Charging Down Route 66

[ed5000]

I did a googlemaps search of Shamrock, Texas and up popped a great photo of an old gas station green and white in color. Who knows how old it could be.

 

[rkarl89203]

There were a LOT of old places..
Shamrock was a lot of fun!

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 20 was windy. Drove to Reagan/***** Mitsubishi in Amarillo and charged to full. Free charge but took almost 3 hours because the wind cut our range and RR down prior to arrival. Did some exploring in and near Amarillo. Got to Cadillac Ranch, took some fotos. Did a quick 1 hour topup at an RV park we did on the western outskirts of Amarillo.($5). Drove to Vega Texas on the old alignment. Miles and miles of flat land with very little to see except wind farms which seem to be everywhere. Decided to top up our
Charge at the Walnut RV park. It was described as a "friendly RV park" on Plugshare. It wasnt and isnt. The guy there charged us $10, was upset about us "parking on his grass" asked where our RV was, and then kept skulking around and glaring at us. After 1 hour of this we decided to just go on to Adrian to charge up instead. Drove to Adrian TX. As it was now towards sunset, we decided to stay at the Fabulous 40 motel in Adrian Texas.
Checked out the Midpoint Cafe(not open until April 14) and the Midpoint signs and monument. This is an intriguing little town...fun to explore.
Our topup charge at the Midpoint Campground cost $10. All in all, a good sunny but VERY windy day. Due to the wind we didnt make Tucumcari. We are now technically 1.5 days behind on our trip as scheduled. We traveled 73 miles on Day 20.

 

[JoeS]

Rick, I'm saddened by the number of negative interactions you've had during this trip. Yes, headwinds can be the bane of our travel. Trip data spreadsheet updated.

 

[rkarl89203]

Thanks Joe! Most of our interactions have been VERY positive like right now.
We were going to charge L2 here at Russells Truck and Travel Center. Their Shorepower outlets are down so Mr Russell himself had employees run an extension cord for us to charge L1, no
Cost.
Above and Beyond! This was a great experience. And the huge breakfast was great too!

 

[Don]

Three ways to drive cross country:

!.) On the freeway at 70 mph covering 500 to 600 miles each day, not seeing a darned thing except the roadway

2.) On the back roads at 50 mph covering 300 to 400 miles each day going through small towns where you see many more things than on any freeway

3.) On the back roads at 35 or 40 mph, covering 75 to 100 miles each day, stopping to recharge periodically and interacting with many friendly folks all along the way :mrgreen:

I've done it the second way numerous times - If you're riding a motorcycle, stopping to rest from time to time, you will actually meet some folks, but nothing like you will if you need to recharge every 40 or 50 miles

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

I will take door #3.
Seriously this stopping to charge is seriously conducive to making friends along the way.
That is a GOOD thing!

 

[rkarl89203]

Today Day 21 was awesome! Leaving Adrian Texas we followed old 66 on frontage roads about half the way to Glenrio NM. The sunny weather, lack of headwinds and a generally good feeling made the freeway beckon.
We got on I-40 where the route joined it. Once again, our imiev performed flawlessly. Staying in the right lane at 55-60 mph this was our first extended downhill cruise. To our delight, we got just enough regen to reduce our RR consumption to an acceptable level.
Pulling off the freeway we explored the
Almost ghost town of Glenrio. Hard to believe, but there was quite a busy place before I-40 came. Getting confidently back on the freeway(route 66 ended just past Glenrio) we drove to the New Mexico Welcome Centre.
Lotsof good information, friendly folks and curiosity about our imiev.
We drove on to the Russell Truck and Travel Centre. Arriving with just under half a 'tank' we discovered that their NEMA 14-50 was not working.
Mr. Russell himself(the owner) told his employees to run a long extension cord out their service bay so we could charge L1. Just a great gesture. So nice.
While we gained 21 miles in 3 hours we saw their classic car route 66 museum and had an unbelievably large steak and eggs breakfast.Huge!
So...we shook hands all around and left for Tucumcari on route 66 next to the freeway. Did some great photography at San Jon and then arrived in Tucumcari after 3PM. Got a room at the Blue Swallow. Had a great meal but best of all charged to full at Continental Oil right next to the Blue Swallow motel. The L2 clipper creek j1772 is free. Awesome!
Day 21 is a great day! We drove 72 miles today.

 

[Don]

Glen Rio was an experience! - When I-40 passed it by, it became an instant ghost town. It looks like a strong wind would blow it all away. There used to be several motels there that had been closed for 20 or 30 years . . . . are they still there?

We stayed at the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari too - Really a step back in time

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

The motels are still there but they are in horrible shape.

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 22 was great! We explored Tucumcari, had a great Breakfast at "Kix on 66." then we drove the old alignment through Montoya, Newkirk and Cuervo. Nothing going on in Montoya, an open gas station with unfriendly proprietors at Newkirk(but no restrooms) an "open" gas station in
Cuervo with gas pumps. Restrooms for
$2.00 a person, but no one around anywhere even with an open door.
Weird. Lots of fotos in these towns.
Came in to santa rosa and decided to stay the night. Awesome food at "Silver Moon." charging L1 at our hotel after laughing at an RV park owner who wanted to charge us $38 for a 2 hour charge. Updated plugshare to reflect that. Today WAS a really fun day though! We drove 64 miles today.

 

[JoeS]

Rick, great that you're able to get L1 during your overnight stays - best use of our time is to charge while sleeping. :mrgreen: If I might suggest in your PlugShare posts regarding costs, instead of saying "50A" (which could be construed as 50*240=12,000W), simply note that the i-MiEV consumes only 3.1kW on 240vac.
Trip data spreadsheet updated.

 

[rkarl89203]

Thanks Joe...
Btw we are at the Flying C Ranch 37 miles east of Moriarty NM.
We left our hotel in Santa Rosa with all bars and 71 RR.
In 42 miles with a howling headwind we consumed 63 miles RR. The fact that its pretty much all uphill probably didnt help either.
Yikes

 

[Aerowhatt]

This is about the best wind forecast I have been able to find for winds at least 48 hours into the future. Plus you can simply use the "change station option" on the page to move along to other reporting points along your route. We can't change the winds but it is nice to know what to expect!
This station is for Edgewood, NM which is in your near future:
https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=pws:KNMEDGEW21

Aerowhatt

 

[rkarl89203]

Thanks for the link!
Assuming we make it to Moriarty tonite
We should be in ABQ sometime after about 3pm tomorrow. We will call you
Tonite. Thanks again!

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 23 was fun but windy. Battling 45mph headwinds we used up most of our charge getting to the Flying C ranch north of Encino NM. We had 71 RR in Santa Rosa and arrived with 8 RR. Yikes.
The folks at Bowlin/Flying C ranch were so nice. They hooked us up to a NEMA 14-50 outlet and we charged for 6 hours. Left and got to Clines Corners.
Did some top up L1 charging there. Very nice people. $5.
Drove to Moriarty NM. Note: we left Clines Corners with 16 extra miles RR to our next destination. Arrived at Sunset Motel with 36 miles extra RR.
Sunset Motel in Moriarty was awesome. even allowed us to plug in L2. Nice folks.
Bright and sunny. Windy. Met lots of nice folks. A really good day.
We drove 82miles today.

 

[rkarl89203]

Day 24 was windy.
Again.
A lot of wind.
Did some laundry in Edgewood, some exploring, some getting lost. Finally after lunch headed up the hill. Got seriously spooked when we quickly lost half our charge. Panicking, i decided to top up at an RV park we found. 1.5 hours, $20. Ouch.Got to the top of Sedillo hill. Discovered that (as my friend Tony told me, i would regen awesome amounts of charge going downhill into Albuquerque. Lesson learned. After getting seriously lost(again) we found our way to the Kirtland AFB lodge and checked in. Great place, nice people. Drove over to meet Tony and his wife Brenda at their house. Want to thank them for letting us charge L2 in their garage. He and Brenda and my wife Selinda and I spent hours talking about everything imiev and just getting to know each other.
A great experience, good new friends and overall just an awesome day!
With getting lost and generally not driving in a straight line we STILL managed to drive 64 miles.
Woohoo!

 

[Don]

Isn't staying at military lodging the best deal ever? $60 per night, no tax and the most modern, cleanest well kept motels in the world and many times at half the going rate you would pay just outside the base gate. We plan most of our trips to take advantage of staying on base whenever possible

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

I agree Don! We also plan our trips that way.
Have never had a bad stay at a military lodge.

 

[JoeS]

Um, did I lose a day?

Day 22 (7 April) you stayed in Santa Rosa, after 64 miles.

Day 23 (8 April) you struggled with a headwind and ended up in Moriarty after 82 miles.

Day 24 (9 April) you ended up in Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, after 64 miles, although Google says it's only 35 miles from Moriarty - boy, aside from getting a little lost, taking Route 66 instead of the Interstate added lots of miles. :roll:

So, today is Monday 10 April, which is Day 25, but your late-afternoon report is for Sunday??

Now that you're getting into hilly country, perhaps you might try your hand at GPS Visualizer to get a warm fuzzy feeling about being able to get your fuel gauge back up (or, at least, your RR) on the downhills.