Summer Trip 2026 Day 17

7 August 2026

I don’t have photos to share but I did drive about 135 miles and charged twice (once because I needed it and again just to have plenty of margin for Monday’s continuation of my long drive). The day was spent visiting my old college, Gustavus Adolphus, in St. Peter MN and in particular spending time with one of my professors and his wife.

The drive there was pretty easy and I arrived at their house at 10:30am. Just as I was leaving sometime around Noon, it was starting to sprinkle. By the time I drove into the campus just a quarter mile away, it was raining quite heavily so I only drove around and didn’t get out to walk and visit buildings. From there to the Tesla Supercharger was about a ten minute drive and by the time I arrived at the charger, it was windy and the rain was coming down like it was being dumped out of buckets! Just running out of my car to plug in and right back in got me pretty well soaked.

Anyway, St Peter has 8 V3 superchargers and they were mostly busy, although I was fortunately able to block two spots and charge right away. Even when I was done and leaving, and with several other cars having finished and new cars coming in, five of the eight spots were busy. This sounds like a location Tesla should upgrade to newer chargers and more of them! Or perhaps another network will come in as competition. I added 36.380 kWh in 18 minutes, charging from 41-80% for $14.91.

After a stop at Badger Hill Brewing in Shakopee MN, I stopped at a supercharger location in Eden Prairie MN just to top off. I didn’t need to, assuming my car would stay parked for the next two days, but if I did need to drive around the cities at all this weekend, this second charge would give me plenty of cushion for my drive on Monday. This location had 12 V4 chargers with 6 or 7 of them busy so I was able to jump right in. I charged from 63-80% in 8 minutes, adding 16.640 kWh for. $7.15.

By the time I’d arrived at Badger Hill, the sun was out and the roads were dry!