Summer Trip 2026 Day 12

2 August 2026

This morning was cool (53º with a windchill of 43º) and cloudy/smoky, but the wildfires had stayed put last night or at least didn’t expand in the direction of my hotel. Today’s route was 325 miles on I-90, going the opposite direction I traveled on this highway last week. Because of that, I didn’t get photos other than this one at a rest area which was pretty typical of today’s scenery:

I also didn’t get photos of my charging stops, the first two because I forgot, and the third because I was just there last week so you’ve seen it already.

Because I left my hotel at 100% and had a good tailwind to boot, I traveled 133 miles to St. Regis MT and a Tesla Supercharger where I charged from 52-80% in 16 minutes, adding 26.864 kWh for $10.74. This was surprisingly a spot that was full of tourists — there’s a very large gift shop with a casino here and it was mobbed with people. I assume there are also other attractions in the immediate area to draw such crowds. The chargers weren’t busy that time of day, however, but if they had been I could have popped across the street to a Rivian Network charger.

The second charge was at another Tesla Supercharger outside of Missoula MT, located in a truck stop. There were 12 chargers here so I was able to block a couple of them right away (V3 chargers with the short cables) and charge from 56-80% in 12 minutes, adding 23.118 kWh for $9.24. By now, the weather was definitely warming up; it was only into the 70s but the sun made it feel a lot warmer in spite of the strong breeze.

Stop #3 was at the Tesla Supercharger in Butte MT that I was at last week. It was less busy today and a Rivian from Canada had already grabbed an end charger so I was able to sneak in right next to him such that the two of us only took three charging spots. I charged from 32-80% in 22 minutes, adding 44.923 kWh for $17.96.

This is the view from my (shabby) hotel room tonight. You can clearly see the smoke still obscuring the mountains to the south. Driving through town to the hotel, I saw two odd sights — first, a park with a very old (1950s, maybe?) permanent Christmas display, and second, a large Jesus statue at the top of a hill to the east of town. There was also this fun license plate to end the day:

Tomorrow will be a very slightly longer drive to Miles City MT on I-94. I-94 diverges from I-90 just east of Billings MT and I’ll follow I-94 all the way into Minneapolis where I’ll arrive on Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, I have another full day of Montana followed by a very full day — the longest of the trip — of the remaining bit of Montana and all of North Dakota.