Charging Down Route 66

[JoeS]

Munger Moss Motel is in Lebanon, Missouri. About 19 miles miles ahead of scheduled Hazelgreen.

Trip data spreadsheet updated.

Rick and Selinda, don't forget to smell the roses and experience some of the wonderful aspects of Americana. Oh, and be sure to walk at least a couple of miles each day.

 

[rkarl89203]

We are! Awesome trip so far.
America, 80 miles at a time.
Lol

 

[Don]

We didn't go much faster that that on our Route 66 trip in our Miata. We stopped many times each day to see the sights, go through museums and other points of interest - I took a special interest in all the original bridges still standing on the route and we stopped to take pictures of almost every one of them. It took us almost 3 weeks to go from Cuba Missouri to Tucumcari NM, but then we did a lot of backtracking whenever we discovered we had been shuttled away from the 'mother road' to the newer alignment which bypasses much of the original pavement. After a while, you get where you can recognize the original pavement and you don't get 'lost' nearly as often

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

I can relate.
It is mind boggling just stopping to see and explore.
Unfortunately today could be described with one word.
Rain.
After a really odd night at the Munger Moss motel ("open ground") so
Our EVSE didnt work. No charging so we went to a nearby Econolodge to charge L1 enough to get to Marshfield. Thats when the rain began. It continued while we charged at Don Vance Chrysler in Marshfield L2.
So we charged and then went to Lunch while the rain continued.
We got to Springfield in the rain and called it a day. Yuck.
Did some L1 charging here at the Quality Inn...will do a bit more in the morning before charging to full at the Springfield KOA RV park. Confirmed tomorrows reservation at the Boots Court motel in Cathage.
Hope their L1 works Lol.
Just an annoying rainy day today.
We went 60 miles. Sheesh!

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 10 was great! Charged L1 for an hour at our hotel during breakfast.
Then, drove to Springfield KOA. Charged to 81 miles. L2 Leviton. 4 hours, $15. Drove through Halltown, Phelps, Albatross, Gay Parita(Paris Springs), and Spencer. MO. The Gay Parita station and garage was open so we got a nice tour. Tonight we are overnighting at Boots Court in Carthage, MO. Great people, Awesome
Neon. Charging L1. Life is good. Was bright and sunny all day. We drove 69 miles today! Staying in Clark Gables room tonite.

 

[JoeS]

Glad you had a nice day with great weather and are finding places to charge, although that $15 Springfield KOA Leviton fee is a bit steep. You are exactly back on original schedule!

Trip data spreadsheet updated.

I find it interesting that you have only 38 miles above your original projection (I thought it would be more!), meaning that you're not wandering off your path too much.

RR=81 at full charge means you're being quite conservative in your driving. By the end of this trip you'll be able to give us all hypermiling lessons.

Have a great tomorrow!

 

[BenBrown]

By any chance are you tracking your daily average speed and conditions like wind, rain, cold, average elevation changes? Of course you could spend all your focus on data and miss seeing the roses for the data... but in a perfect world what ever you do, you'd enjoy yourself.

 

[rkarl89203]

We ARE keeping tabs on speed and weather. So far averaging near 30 mph
including charging stops. Without those stops about 40 mph. At those rare times we have been on freeways i am really proud of this car. At 55 it does amazingly well, even some regen.
We are getting RRs per total charge from 73-83 miles RR. Darn nice.
Of course Goffs and Amboy in the Mojave will tell....only confirmed L1 charging there.

 

[ed5000]

After a really odd night at the Munger Moss motel ("open ground") so
Our EVSE didnt work. No charging so we went to a nearby Econolodge to charge L1 enough to get to Marshfield. !

I wonder if a grounding adapter (cheater plug) would work here? I know in general people frown on these things but, if the outlet box is truly grounded, your evse should work, right? Otherwise your safe although without any charging, of course.

 

[rkarl89203]

All we did was hook it up. Got a "fault" on our EVSE and of course it wouldnt charge. So grabbed the tester which we should have done first and it showed 'open ground."Knew about nearby Econolodge so wasnt too concerned.

 

[rkarl89203]

Morning was great Day 11. However both chargers in Joplin were malfunctioning. Somehow got to Miami Ok anyways. Dirty room, ants.
Sheesh.
We did 42 miles today. Sort of on schedule but a bad afternoon and evening.

 

[rkarl89203]

In miami ok this morning. Looking forward to better charging today.
RV parks are our friends.

 

[Don]

RV parks are our friends.

They would be . . . . . if they didn't want $15 for $1.50 worth of electricity :shock:

For less than that, you can get a QC and be on your way in half an hour of 45 minutes. The owners of the QC stations have many thousands invested in the equipment which they need to amortize before they can begin making money, while the RV park owner didn't have to spend a dime on anything to charge your car. RV park charging *should be* no more than half the price of a QC charge and they would still be making a killing!

Don

 

[JoeS]

RV parks are our friends.

… amen to that! Rick, hope you are aware of http://www.rvparky.com which also shows the type of power available (especially the 50A NEMA 14-50). Pricing varies all over the map, and it helps to talk with the RV park owners and show them the difference in power consumption between the i-MiEV and a Tesla and nicely point out to them that it is not in their interest to have an unfavorable review on PlugShare. I do the math with them showing that three hours with the i-MiEV uses 9kWh at, say, 15¢/kWh = $1.35 and then give them the "duh, what were you thinking?" look (with a smile).

We are presently driving up the Northern California coast in the Tesla and just discovered a road closure which would have added well over 50 miles to our trip! We evidently missed the road sign but Google Maps (with Traffic option selected) showed it with the international red circle with horizontal white dash symbol. PlugShare and RVParky identified an RV campground that would have saved our butts (I've still never charged the Tesla to 100%). Moral of the story - with an EV, we always plan ahead. We just stayed overnight in a reasonably-priced motel with a gorgeous ocean view that has both J1772 and a Tesla HPWC - a BMW i3 is using the other EVSE. Lots of wineries in this region, and many of them have EV charging stations by their tasting rooms.

Rick, good luck with continuing your trip and hope the weather holds out - Trip data spreadsheet updated and see you're right on schedule.

 

[rkarl89203]

Yup. Day 12 today no charging problems. Started with a 2.5 hour charge at an RV park in Miami OK.
Visited Miami, ate at Ku Ku Burger.
Went all the way down to Vinita Ok with several sidetrips for photos.
Topped off charge at Big Cabin RV park in Big Cabin OK. Both RV parks charged a flat $10 rate for charge. No problem.
Visited Afton Station, Pryor Creek bridge, and the Foyil OK Totem Pole Park. Whew. Tonight charging L1 til bedtime here at Quality Inn in Claremore Ok. Life is good! We went 94
Miles today.

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 13 was weird. Was at the Blue Whale in Catoosa OK when we realised that the 45+ mph headwinds were easily cutting our range in half.
We made a command decision to go back to Claremore. We are on a 1 day hold due to winds. On the bright side the Quality Inn is awesome free breakfast too. Best of all the L1 charging is FREE.

 

[kiev]

It does look rough out there:

 

[rkarl89203]

Thanks. Tomorrow looks MUCH better.
West winds 5-10 mph

 

[rkarl89203]

Technically we traveled 30 miles today but returned to the point of origin so no forward progress.

 

[JoeS]

Prudent move, - Trip data spreadsheet updated. Have a great day!