A diagnosis of stage IV neuroendocrine cancer altered the trajectory of my life. A gift of a Tesla Model 3 changed how I hope to live it. My name is Chris, and I’m a #Teslacamp-er, #EVRoadTrip-per, and cancer patient.
My diagnosis came in 2020. Surgery in August of that year was partially successful, but the largest of the tumors proved to be inoperable. At that time, the cancer was also found to have metastasized to my liver and lymph nodes.
The good news, for me: neuroendocrine a slow-moving cancer with a 5-year survival rate of 67%. The bad news: the other 33% who don’t live five years. Also, most neuroendocrine cancer patients have worsening symptoms over time; some may develop accompanying ailments like carcinoid heart disease and carcinoid syndrome, which would essentially turn any attempt at a road trip into an urgent race from rest stop to rest stop.
My oncologists told me to live every day like it might be my last, but hope that it wouldn’t. Six years later I’m still here, and the monthly injection I’ll need for the rest of my life has slowed further metastasis, and left me with only mildly-worsening symptoms. I’ll take it.
In March of 2021 my brother, Jeff, gave me a Tesla Model 3 for my birthday. He knew that I’d be spending more time on the road between treatments at the cancer center, CT and PET scans, and oncology and other doctor appointments. He also figured I might want to do a road trip someday.
The next year I embarked on the Stage IV Tour. The first stage: New York to Key West. Three more stages to follow. In the years in between I’ve done Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Tail of the Dragon, Acadia National Park, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Martha’s Vineyard, the Waterfalls of New York State, and even seen some of Canada.
I’ve spent over 40 nights sleeping in my Tesla, at state parks, national parks, national forests, city and county campgrounds, private campgrounds, and even in parking lots and truck stops. During those trips I’ve tried to help bring other Tesla and EV owners along for the journey, in the hopes that I’ll be able to help them begin their own EV road trip and TeslaCamping trips.
Operation Evacuation: Defrost & Recharge
New York - Florida: January 2027
I did my first official EV road trip - Stage I of the Stage IV Tour - in January 2022. It was the height of the pandemic, and the world was social distancing. It seemed like the perfect time to take a trip, to get away from the craziness we were experiencing at the time. I called it “Operation Snowbird: Tired of the Northern Freeze, Headed for the Florida Keys,” and I did just that, spending time in Virginia Beach, the Outer Banks, Charleston, Edisto, Jacksonville, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Miami, and Key West during the trip. I made the trek in a 2021 Tesla Model 3 SR+ - the ‘base model’ of the Tesla EVs, if you will. It was a challenge finding charging along the way in some places, but staying in campgrounds definitely helped elevate the electrons along the way.
My plan had been to complete Stage II, Stage II, and Stage IV of the tour in the years afterward, but life got in the way. I spent several summers on the road with Paulie’s Push, handling media relations and social media for that September 11 event, a 501c3 organization. I went through a few challenges with my illness that kept me from traveling - additional scans and the possibility of beginning PRRT in two separate years. That, and the challenges of affordability, kept me from embarking on a major trip in the years that followed. I did do some shorter trips - the Blue Ridge Parkway and Tail of the Dragon in 2022, drives to and from Chicago in 2023 and 2024, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Acadia National Park and Maine in 2025. In 2026 I began exploring the Waterfalls of New York State.
My hope for 2027 had been to head south, and then west, hitting up the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and San Diego along the way. This is a major trip involving a lot of planning, and the costs are not insignificant. Still, with winter approaching, I began to realize that the sense of dread I was feeling with the cold coming would likely require a real road trip this year - I wouldn’t be satisfied with purchasing products and waiting for them to arrive, something that had helped over the past two winters.
Still, did I want to do the same road trip again? New York to Key West? I wasn’t sure.
I made a list of pluses and minuses. In the plus category: photos with the new car, ‘Red Rocket’. And a chance to do the trip when we weren’t in the throes of the pandemic. Plus getting to see friends I’d avoided last time. In the negative: the costs, the mileage, the photos being much the same except for the color of the car.
I’d discovered during the first trip that this route could almost be a cliche. In Key West, I met far more northerners than I did natives. So many of the people I met were living ‘vanlife’ at the height of the craze, trying to see things and escape the pandemic just like I was. Had I unwittingly dove head-first into a stereotype? There were so many single men on search of adventure at Boyd’s Key West Campground that we could have had a club night there. Some were in vans, some in pickups, and some in tents; I was the only EV that I saw that year. Still…
The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that the New York - Florida route is as popular it is for a reason: where else is a poor, freezing northerner supposed to go to escape the ice and snow? Florida is the only state not frozen some days during winter. It is the logical choice.
It is very long, though. And many of the miles I put onto my 2021 Model 3 SR+ were added during my criss-cross of the state between St. Petersburg/Tampa and Key West. That easily added an additional 900 miles to the trip - or even more when you account for my having to travel back and forth to the only supercharger in the Keys. (Fortunately that situation has improved in the five years since). When you consider the Finger Lakes region of New York to Orlando Jacksonville, FL is only about 1,000 miles, continuing on to Key West adds an additional 50% onto that. Florida is long as fuck.
This time, I decided, I’d stop at Orlando. Or - maybe - continue on to St. Petersburg and Tampa for an additional night. I’ve talked about the needs to manage the miles on this car - my situation is precarious, health-wise and financially, and I may need it to last me a while. I’ve considered not doing road trips at all, but I love them to much to stop. But I had to weigh the cost-benefit-analysis of how much continuing on would add to the enjoyment of the trip.
Seeing Key West when things are open…
Doing more, like snorkeling, diving, or taking a trip in an electric boat…
Visiting a Dark Skies site in south Florida and watching the stars…
Any of these things, of course, would add to the trip. But all add to the miles, too - and to the costs. So I decided this trip would go at least as far as Orlando, where I have friends that I would like to see again.
And, on my return home, I’d cut out approximately 800 miles of driving by taking the Amtrak Auto Train - always something on my ‘bucket list’, and something that, if tickets are purchased far enough in advance, could come close to the ‘break even’ point in terms of cost.
I did the math…
Supercharging/Recharging + Overnight Stay at Campgrounds vs. AutoTrain
It was closer than I expected, so I decided to go for it. If nothing else, it would give me an additional sticker for the travel box, something that is important to me.
It was time to begin planning….
HOW I’M SNOOZING’…
This trip will be my first major road trip with my brand new Snuuzu mattress, and I’m excited to try it out!
Snuuzu bills itself as “the comfort of a hotel mattress, packed into a small duffel bag”.
My experience thusfar has shown that to be true.
You can read more about my Snuuzu story here.
Stay tuned for my impressions on the mattress and pillow set, below…
TRAVEL DAY: NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON, DC
The goal of my first travel day would be to visit the nation’s capital, if for no other reason than to break up the miles to my first ‘winter refuge destination’ - the Outer Banks of North Carolina - in half. Google Maps pegged the distance between my start in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York to my campground of choice as a 628 mile, 10 hour 57 minute journey; Tesla’s ‘Go Anywhere’ Trip Planner added just over an hour to that (and +3 miles), with four charge stops along the way. One of those stops was very, very close to DC - so why not make the ‘halfway point’ the first stop of the trip?
In 2022 the September 11th commemorative event I’ve volunteered with for the past five years visited the same area, as Paulie pushed his airline beverage cart between Washington-Dulles International Airport and the Pentagon. That was an amazing trip - they shut down a runway and escorted him across with a water cannon salute. The aviation enthusiast in me enjoyed every minute of live-streaming that moment, even as my iPhone got wet from the spray. The rest of the trip was a whirlwind, pushing around 35 miles over a few days before finishing at the memorial to those who perished on American 77 and in the Pentagon placed just outside the building. During the trip itself a number of people had suggested I visit the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, or the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, located just outside Dulles. I hadn’t had time, but I’d wanted to see it ever since - maybe this trip would be that opportunity?
STOP #1: WASHINGTON, DC
STEVEN F. UDVAR-HAZY CENTER
14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway Chantilly, VA 20151
Cost: Free | Parking: $15
TRAVEL DAY: WASHINGTON, DC TO THE OUTER BANKS
Google Maps puts the trip between my campground in Virginia and my campground at Oregon Inlet at 300 miles, for a 5 hour, 20 minute drive. Tesla’s trip planner estimates 5 hours, 24 minutes with two charging stops. I’m not sure how fast Tesla thinks I’m driving, but something doesn’t add up there. Still, as someone who often jokes that I’ve come from the STSDS - the Society to Slow Down Society - there’s never not a chance that I’ll obliterate all estimates and make a trip take longer than it’s supposed to. I looked at all of the numbers and decided to plan for at least a 6-hour day of driving. In the end…
STOP #2: THE OUTER BANKS
OREGON INLET CAMPGROUND
12001 North Carolina Hwy 12 NAGs Head, NC 27959
252-441-6246 | Website
$35/Night Before Discount
SAND DUNES AT JOCKEY’S RIDGE STATE PARK
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Cost: TBD
NC-12 & CAPE HATTERAS NATIONAL SEASHORE
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Cost: TBD
WRIGHT BROTHERS NATIONAL MEMORIAL
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Cost: TBD
RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
TRAVEL DAY: OUTER BANKS TO CHARLESTON, SC
There was a time that I could drive from sunrise to sunset, with only limited breaks, and feel fine.
I learned that time has most definitely passed during this leg of my road trip in 2022, as I woke up in the Outer Banks, headed out for Charleston, and wound up stopping for the night in Myrtle Beach, spending the night in a hotel along the way.
There was just no way I was making my campsite in the outer reaches of Charleston at any reasonable hour. In fact, there was no way I was staying awake for the rest of that trip. So I headed for the cheapest motel with EV charging on the tourist strip, spent the night, and shortened my time in Charleston just a bit.
“I’ll never try that again,” I told myself, making a mental note to put a mileage limit on my travel days.
And yet here we were, five years later, with me attempting the same exact trip.
In 2022 I’d nearly checked off my ‘bucket list’ goal of taking a ferry. I’d been ready to load my Model 3 onto the ferry that brings travelers across from Oregon Inlet to the mainland - until the ferry service called to inform me that the ferries were canceled on my day of travel because all of the captains had tested positive for Coronavirus. (Those were some dark times). Instead I headed out the way I’d come from, for what would be a very long trip through inner NC. Some confusion with Tesla’s navigation system, and a dearth of charging opportunities, almost certainly lengthened the trip somewhat. I found myself passing into Myrtle after nightfall.
Would I be making that same mistake again?
I’d already taken my new Model 3 on a ferry during my trip to Martha’s Vineyard in 2025, so I figured there would be no need to attempt that on this leg of the trip, again. If a woke up at 7 a.m., packed up my sleeping pod, and hit the road, could I make it to my campground in Charleston before nightfall? Time would tell…
Google Maps pegged the trip at 427 miles, for 6 hours 54 minutes of driving, and their directions took me right past South of the Border - another stop for a new sticker for my travel box! (Tesla’s Trip Planner estimated the trip at 425 miles for 7 hours 31 minutes of driving with three charge stops).
STOP #3: CHARLESTON, SC
MOUNT PLEASANT/CHARLESTON KOA HOLIDAY
3157 N Hwy 17 Mt Pleasant, SC 29466
843-849-5177 | Website
$72.99/Night Average
ARTHUR RAVENEL BRIDGE
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Cost: TBD
THE BATTERY & RAINBOW ROW
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Cost: TBD
82 QUEEN
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Cost: TBD
Charleston is known, perhaps more than any other, for their She-Crab Soup.
CHARLESTON RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
TRAVEL DAY: CHARLESTON TO EDISTO BEACH
Google Maps estimated the trip from my campground in Mount Pleasant to my campground at Edisto Beach at just 65.7 miles, for 1 hour 23 minutes of driving. With a 100% battery at departure - or even the standard 80 or 90% - this would leave me with plenty of electricity to spare, right?
Right?
The issue is that EV charging options between Charleston and Edisto are very limited. Once one arrives at Edisto, options include private resorts, where their paid options are often reserved for guests of the resort, or the state park, where 50-amp charging options exist but can be hit-or-miss; in 2022 my electric wasn’t working when I arrived, but a knowledgeable park ranger made a quick repair and got it up-and-running for me within an hour.
Arrive to a campsite with an issue, and an EV owner might find themselves at a loss for charging options.
Still, with other options limited, I would have no choice but to leave with as much range as possible, and hope for the best…
I’d run into this same issue back in 2022, and had hoped that, in the five years since, Tesla might have developed the EV charging options in this area a bit more. I checked their Find Us charging map online, though, and found that Edisto Beach - in the very center of the map below - is still an EV charger no-man’s-land. I made a note that the somewhat-nearby Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort offered valet destination charging, and hoped that I wouldn’t need it…
STOP #4: EDISTO BEACH, SC
EDISTO BEACH STATE PARK CAMPGROUND
8377 State Cabin Road Edisto Island, SC 29438
843-869-2156 | Website
$36.50/Night
SEACOW RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
EDISTO RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
HEALTH CHECK!
I get a lot of questions about my illness, and I suppose this would be a good time to address it.
During my Operation Snowbird trip in 2022 I did Edisto Beach on the way back from Florida. It was in week three of that trip, and by the time I reached it I was tired, having had a long drive from Key West to Jacksonville, a 500+ mile drive that took me nearly 12 hours with charge stops. The next day’s addition of Edisto happened only because a campsite that I’d seen on the preview drive on the way down suddenly became available. I’d scooped it up and made it a part of the trip, scoring on of my favorite campsites of all time, a private little spot nestled in among the trees so close to the beach you could hear the waves crash all night.
Then those sounds lulled me to sleep - and I slept for nearly 24 hours, getting up only to walk to and from the bathrooms and showers, and heading right back to my little four-wheel sleeping pod for - more sleep.
To this day I don’t know if I came down with COVID on the trip - a drunken woman had given me a big smooch outside a bar I’d chosen for dinner the night of my arrival, and the establishment was definitely filled with anti-maskers when I arrived. Could that have been it? Or could I simply have reached my limits and need some recovery time? I’m still not sure.
I’ve never officially been diagnosed with COVID, and all indications are that I never caught it, likely the result of some serious social distancing. And in the years since I have been revisited by some serious levels of fatigue, including entire days-long periods of sleep very similar to the sleep I experienced in Edisto my first time there.
TRAVEL DAY: EDISTO BEACH TO JACKSONVILLE, FL
TRAVEL DAY DATA
STOP #5: SAVANNAH, GA
A Savannah stop would be added to this trip for two reasons: it’s a city many of my friends and followers expressed surprise that I hadn’t visited on the first trip, and because I wanted to collect some additional stickers for my travel box, and nearly all of the stops on this trip would be repeats of the previous, offering very little opportunity for stickerage.
SAVANNAH ATTRACTION
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Cost: TBD
RIVER STREET SWEETS
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Cost: TBD
Pralines - yum.
STOP #6: JACKSONVILLE, FL
HUGENOT CAMPGROUND
10980 Heckscher Dr. Jacksonville, FL 32226
904-255-4255 | Website
$24.00/night
JACKSONVILLE RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
JACKSONVILLE RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
JACKSONVILLE RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
JACKSONVILLE RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
DAY TRIP: ST. AUGUSTINE, FL
ST. AUGUSTINE ATTRACTION
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Cost: TBD
ST. AUGUSTINE RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
TRAVEL DAY: JACKSONVILLE, FL TO COACH BEACH, FL
TRAVEL DAY DATA
STOP #7: COCOA BEACH, FL
COCOA BEACH ATTRACTION
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Cost: TBD
COCOA BEACH RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
TRAVEL DAY: COACH BEACH TO ORLANDO
TRAVEL DAY DATA
STOP #8: ORLANDO, FL
MOSS PARK CAMPGROUND
12901 Moss Park Rd. Orlando, FL 32832
407-254-6840 | Website TBD
TBD
ORLANDO RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
ORLANDO ATTRACTION
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Cost: TBD
ORLANDO ATTRACTION
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Cost: TBD
ORLANDO RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
ORLANDO RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
ORLANDO RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
ORLANDO RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD
TRAVEL DAY: ORLANDO TO ST. PETERSBURG
TRAVEL DAY DATA
STOP #9: TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG
ST. PETERSBURG ATTRACTION
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Cost: TBD
ST. PETERSBURG RESTAURANT
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Cost: TBD