sounds intense! I hope you make it on your trip. I miss this time! Alaska is my last state to visit. I might have considered it on my trip if superchargers went the whole route there.
A worthy setup, adventure, and video. Thank you for the insight and inspiration. 👏👏
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for inviting us along for the journey.
I’m an adult, financially comfortable father and I’m thinking and planning for a road trip around the U.S. when my daughter goes away for college.
We travel internationally, multiple times a year. I don’t have it that bad the US of A is a safe place for me once I travel to certain parts of it. I’m a manhattanite. Not wanting to get political at all. That’s why I’m planning the trip, to kill of that notion.
I love your clear layer out approach to visiting 48 states. I think I can take it on.
I have a model Y and so I know I’ll have enough room.
There are not many secure financially stable people on RUclips, documenting traveling the U.S. as an adventure. not van or car life, which is a completely different thing. Just traveling in my Tesla because I want to and I can.
It maybe my midlife crisis or awakening… because of you I know how it can be done.
You should do it! Sounds so fun. I found so many good people all over! Thanks for the kind comment.
🏆Great video. You answered so many questions & truly inspired me. I used to want a B class, then a van, a Prius & now a TESLA, FINAL ANSWER. A follow-up video would amazing. I hope you are doing well transitioning back to reality. Please keep updating us on your Tesla experience.
Thanks for watching and your kind message. I’ve been enjoying my architecture work since and doing occasional flying trips. I miss the freedom of that year. My car is still doing great and I camp in it from time to time.
One of the better car camping experience/details video
I have a 2013 free supercharge P85 model
I will do a roadtrip soon!!
Great! Hope it goes well!
I have an EcoFlow delta 2 that charges from the 12v. It powers my starlink, fridge, microwave, toaster and coffee maker. We have a small teardrop camper but sometimes just use the car. I have a 2018 model 3p with free supercharging. We’ve been to most of the lower 48 and Canada. We especially like the tesmat curtain- fast to put up and blocks everything except the top window. 120k miles and going strong! Thanks for your super informative video
Wow! Great setup! Sounds like you should be making a video! Your car with free supercharging is hard to come by!
It’s basically impossible right now since the supercharging doesn’t transfer. I’ve made a couple of videos and hope to do a series on different levels of Tesla camping if I ever find the time haha. Thanks for your reply
You can just tap into the ODB 2 port for constant power even if the car is off. You can buy the plug conversion online to a 12v. I then converted to USB and power 4 dash cams. (This was before Tesla released sentry mode for my model s.). But I still have the dashcams running 24/7 to this day.
I actually tapped into mine for my phone mount/charger. I was unsure if it could power something like a fridge. And I didn't route it to the rear for charging my stuff at night, though that might have been a good idea.
@@ClaytonKimball Draining the Tesla low voltage battery is no fun (the car will shutdown completely). You would be better off using a Jackery type battery station as a buffer between the car and the fridge, with the bonus that you can add solar to help out with charging.
Thanks for the tip.
Thx for ur thoughtful attention to detail in xplainijg it all. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
@@gloriamariadc7757 Thanks for watching!
Love this video! Thank you for taking the time to put it together.
This looks like an incredible trip.
Thanks for watching!
Nice camper! I have the same with 12v fridge and inverter because there is no MacDonald's where i usually go. (You can tap into power liftgate connector for 12v.) My fav spot for stealth camping in the city is Tesla stations. You can park right next to it and nobody will bother you. Or, just stay plugged in if the station is empty.
Great thoughts! Regarding parking next to Tesla stations, I agree that you fit right in. But I struggled with my charge port door popping open every time someone plugged in, which would wake me up.
incredibly complete and informative video
Thanks for the kind comment and for watching!
This is the most informative video in its category. Thank you.
Well thanks!
No b.s. just clear and informative. Don’t have a Tesla but I’m thinking about getting one in a year or two. Thanks for your story and I’d like to thank your company for giving you the year off and letting you grow and follow the google pins!
Thanks for watching!
We have a model 3 and will be getting a model Y soon. I plan on doing 6 to 8 week long adventures the model Y. I think having a hitch will also be a big benefit for adding a cargo box that doesn’t affect range much.
Thanks for the detailed experience I look forward to seeing new and interesting places.
Sounds awesome! Hope it goes great!
Love, love, LOVED this informative and interesting video! Thank you so much for sharing your journey. We are about to TesCamp for the first time tomorrow (after solo Prius camping :) ) so this is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much! Hope it goes great!
Recently started doing some camping in my Telsa in the UK and found some good points in your vid. Thank you.
Glad to hear! Keep it up!
Very helpful. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
What an epic trip. Thanks for all the nice tips and inspiration.
Great video !
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I also have a model S with free supercharging and am looking forward to vlogging my adventures across North America and your video and story has been very helpful in planning and building confidence for my trip.
Sounds fun! I hope it turns out really well!
Thanks! @@ClaytonKimball
Good stealth setup Clayton! Teslas are great for camping. You’re lucky to have one with free supercharging! Living the dream brother.
Thanks! Being back in reality now I love reminiscing about this trip!
Thanks for this my friend. I'm at that stage of life where I'm looking to do something similar. I'm from the UK. I've done lots of traditional travelling in the Far East and North America but very little in Europe which is my next plan.
Considering a model Y at the moment
That could be amazing in Europe! So much to see!
Thanks for all the good insights and small details you shared. It is obvious that you have been spending some time with the car :)
Haha. Thanks for watching!
Wow, being NOT a foodie really does save space and time lol.
Thank you for sharing! I'm planning on doing the same with a model S and this is super helpful
Great! I hope it’s a blast!
We love traveling the US in our Teslas (3 and Y) In 2018 Tesla temporarily sold Model 3 Performance models with free supercharging. For about a month. Super awesome to have free supercharging.
That would be amazing!
I really liked this video since Im planning to do trips around Europe in my Model S 😊
Thank you! That sounds so fun in Europe!
Thank you for making this video. Appreciate all the great advice and tips!
You bet!
Great Adventure and my greatest respects for using minimal equipment and living a quite spartanic life during your trip. But I guess seeiing all these exciting, beautiful new places would make everything worthwile!!
Thank you! Indeed!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story!
Thanks for watching!
I loved this, Clayton! Amazing experience. What were your favorite national parks or places you visited?
Thanks! I particularly loved Savannah, Philadelphia, and the Blue Ridge Parkway!
I see your previous comment in my email but not here.
I’ve been debating on doing this for years. I recently bought a 2013 model s not even thinking about doing this with it and the last couple weeks I’ve been debating on taking a year off to do this. I’ve drove across the country multiple times in gas cars and always parked at rest stops and big travel gas stations. Most of my trip won’t be big cities or at least not JUST big cities so parking was one concern. (Maybe finding slow chargers to sleep at even sometimes) a lot of your little tips like where to cool down a soda were actually very helpful to me and the spare food and stuff in case. I have a performance model. Which model is yours?
Mine is a 75D. Performance sounds fun! I would have loved a bigger battery often.
Thank you, it was very interesting to see your setup, as my wife and myself are doing quite a lot of long distance roadtrips (but in Europe). Approx. 550km a day.
Nice! Sounds fun!
This is super interesting Clayton, thanks for sharing your experience. I think car camping is interesting, would also like to try it in Europe.
You bet! That would be way fun!
This was a very good and informative video. Although I feel that in the end there were some things unsaid. Could easily made it longer in my opinion. Great insights and good tips
This is great! Way cool simple setup and the route looked way cool. Did the iPad ever fall and hit you in the face?
Thanks!
Haha! Fortunately not!
You can buy a special mat for the model S to sleep on which takes care of that bump. I think from abstract ocean or one of those 3rd party companies.
Good thought. In my case I didn't want the mattress to use the full width of my rear so I preferred doing something custom.
Very informative video, answered alot of my questions. I live in a prius and once this thing dies I'll probably switch to a model y.
Nice! A Y should work well!
Such a lovely video.
Thanks for watching!
Awesome trip. Appreciate your chill manner and attitude. The magnets with the curtain is first principles genius. Did you ever try emergency room parking lots to sleep? Saw that suggested once and thought it brilliant. How can you eat fast food and Fruity Pebbles for breakfast and be rail thin? :)
Haha. You’re kind!
I did try a few hospital parking lots. Some had some ambulance noise, but not all. Definitely a decent option.
My genes, I suppose. 😊 I’ll admit I’m usually not ordering the larger things on menus.
Use inside screen to lock car to prevent someone from unlocking by touching handle.
I found that pressing Lock on my key fob worked well, and also shut off all the front screens if I wasn’t sitting in the front seat.
Thanks for sharing. Great take-aways. I may not do a year but even for a week, these lessons apply. Lovely to watch and listen to. Quiet, unobtrusive personality, too. Humble. Love how you don’t like drawing undue attention. Seems like a high point for you.
Question: What is it about the CrackerBarrel chain that makes its environments feel safer to park at despite feeling exposed in the untinted rental car?
You're kind.
I mainly preferred being at Cracker Barrel because they seem to have policies allowing overnight stays. I wouldn't necessarily say they are safer than elsewhere. But there was peace of mind staying there versus somewhere else with an unclear or unallowed overnight parking policy.
The first few night (s?) I slept in a car I had no window coverings and I honestly thought I would have a heart attack just from the stress of being exposed. It never occurred to me that super tinted windows would be even close to adequate but it sounds like you were okay. Plus I like that you can see out while they can't really see in. I tried curtains at first, and that was a minor disaster. They were uncomfortable, moved when I moved, betraying my presence, took up some of my limited space. Then I made fitted window coverings out of black construction paper and I felt like I had maximum space while my windows looked dead black when I was sleeping. I used one of those sunshade window coverings in the front. I removed the front seat. I tried a memory foam mattress but honestly the best bed I ever made was just an old thin full sized futon mattress. You really need pillows if you're sleeping in your car, imo it's not optional. I personally hated to sleep anywhere unless there was tacit permission. Stealth camping in secret was really horrible for me. Not saying I never did it. Just saying I couldn't really sleep well, not really worth it.
Definitely agree with most of this.
Very informative! A few questions:
How much did repair cost?
How did you manage laundry?
Does anytime fitness offer nationwide membership? How much?
Thanks for watching. I think the repair was like $8k, which was covered by my insurance. There were some bent frame components, the cracked radiator system, etc. For laundry I would go to a laundromat about every other week. I generally had good experiences at them, though one got gray stuff on lots of my whites, and some had annoying card payment systems with minimum amounts to add. Anytime Fitness memberships include all the gyms worldwide, though that feature starts your second month. It's a franchise system so owners at each location set their own prices. I checked occasionally and they seemed to range from like $35-80 per month, some being significantly nicer than others (cool building, towel service, etc). 99% have private bathrooms with showers. Note that if you regularly go to a gym that is not your home gym your contract states they will switch you. In my case I was going to different gyms almost daily, so that was never an issue. I prepaid for a year at my local gym and I think it ended up being around $30 per month.
This is great!!!!
Neat video, thank you! I didn't quite understand your heating comment vs AC as far as being quieter outside the car. Don't both the heat and the AC use the heat pump and therefore the same noise? Thanks!
I believe the first Tesla heat pumps were introduced with the Model Y. Before that they used resistive heaters, which are less efficient. But it is also silent. Whereas the AC compressor is fairly noisy and comes on for AC or heating by default, I suspect just to address humidity. Does that answer your question?
@@ClaytonKimball Yes, it does answer my question, thank you. I forgot that heat pumps didn't come until around 2020 or '21.
Great video and journey Clayton. Did you say you travelled 70k miles!? The fuel savings alone are massive.
Thanks! I guessed the Supercharging would have cost around $7k and the gas in a Sprinter van might have been $15k.
I did a solo Vancouver to Nova Scotia in June with an ice car but am looking for a Model S with free supercharging to put on some serious miles. Your journey gave me the push to do it. 👍
@@Snickers4211 Wow! It’s an amazing drive. The speed limit in Ontario is a pain, haha. Autopilot was a dream!
This is wild
Nice video. Curious--what 12v heater is that?
I got this one and was pretty pleased with it.
Hot Logic Mini - 12V Version - Black www.amazon.com/dp/B074TZKCCV?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
thats pretty awesome. How many miles do you have on your tesla now? I assume its well over 100K?
did you have to go in for any service apart from the coolant issue?
Thanks! I’m up to about 125k miles now. No other service issues.
Great video. I typed a long comment but I can’t see it 😅 hopefully it shows up. I’m about to do the same thing.
Oh, nice! I hope it goes awesome!
@@ClaytonKimballsome of your small tips like keeping the sofa cold were very helpful. Little things I haven’t thought of
Did you get woken up by cops ever? Or any other stories about disruptions overnight? Thanks
I once got woken up by a tow truck driver. I usually back my car in so that the empty front seats are visible. But at this complex they had a no backing in policy so I stood out. I normally didn’t park at places like that but was struggling to find anywhere good that night.
@@ClaytonKimball so they called a tow truck because you parked the other way? That sounds insane. Did you wake up because they were towing you? Or did the guy wake you up and you explained the situation and he let you leave?
I’m asking because I have a Tesla and am considering a long road trip like you did. Thx
@@The.Harsh.Truths I woke up when the driver was trying to see in through the windows. He could hear the AC running quietly. He gave up after not being able to see through the tint. But I realized he was going to tow it so I hopped out and explained. He was kind and I left.
Do you ever need to cook for lunch and dinner?
You could, but I preferred eating out. Sometimes I reheated a meal to use again.
In the time since this trip restaurant costs have gone up a lot. That might be harder now.
Did you supercharge to 100% everytime?
I typically had it set to 90%. But maybe a quarter of the time I knew I would need extra range and took it up higher. The last 2% is rarely worth it since it goes so slowly.
Imagine that iPad falling on his face mid sleep
Haha. Ouch! I didn’t leave it there except while watching.
What a well planned-out year-long road trip. I am sufficiently impressed to eventually try to duplicate it at some level. Just got my Model Y and I'm getting close to having it outfitted similar to this fine gentlemen in and around Alaska - ruclips.net/video/HnvhAL3IVgY/видео.html
Thanks for the kind words and for watching! That sounds intense! I hope you make it on your trip. I miss this time!
Alaska is my last state to visit. I might have considered it on my trip if superchargers went the whole route there.
Fantastic video!
Thanks for watching!