Charging Down Route 66

[rkarl89203]

Day 31 was awesome. Left Williams and drove to Ash Fork, met the nice folks at Zettlers. Drove to Seligman, had lunch at Road Kill Cafe. Then explored the town. Went to Delgadillos Snow Cap. Decided to stay the night at Grand Canyon Caverns Inn...had a great dinner there and charged L2 at their RV park (NEMA 14-50). Today we drove 76 miles.

 

[JoeS]

On Monday (April 17) evening Rick wrote:

Day 31 was awesome.... Today we drove 76 miles.

Ummm, Rick, I'm losing you again … perhaps you meant to say "yesterday" (Sunday)... or maybe I missed a day? On long trips, the days merge into one big blur.

Grand Canyon Caverns Inn is in Peach Springs, AZ, so that's what I put into the trip data spreadsheet.

 

[rkarl89203]

I AM a bit behind in my blog...
Day 32 we left Grand Canyon Caverns and drove to Peach Springs where they have a great Internet Cafe. Continued on, saw an awesome pronghorn, and then drove on to the Keepers of the Wild animal sanctuary just east of Valentine, AZ. Hiked most of the trails there, saw lots of animals. They have a great facility there. Drove to Valentine itself and explored. For some reason this town nearly abandoned has many drinking fountains...? Then drove on to the Hackberry General Store. Very friendly folks. They have NEMA 14-50 and 110 V charging capabilities but we didnt need it. Drove further on to Antares. Saw 'Headicus Giganticus.'
Weird. Drove to Kingman and Stayed Overnight at the Ramada Inn. They have NE50 14-50 L2 capabilities so wr charged to full. Met Jim Hinckley, route 66 author and historian. Great day. We drove 77 miles.

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 33 was way cool too. Went to the Powerhouse museum in Kingman, had a chocolate shake at Mr D's and headed west to Cool Springs. Rescued a desert tortoise who was walking in the middle of the road. Spent an hour looking arounf Cool Springs. Explored Eds' Camp and drove up to Sitgreaves Pass. Awesome! Drove down the other side of the Pass to Goldroad and on to Oatman, just to be stopped by one of their famous gunfighter shows in the middle of the street. Waited until it was over and drove to Making Memories, who let us plug in behind their business L1. Spent the next two and a half hours exploring Oatman and having a great lunch. Drove to Needles and the Oddest thing happened. We came upon a Quality Inn who had 4 brand new L2 chargers next to their parking lot. Non networked Clipper Creek Chargers. Charged to full and stayed overnight. We drove 75 miles.

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 34 is today, Wednesday.
Left Quality Inn at 6 AM and drove to
Goffs CA. Charged to full (60rr) at the Mojave Desert Goffs Schoolhouse museum. Then, with 60 miles RR set out on the 57 mile workaround to Amboy, CA. Regenerated 15 miles from Goffs to Fenner. Drove I-40 to Kelbaker Road, arriving with 23 RR. On Kelbaker road went south to Amboy CA, our next charging stop. Regenerated so many miles we arrived at Amboy with 53 miles RR . Good thing, too. They were experiencing a major power outage. No power. We couldnt charge.
Yikes. We decided to try to make it to Ludlow. Fine at first, then the steep uphill grades began. By the time we got to Ludlow we had 10 miles RR.
Oddly the tiny motel there had outside outlets with good L1 charging. Got a room and a good meal across the parking lot at the ludlow cafe. And charging L1. $52 for the room.
Great day. We drove 116 miles today.
Woohoo!

 

[JoeS]

...Drove to Needles and the Oddest thing happened. We came upon a Quality Inn who had 4 brand new L2 chargers next to their parking lot. ...

Welcome to California! :mrgreen: ... but be sure to check availability, because DCQC are often non-operational, especially Blink.

Glad you caught up on the days. New daily record today (116 miles). Trip data spreadsheet updated.

The following is the GPS Visualizer elevation graph from Needles to Ludlow (generic city centers and not your motels):

 

[JoeS]

Looking at the above graph, the last leg of the trip Amboy to Ludlow is only 28 miles, but it's all uphill so starting in Amboy with RR=53 was cutting it close, especially as that great RR was the result of the long downhill run (what did your fuel gauge say?). Knowing that ahead of time I would have kept her around 25-30 mph.

Looking ahead to Barstow, the campgrounds don't look too promising, but I see three welding shops - hope you brought some adapters, as they should all have 240vac.

 

[rkarl89203]

Looks like the Marine Logistics Base at Barstow has a Famcamp RV hookup area. i do have access so that may be a goal. The climb out of Amboy was very unnerving. Really took some skills and very careful driving. Looking forward to checking out the Bagdad Cafe in Newberry Springs too...hopefully Victorville tonite.

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 35 was darn weird. Charged to about 64 rr at Ludlow L1. Strong Headwinds! Yikes. Slowly made it to Newberry Springs. Charged to full
81 rr at Newberry Mountain RV Park.
Headed out to Barstow. Again with the strong headwinds. Dinner at IHOP in Barstow. Seemed like plenty enuf rr to
Get to Victorville. Wrong. By Helendale we were down to 8 rr due to unbelievable headwinds. We asked at the General Store if we could plug into their outside L1. They said "sure." we only then found out they had a missing ground on the outlet. We got to oro grande with 2 rr. The closest charger was 11 miles away. The good folks at the Cross eyed cow Pizza parlor let us charge for a bit over an hour .we made it to our charger in Victorville with 3 rr.
Charged for an hour L2. Got to comfort inn, overnighted. We drove 100 wind-wracked miles.

 

[rkarl89203]

Today was day 36. We drove 90 miles from Victorville to Pasadena. Comfort Inn here has L2 Chargepoint. Tomorrow is the end of our trip at Santa Monica Pier. Then, on to Port Hueneme for overnite!

Tomorrow. Final trip day for us together.

 

[JoeS]

Tomorrow. Final trip day for us together.

Sounds ominous. Good luck with the SoCal traffic! ... oh, it'll be Saturday, so you should be ok.

 

[PV1]

Rick, congratulations on making it all the way to California! What a historical trip, to drive nearly the entire length of Ol' Route 66 in an EV with such relatively short range. This definitely speaks well to the i-MiEVs capabilities and to how well you planned out your trip.

Don't forget to change the oil before heading back :lol: .

 

[rkarl89203]

Yep. 18 miles from the finish.
Today will be all about the triumphant(?) end to a trip truly of a lifetime.
And then on to visit my Mother in the assisted living facility in OJai. 3 days of sightseeing and then Selinda flies home out of LAX tuesday.
Then MY drive home begins.
Our ruminations on long distance travel will begin at the end of my trip
Home.
A good sumnation might be: Expect to have a lot of fun, be flexible on charging options and plan plan plan!
This is a great car!

 

[Don]

Selinda flies home out of LAX Tuesday. Then MY drive home begins.

Just a thought - Unless you're eager for another 3 or 4 week journey home, I'm pretty sure you could pay to ship the car home by truck *and* buy yourself a ticket to fly home with Selinda for less money than you'll spend on another 2500 mile, 30 day trip

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

Thanks for the advice but i really dont trust anyone else to deliver our imiev home.
This is a GREAT car...it will be fine.

That being said, SUCCESS!
Arrived at Santa Monica Pier at 1120 am.
We drove 18 miles to the Pier!
First and only imiev down All of Rte 66
Is Finished!
Whew!
It CAN be done!
Photos have been posted on the Route 66 Electric Car Club on Facebook.
We are putting together a photo CD
Which anyone who wants one can simply request one.
We are proud of this accomplishment!
Imievs are awesome.

 

[Phximiev]

Congratulations! You've set a new record!

 

[JoeS]

Rick - congratulations!
Selinda - double congratulations!!
Only a couple of days past your original schedule, and 2786 miles vs. 2642 projected.
Wonderful that you had no flat tires and no 'turtle'.
Enjoy your stay in California and be sure to do some touristing before heading back.
Do keep posting here for your entire return trip.

Trip data spreadsheet updated.

Once again, here's Rick's Facebook link for the photographs -
https://m.facebook.com/groups/191353127723382?view=info&refid=18&ref=bookmarks

 

[rkarl89203]

Thanks all!
Really appreciate the support and encouragement.
Today we are in Ojai.

Planning is everything.
Range anxiety is that...anxiety.
With flexibility much is attainable with this car.
Mitsubishi ...WHY did you give up on this car?

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 1 of the return trip. Ended up in San Clemente CA. Wife back home in IL. I drove 71 miles today, one CHademo charge and one L2 charge.
Lots of miles to go lol

 

[PV1]

I'm curious on some of the RR numbers you'll be seeing. Should have a nice tailwind all the way back.