Highway 17 near The Prairie Club in the Sandhills outside of Valentine, Nebraska on May 27, 2026. This is one stretch of highway where even the most seasoned Tesla driver would experience "range anxiety".
After leaving Kearney, Nebraska I entered the Nebraska Sandhills. My destination was Valentine, Nebraska. At some point, the Tesla started sending me warning messages that I was nearing the point where there wasn't enough charge for me to reach the closest charging station. Shortly after that, I passed the point of no return...charge at the campground or I wouldn't have enough energy to make it to the next station.
I did have a charging plan. I reserved an electric site at a campground in Valentine. And I knew that I had plenty of charge to reach that campground. But, I started thinking about worst case scenarios--what if my charging cable fails or what if the campground won't allow a vehicle that wasn't technically an RV to check in?
As always, everything went according to plan. I successfully charged at the campground in Valentine...just as I would successfully charge in 7 more campgrounds on this road trip. In fact, it was well over a week before I had to pay a penny in energy to fuel the car...and the trip covered 3,300 miles!