After we left Cuyahoga National Park, we were ready to visit some family in Wheeling, West Virginia. I had no idea what to expect, but after charging up south of Cleveland (and struggling with some of the non-pull-thru stalls at a Flying J), we quickly figured out that we were in Appalachia. The freeways started ... Read more The post Wild Interstate Driving In Wheeling and Breezewood first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

For many people, a turnpike is just a normal fact of life. You get on, you pay (either then or later, or way later with late fees), and it otherwise runs just like any other freeway. But, for me it was a new experience. In this article, I want to share some of the ups ... Read more The post EV Trailering On The Turnpikes, Cuyahoga Valley National Park first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

The state’s drone restrictions aren’t about privacy. They’re an intentional information blockade designed to hide environmental devastation and contractor waste behind an insurmountable paywall. Right now, bulldozers from a massive government contractor are ripping through the dirt of Big Bend National Park. They’re tearing up ancient desert soil and gouging roads through fragile Chihuahuan Desert ... Read more The post How Texas Hides The Destruction of Big Bend From The Public first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

When most people talk about the beginning of Route 66 in Chicago, they think about downtown. There’s a sign with the Route 66 shield that says “End” under it. There’s a cute little marker around the corner from that. The City of Chicago recently decided they were going to move the end of 66 to ... Read more The post Where Route 66 Really Begins In Chicago (Plus, Zombie Route 66, and A Famous House) first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

I’m not sure exactly what to call this, but there’s a moment that happens a few miles down the trail on hikes. Sometimes it happens you’ve set up camp, settled in, and you’re trying to go to sleep. You notice something not because it’s there, but because it isn’t. The noise of the world isn’t ... Read more The post Nature: Christian Nationalism’s Achilles Heel first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

In my past posts, I shared stories from the journey across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, a little corner of Kansas, and Missouri. Now, it’s time for the last state we crossed on Route 66. Starting with a pretty metal bridge and ending with Chicago, Illinois was anything but boring. The Chain of Rocks ... Read more The post Last But Not Least: Route 66 In Illinois first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

When most people talk about Route 66, it’s all about visiting the past. Neon lights, the movie Cars (especially in my last post), space age cars with fins and faux jet nozzles, and everything else from the good old days washes over our minds. But, that’s not all that Route 66 is about. Sometimes, getting ... Read more The post Route 66 In Missouri: Butt Jokes and Old Bridges first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

One of the biggest things that kept Route 66 in the public imagination over the last few decades was the 2006 Disney/Pixar movie Cars. While it obviously wasn’t a true story, it did tell people what really happened to town after town when roads like I-40 replaced Route 66. What you might not know is ... Read more The post Oklahoma & Kansas: Where Pixar Got The Route 66 Magic first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

In my last article, I told the tale of having a blowout that almost ended the trip. With some help from an RV tech, five new tires, and some DIY repair, we were hoping to leave all of that kind of excitement behind us! And, for a couple of days, we did. Leaving Albuquerque with ... Read more The post Neon Lights, Tornado Warnings, & Cadillacs on Route 66 in NM, TX, and OK first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

After leaving Meteor Crater, we got our tire repaired, took some bad advice from a tire shop in a small town, continued down Route 66, and spent a stressful day in Albuquerque having things repaired. Follow along on a tale of both fun and sorrow! Having A Tire Patched & Plugged In my last article, ... Read more The post Petrified Forest & RV Repairs Passing Back Through New Mexico first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

After we finished our tour of Grand Canyon Caverns, it was time to continue the journey along Route 66. In this post, I’m going to talk about how bad things can happen. Sometimes, it’s a meteor striking the earth. Other times, it’s a nail going into a tire on your trailer, setting off a sequence ... Read more The post Meteor Crater & Twin Arrows first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

Earlier this year, I posted a lot about an upcoming EV trip not only along the length of Route 66, but then to the east coast and then back to New Mexico. If you’ve been following along, you probably noticed the updates on CleanTechnica abruptly stopped after we hit Kingman, Arizona. I continued posting photos ... Read more The post The Road Caught Up With Us (But We Made It) first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

For two years, a chunk of old concrete sitting in a rushing Smoky Mountains river left me wondering about its history. It looked like the washed-out remains of a bridge for cars, but the truth is a lot heavier, both physically and emotionally. That decaying block is actually the scar of an environmental disaster. Even ... Read more The post The Ghost in the Little River: How a Logging Disaster Birthed a National Park first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

If you watch the popular YouTube channel RV Miles, you might have caught their recent video detailing how fast the RV industry is getting hit by the current fuel crunch. Gas prices are climbing again, and as Jason Epperson pointed out, it is not just the usual spring blend markup. Between global oil supply ... Read more The post The Iran War Shows A Major Weakness In The RV Industry first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

If you’ve been checking the timestamps on this site, you’ve probably noticed a bit of a gap. Aside from a recent news roundup, things have been quiet here since 2024. I haven’t been idle—I’ve been busy over at CleanTechnica, working on other projects, and handling some family caretaking duties—but the “boots on the ground” mission ... Read more The post Route 66 & Beyond: Getting Serious Again for 2026 first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

Today, I’m starting something new to go with my posts about my own electric RVing and travel experiences: a daily news roundup that focuses on things that affect sustainable outdoor recreation. Let me know what you think, and if this is something readers end up loving, I’ll keep doing it a few times a week! ... Read more The post 2/23/26 News Roundup: Towing Physics, Boiling Water on Batteries, and the Battle for Park Funding first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

On our last long trip, we went over 4200 miles. Along the way, we visited two national parks (Hot Springs and Great Smoky Mountains), traveled along about half of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and attended an important EV event in North Carolina. It was a great trip, and something I’d do again given the time ... Read more The post Preparing For Future All-Electric Journeys first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

Thanks to some really cool plugins, I’ve added Fediverse support directly to this website. Whether you’re on Mastodon or on some other app, you can look me up at the following address: jennifer@chargetotheparks.com Threads supposedly supports Fediverse, but I haven’t been able to successfully connect to any accounts there yet. But, if you’re on threads, ... Read more The post Follow Me On Mastodon & The Fediverse! first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

I know the Charge to the Parks website hasn’t been very busy lately, and that’s something that’s going to change soon. I’ve been working very hard behind the scenes to get ready for some really cool trips in the near future! Be sure to visit often or follow me on one of the social media ... Read more The post National Parks EV News Roundup: Thanksgiving Edition first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

With all of the people leaving X/Twitter recently, I’ve decided to set up a presence on BlueSky and share links to other places. The BlueSky account now is just a simple bridge (using Bridgy Fed) to publish articles from here onto BlueSky, but hopefully more features are added soon, like following back and comment integration. ... Read more The post Bluesky & Other Social Links Added To Site first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

Since taking a long trip in May and June, I’ve had to focus on some household things. This has been sad for me because I was haven’t been able to keep up the pace of travel I had hoped for, and I haven’t been able to keep working on the EV travel guides or much ... Read more The post The Next Stage Of The Charge to the Parks Journey first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

I’m not afraid to admit that the Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV aren’t known for being great road trip cars. For me, it was what I could afford when I needed to switch vehicles, and it’s head-and-shoulders better than the overheating Nissan LEAF I had before. Sure, it only charges at 55 kW, but it ... Read more The post What It’s Like Driving Over 4,000 Miles In A Budget EV…While Towing! first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

Over at CleanTechnica, I recently wrote several interesting articles about national parks and EVs. First off, there’s a new EV charging station just outside of Arches National Park. Electrify America has partnered with Rocky Mountain Power to open an 8-stall station, including one dedicated pull-through stall. Plus, several others could work well for people pulling ... Read more The post National Park EV News Roundup first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

While the site didn’t change much in May and June, that’s only because we were busy traveling to several parks in an EV! While traveling to attend an important EV event in North Carolina, we stopped at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since visiting, ... Read more The post New and Updated Guides for Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

With the addition of the Great Basin National Park’s EV Travel Guide, we’ve now covered both the top ten most and least visited national parks! Sadly, a number of the parks in the bottom ten are in remote areas of Alaska and are simply not reachable by car, so they all got put together in ... Read more The post Bottom Ten Parks Now Covered first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

After taking some time to visit two national parks and one recreation area in an EV over the last few days, I made some updates and improvements! First off, I updated Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains national parks with new information and updated photos from my visit. There’s no much more information about attractions nearby, ... Read more The post Updated Guides For New Mexico Available! first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

We’re chugging along with EV travel guides, and now we have the top ten national parks (by 2023 visitor numbers) covered. These parks (among others with guides) are: Great Smoky Mountains National Park Grand Canyon National Park North Rim South Rim Zion National Park Yellowstone National Park Rocky Mountain National Park Yosemite National Park Acadia ... Read more The post EV Travel Guides For Top Ten Parks Now Available first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

I’ve been busy adding more EV travel guides to the website, including one that isn’t really a guide. Let’s talk about the guides, first! We’re now up to 11 parks covered, now including the top 5 most visited parks. These parks so far are: Great Smoky Mountains NP Carlsbad Caverns NP Guadalupe Mountains NP White ... Read more The post 11 Parks, One Page For Unreachable Alaskan Parks, Mission & Purpose up! first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

So far, four parks’ worth of information for EV drivers has been added to the map and list, and the basics of EV backroad driving is now live! Parks added so far: White Sands National Park Guadalupe Mountains National Park Carlsbad Caverns National Park Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Next up is Saguaro National Park, ... Read more The post Four Parks and EV Travel Tips Added! first appeared on Charge To The Parks.

The goals for the Charge to the Parks project are to: Help people understand that you CAN get to the most beautiful and fun places in America on electric power, even with an RV! Prove that you don’t need to be wealthy to do it Help people with nearly any EV to to these beautiful ... Read more The post Welcome! first appeared on Charge To The Parks.