The sun is riz

The sun is set
and here I is
in Texas yet

Leaving God's Country at TexLine with the trip odometer, now labelled "Canada", reading about 690 miles.  Bringing to mind a new goal: take the same route but start at the SpaceX launch facility at Boca Chica.  Estimated distance: about 1200 miles.

At the New Mexico border late in the afternoon.  Who knows what time it is at a time zone border?  I tried to catch the car shifting an hour but failed; it happened up to an hour after the crossing.  About that time, AutoPilot decided not to work for an hour or two.  I suspect the time change may have confused it.

I am reminded of a trip my mother related.  When she was a youth/girl, she rode the train to El Paso and then accompanied a school teacher aunt from her post near El Paso to her ancestral home in Texarkana.  Driving a Model A in probably the 1920s.  Maybe early 1930s.   I see Model As were made 1927-1931.  So, late 20s or early 30s.  I don't believe they would have undertaken such a trip in an old car.

Most/all my road trips seem to evolve into "death marches".  No exception here.  I had intended to spend a few days visiting cousins at their retirement home near Walsenburg.  Alas!  I was unable to extract a specific invitation.  I first intended to spend the night at the Holiday Inn adjacent to the Trinidad SuperCharger.  I arrived near sunset.  While charging, I walked over and found them full.  I called a prospect hotel at Walsenburg, 50-100 miles up the road, and found them full also.  ONWARD! Though the night!  It seems the summer tourist congestion in the central Colorado mountains was far greater than I anticipated.  The western side of the state turned out much better.  Because I hate to drive IH 25 north of Puebla, I cut to the northwest just north of Walsenburg.  Rainy.  Twisting unfamilar roads.  AutoPilot could barely cope.

I ended up, arriving at the Grand Junction SuperCharger around dawn.  Crossed Monarch Pass.  The mountain roads were mostly handled very well by AutoPilot.  Instead of falling asleep while the car was driving, I elected to make several nap stops.  The drive from Grand Junction to Rock Springs was spectacular.  Daylight greatly enhances the scenery.  That leg also included a couple of  nap stops.  Notable features were an enormous phosphate mine and the Flaming Gorge dam.  The phosphate mine sends a slurry via about 100 miles of pipe to Rock Springs for further processing.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VEqjsztidMSf32YQ9

I had intended to make an early over night stop in Rock Springs but found no cell reception either on the phone or on the car.  So, I moved on down the road to Rawlins where I did find cell reception.  And the car map began working again.   Overnight.  Slept like a log.  On to Montana.  Or, maybe Thermopolis.

8/6/19
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UZVKuzPshEfxe1PT8

Found my cousin in Stillwater County Montana.  I thought his name was "Crawford".  But, I found "Crawford Cox" who proved up on his homestead in 1911.

 http://austinfarm.us/phpgedview/individual.php?pid=I0770&ged=wmm-06082015.ged

Visited the supposed site of Busteed, then chatted with some people that noticed I was taking photos.  They said Busteed was down in the creek bottom of the location I photographed.  I suspected that the old building I photographed was a Busteed building moved down the road a bit.  My informants told me it was a rail station moved from another near by town.  That town had a spur rail line that dead ended at the town.  That town is "Rapelje" and survives; it is easily visible from the Busteed townsite.  Both towns are about 30 miles north of Columbus, county seat of Stillwater County.  The county seat is where county records are found.  Columbus and a rail line are on the banks of the Yellowstone River.  Beautiful country.  Rapelje and Busteed are much higher and drier though still quite attractive.  It seems the Busteed/Rapelje area was opened to homesteading very early in the century.  At that time, it was in Yellowstone County but was later split off to Stillwater County.  Perhaps, like my cousin, most homesteaders raised sheep.  Now, there are no sheep in the area; it seems to be exclusively hay and grazing.  It is dry; no evidence of irrigation.   I believe my female cousin married Crawford in Yellowstone County.  Something else to research.  Perhaps Crawford could homestead a larger tract of land with a family.

A Mrs Wright published a genealogy book about 1910 on a group of families which included "Moores", my mother's family.  My mother's grandmother communicated with Mrs Wright and contributed Moores information.  Thanks to my great grandmother and Mrs Wright,  I became interested in the family of Minnie Minerva Moores, a niece to my great grandfather.  Minnie was widowed with two small children about 1905 in the Texarkana area.  She married Crawford Cox who homesteaded near Busteed Montana.  The record I found indicates that he "proved up" his 160 acre homestead in 1911.  That was after the publication of Mrs. Wright's book.  I saw some evidence somewhere that the family moved to California.   I've become enchanted with their situation and lives.  Even though the homesteading effort seems to have come to naught.

Somewhere, I went along the edge of "Flathead Lake"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flathead_Lake

VERY pretty and large natural lake.  Though heavily developed on the shore line.  I don't know how or if they keep the sewage out of the lake.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of vacation homes right on the water's edge.  Anyway, a cottage industry is growing and selling fruit, mostly cherries.  I bought two pounds which I greatly enjoyed.  Slow heavy traffic on two lane for 30-40 miles.

On to Glacier National Park.  Old 30s looking touring coaches were being used to try to keep us tourists off the heavily trafficked road.

Last photo is entering Canada near the park.
Though I swore on my Texas Honor that I had no firearms, great amounts of cash, or cannabis,  they did an extensive search.  I offered up myself for a body cavity search but they didn't feel that necessary.

After crossing the border, I spent the night at Fort MacLeod.  Site of a SuperCharger and birthplace of Joni Mitchell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_Mitchell

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UZVKuzPshEfxe1PT8

8/7/19   Hanna

A doctor that works in the hospital area had a J1772 station installed at his office building and got it listed on PlugShare.  I believe PlugShare says it does 60-70 amps at 208vac.  I left my J1772 adapter at home so could not test.
Many places in Hanna, including my motel and the medical complex, have outside outlets installed for block heaters.  To allow ICEs to start in very cold weather.  I have enough charge to get back to the SuperCharger at Red Deer but I'm going to let the hotel charge me at ~3mph overnight anyway.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fr5EF2XFGR7AGEds9

I just had my first Tim Horton's experience.  Next is to see about the excitement of some sort of corn they sell roadside.  The name escapes me.

Just west of Hanna is moraine country; quite interesting.  A surprising amount of farming on steep slopes that vary greatly in a few hundred yards.  Lots of small lakes/ponds that I first suspected were the work of beaver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraine

Road America  in Wisconsin is in country called "The Kettle Moraine".

8/8/19  Hanna in rear view mirror

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1c3JpaDtLtrwemGM6

Just found the Curling arena, hockey arena, heated swimming pool, etc this morning.  The indoor ice facilities have paintings of Nickelback album covers all over the outside walls.  Not that I had ever heard of Nickelback:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelback

More Hanna photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/o2HTATnByCWMdhsY7

Newspaper archive that includes the Hanna newspaper:
https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/collection/sanews/search/searchterm/hanna+herald/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/order/date/ad/asc/cosuppress/1

8/9/19

Semi-expensive Fox Creek Comfort Inn had very good block heater outlets.  Gave me 12 amp (5mph)  at 117vac through out the night.  Over 200 miles of range as I'm ready to leave for Grand Prairie.  Or Dawson Creek.  Or Ft. St. John.

8/10/19

Destination charged at Fort St. John Microtel.  About the northernmost destination charger which is more than a charge beyond the northernmost SuperCharger in Edmonton.  Without a J1772 adapter, this looks like the end of the road.   Semi-thorough research on RVParky.com indicates almost no 14-50s north of here.  A great surprise to me.  Yesterday, I charged at RV park with 14-50s  in Grande Prairie in order to reach Fort St. John.  The only way back I see is to do the same; do a bit of RV park charging in Grande Prairie in order to reach Edmonton.  Did I mention I was kicking myself for not bringing a J1772 adapter?

8/12/19
After another night on the road.

I'll be adding more verbiage here soon.

Not wanting to exactly retrace my steps from Fort St John, I elected to use another RV park in another town.  That one charged me a full day to charge a couple of hours.  $45.  The Grande Prairie place charged me $10.  Leaving the expensive place, I noticed a Tesla charging at a gas station.  Which I could have done had I had my J1772 adapter.  And maybe faster.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/6KDdKMkv6sNPRbvs5

The 3rd photo is of the $45 RV park with my neighbor, a very interesting guy on his way up the Alaska Highway from Michigan.  90-something.  His wife died a couple of years ago and this may have been his first trip without her.  They had previously done the Alaska drive several times but returning by boat.  This time, he intends to drive both ways.  I note that his smallish trailer has a "30 amp" connection of the type supported by RV parks at Fort Nelson and beyond.  I'm given some slight hope that I will still be travelling in 10-15 years.

That overnight was in Edson in a nice modest hotel that has Destination charging.  I decided to skirt Edmonton and Calgary and try to go as directly as possible to the Golden SuperCharger from Edson.  I had not encountered any bad roads in Canada though I expected to if I could go beyond Fort Nelson.  60 miles down the route to Golden:  "Pavement Ends" and I found my missing bad road.  Slushy gravel.   Drizzly, rainy.  Very nasty.  After about 10 miles I decided it was a long term thing but decided to press on anyway.  My range cushion had disappeared (bad road eat energy) and mapped out a diversion to the Red Deer SuperCharger which was 50 miles closer but in the wrong direction.  60 miles of nasty road T'd into a good paved road.  Left to Red Deer, right to Golden.  The car's navigation was slightly encouraging so I turned right.  I had gotten into wonderful spectacular scenery so I just let everyone else pass me.  Got to "Ice Fields Parkway" at about the mid point of the park toll road.  $8.  When I go again, I'll contrive to do the entire length; most of the ice fields, which feed glaciers, are to the north.  So, I did not see the big ice fields.   The weather had cleared and it was a most enjoyable drive to Golden.

Photo #19 in the above album shows a wildlife overpass.  Most Canadian National Park high speed freeway type roads are well fenced to keep wildlife off the pavement.  Fences divert wildlife traffic to culverts.  Some overpasses are built solely for wildlife traffic.  Some are not vegetated.  The one pictured will support cover vegetation.  I noticed, but did not photograph, several one way gates that allowed large animals that did find themselves on the wrong side of the fence to get back to the safe side.  An ingenious one way scheme; wish I had photographed.

After doing an almost full charge in Golden, I headed for  Coeur d'Alene, more than 300 miles but downhill through the Columbia valley.  Drove slowly.  Decided not to stop overnight at a place without charging because the overnight loss could do me in.  I went through Sand Point along Lake Pend Oreille.  I would have liked to tour the area.  See where Benjamin used to live.  See the research/testing facilities on the lake.  The lake is probably the deepest fresh water on the continent and is attractive for sonar testing.

I got to Coeur d'Alene (I wonder if locals ever learn to spell that) too late to get a hotel.  And, the weather was nasty again.  ONWARD!  Through the night!  This time, I spent more time napping than driving.  Got a "parking at SuperCharger" warning for sleeping through the end of the charge at Superior Montana.   After dawn, I charged at Butte where I had charged on the way up.  Butte is worthy of more touristing.  Then, down a wide arid mostly treeless valley that was verdant due to small rivers.  Dillon is the principal town and worthy of more touristing.  "Beaver Head River".  Named by Lewis and Clark.  One impoundment is "Clark Canyon Reservoir".  I ended up around noon at the motel across the street from the Lima SuperCharger; they gave me a room early.  After a nap, I toured around a bit.  Lima is an old train stop and tourist entrance to Montana.  The Lima citizens seem to have quite a bit of civic pride.  Lawns are mostly mowed, property mostly well kept.  Well maintained hill top cemetery.  Some old downtown buildings show some promise of preservation.  A very small town compared to Hanna but many similarities.  I am astonished that so many people choose to live in urban areas.

I found an Electrify American charge station at Dell, only a few miles north of Lima.  I deemed it worthy of a separate post:
https://wmckemie.blogspot.com/2019/08/ev-charging-adventures-in-north.html

I'm off from Lima.  But, first:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RsazcnNRh855mH6w9

I first thought these might be stored, waiting for a home in a museum.   Now, I think they are contemporary.  As I was leaving Lima, I noticed a low tire and returned to get a leak repaired.  I asked the tire guy about sheep herding in the area and he said that there was little currently; still quite a bit in Idaho.  That explains the trailers not being used during the summer season.  Sheep growers lease public land summer grazing from BLM, then truck in sheep.  I'm guessing BLM is reducing sheep grazing.

Again, before we leave Lima, I feel compelled to offer this ancedote:
A guy came walking up to the Mountain View Motel, I had seen him a few minutes before at the cafe which hosts the SuperCharger.  Conversation:
Me:  Looks like you've been doing some walking?
He:  Yeah, from Mexico on my way to Canada.
Me: With only what you are carrying in that backpack?
He: No, I pick  up prepositioned supplies along the way.
Me: Mail them to yourself?
He: That and friends.  I am missing a shipment here.
Me: Well, I'm willing to drive you around town if that will help.  Though I don't imagine you find a little walking daunting.
I had assumed the guy was just walking highways and back roads.  At checkout the next morning, I noticed a poster about the Rocky Mountain Contenintal Divide trail.  Then, I noticed that Lima was very close to that trail.  No doubt, the guy had just walked down from the trail to get resupplied in Lima.   I had commented that he had already done most of the distance not realizing that he had Glacier National Park before him; that will likely be the hardest.  Wish I could follow him.
I see the trail comes no closer than about 10 miles to Lima:
https://continentaldividetrail.org/cdt-gateway-communities/

8/14/19  To Kanab

This thing is getting long.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HYyGJsogN6176fxM6

Highlights:
First five photos: leaving Lima my tire pressure sensors told me LR was low.  Turned around and went to tire shop in Lima.  It had a staple in it, probably picked it up driving around Clark Canyon Reservoir the previous day.  I was surprised to see some foam in the tire; probably for sound deadening.  The tire guy cut a piece out to access puncture.  At my suggestion, he glued the piece back in.
Next ten photos (after an overnight in Nephi) and after a morning charge in Richfield, I came upon the world's best bicycle trail.  Apparently, a "rails to trails" deal.  Paved path mostly paralleling highway as it went up the Seiver River.  Good separation, no highway risk.  Beautiful river. Head of trail is at "Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort" where you see the rail car hotel rooms.  A place worth coming back to.
https://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/bigrockcandy.htm

Next five photos:  Butch Cassidy's childhood home.
Then, the destination charging in Kanab, 80 miles north of the Grand Canyon north rim.
Finally, touring around Kanab including an enormous animal sanctuary stretching up Kanab Canyon.  The cemetery photographed is about 1/10 of the total cemetery.
https://bestfriends.org
The place must have an interesting background though I haven't dug it out.  It has provision for caring for all sorts of animals, a big vet clinic, a residential development.  It must be at least a thousand acres spread out for miles along the canyon road.

Kanab makes an excellent center of operations for doing the north Grand Canyon, Bruce Canyon, Zion National Parks, Bryce Canyon and no doubt many other intriguing places.

Fixing broken things.  I've had no Tracfone service since I crossed the border into Canada.  Since crossing back, I've been monitoring closely but still no service.  I've been getting spam voice calls, bluetoothed to the car.  Then, it dawned on me: somewhere along the way I had turned off "cell data" and forgotten.  Turned it back on and am back to normal; I can mostly read emails on the road and get Google to answer questions.  I was on the verge of moving SIM cards and having TracFone transfer the account to another Android.

8/15/19

The North Rim

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GEKHqUxshBhy3oyW8

I hope to add some dashcam video following.

I seem to have added three dashcam videos to the above album; I intended to add four.
No, all four are there; they are just randomly postitioned amongst the stills.  I may try to reorder.  Or, not.

On the way home; in Gallup tonight.   Had a nice long jump from Page to Gallup.  Tomorrow, Gallup to Truth or Consequences.


8/16/19  Long Legs

I've done several long legs on this trip.  Today, I did Gallup to Tucumcari skipping Albequerque and Santa Rosa.  But doing the Sandia Peak Tramway:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xtzphSTf3NFJRWjs9
332 miles traveled on one charge, 55 miles remaining.   Under average conditions, I consider about 250 miles to be the safe range.