My last Flo visit

 I arrived at the Flo station in Ft St John.  It is behind a GM dealer.  I found myself unable to charge because the GM shuttle Bolt was plugged into the CCS side.  I went into the show room to see if they wanted to remove the connector to the Bolt.  Shortly, TWO Ford pickup EVs arrived.  Apparently belonging to the same guy from Vancouver or somewhere in the area.  Complete EV newby.  I was unable to convince him/them that the charger would work on only one (CCS or chademo) at the same time.  The Flo girl on his phone apparently did convince him.  After quite a bit of pain, I eventually got a charge session started after a GM salesman removed the connector to the Bolt.  ~15 minutes later, my charge errored off.  More pain.  More phone calls.  Flo eventually remotely rebooted and I got another charge session started.  Meanwhile, a Canadian Model Y arrived and hooked to the CSS cable.  Amazingly, that did not screw up my charge and I got charged above 90%. 

So, over a short period of time, we had FIVE EVs contending for that single fast charger.  The Bolt, my car, TWO Fords, and the Model Y.  I was the only one that got a charge while I was there.

Most interestingly, the Model Y had a CCS adapter and reported no problems using it on several Flo stations.  So, most of my Flo problems may be associated with my chademo adapter.  I did not get to observe his CCS actually working, though.

I hope to be done with Flo.  Tomorrow, I hope to reach the Edson SuperCharger.  But first I will have to do a slow charge probably at Shrek's RV Park about half way between here (Dawson Creek) and Edson.

I'm thinking this:

https://www.maxwellvehicles.com/campers.html

may be the answer to the troubles.  A Maxwell (Fiat/RAM converted to Tesla  running gear).  I would want at least a 300 mile battery with significant deployable PV.  I'm thinking at least a total of 3kw in PV.  Maybe flexible that can be rolled up when not deployed.

I am a Banana Eating Fool

 As I approached Liard (lee ard) Hot Springs Lodge around noon day before yesterday, I decided I could go no more.  Going in with the attitude that they could screw me over any way they wanted,  I got a room for about $200C and told them I would like to charge at one of their "30 amp" RV stalls.  Another ~$70C.  The next morning, I found the RV park full so they were justified in charging the $70C.  I stayed in bed for about 20 hours there but recovered little.  I subsequently learned that they have a poor reputation.  Something about "First Nation" land.  "First Nation" seems to be Canadian politically correct speak for Indian / Indigenous Peoples / etc.  Since most such lodges in the area have gone to StarLink, I was surprised to learn that I could not immediately get a wifi password.  Why?  They were in the middle of a daily password change.  That lodge seemed to be trying to squeeze customers for every dollar possible without regard to customer inconvenience.  The daily password change was to minimize the number of drop in customers using wifi but not paying.   I later learned that they are still on geosynchronous satellite service.  StarLink data is MUCH cheaper so that there is no incentive to squeeze customers.  Changing the password is a significant labor cost.   I was not permitted to hook the car to wifi so the car had no internet presence.   The car was nearly visible from my room but I could not access it.  Normally, I leave raising car windows and locking to be done from the comfort of my room.  To do that in areas with no cell service, hooking car to wifi is required. The walk to the car was arduous in my condition so I left the windows down during an overnight rain.   They were on a boil water notice so they gave me two pints of bottled water to carry up the stairs to my room.  Over the night, I drank all that water and could find no more even though I looked. 

I left just after dawn and was surprised that I was doing so poorly.  I attributed to my two week diet of almost exclusively junk food.  Normally, I eat one or more bananas each day.  I could not find a comfortable driving position.  All limbs hurt.  Normally, only my left leg hurts significantly.  After a few ~40 mile stops to walk a bit, I got to a place I had stopped on my way up.  It was quite a contrast to Liard.  On the way up, I was allowed to charge off of a normal 120vac outlet.  But, generator voltage fluctuations limited charge rate to about 3mph;  "normal" is about 5mph.  That place is Testa River Lodge (as I recall).  The first time through, the guy did not want to charge a fee but I made him take $10US.  I later learned that the fee for charging in that area was $60-$70C.  This time, I asked the guy if he had any bananas and/or Tylenol.  He gave me two slightly old bananas and three sample packs of expired Tylenol.  I took Tylenol and ate both bananas in short order.  And, immediately felt a lot better; little pain in three limbs.  I was able to drive normally without un necessary stops.

I had to seek a charge going up at Testa because a Rivian was sitting on the 6kw J1772 charge station provided at the Ft Nelson visitor's center.  In Ft Nelson, I had stayed at Blue Bell Inn which is probably the cheapest of the Ft Nelson options.  By my standards, completely acceptable at $80C.  So, I'm staying with them again tonight.  Between my two stays, I had acquired a TT30 to normal 120 adapter which allows me to charge off of "30 amp" RV outlets.  Right now, I am charging at 9-10 mph at the hotel.  Should be ready to roll about 4am.  I did the same at Liard and, charging to 95%, brought it up to about 250 miles.  About 260 miles should be a 100% charge.  When the car was new, 100%  was 315+ miles.

Tomorrow I hope to get to Ft St John early enough to get my cell phone glass replaced by the guy that saved the trip last time through.

Edson is the closest SuperCharger.  I have a report that Edson was evacuated because of fires.  So. I'm eager to hear more news on that situation. 

The End

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXqPNlng6uI

I decided this morning, in the large town of Whitehorse, capitol of Yukon Territory, to go ahead to Dawson City and then, perhaps make a loop in Alaska to return on the more southerly route.  I did three successful Flo/chademo charges during the day.  When I arrived at Dawson City, I could not get the Flo/chademo started.  After about an hour on the phone with a nice and helpful Flo girl, she admitted that it was broken.  And that Flo would have a repair person out within 5 days.   Enough of this Flo horseshit!  I'm turning around in the morning.  Fortunately and unexpectedly, The Triple J Hotel has several cabins with J1772 charge stations.  I am getting 30amps/30mph out of it "as we speak" so I should be fully charged in the morning.

Dawson City is of interest to me because it is one of the settings in the TV series "Yukon Gold".  YouTube has at least several episodes.  Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAD-3GFvgKU

Reading my "Alaska" trip odometer, I see I have traveled 4172 miles since departing Dale.  I need to do a summary but Triple J Hotel has weak wifi in my cabin.  I should mention that this is the fartherest north I've been.  In mid June here, the daylight hours are about 4am until about mid-night.

Milepost 918

I've about decided that I've had all the pain that I can enjoy. That is, I may be turning around in the morning.  Or in a few days. I'm contemplating making an excursion perhaps to Dawson City or Prince Rupert or somewhere else. I see in the Canadian news that Edson may be evacuated due to forest fires. You might recall I spent a night in Edson a few days ago. I imagine the fire threat will be over by the time I get back there.  I've seen no evidence of recent fires since I left Fort Nelson.  But, there was a lot of evidence of fire in the Edson area when I was there and for a hundred miles or so in any direction of Edson.

Venting at Milepost 635 Watson Lake

 I arrived at Watson Lake yesterday evening after a harrowingly slow drive.  As slow as 30mph in order to maximize range.  I arrived at the Flo charger with 9 miles of range left.  That meant no stopping at roadside attractions.  I found a conveniently located very pricey hotel that specializes in dim room lighting.

The Flo charger initiation was even more aggravating than expected.   About half an hour on the phone to get charging started.  So far the sole redeeming feature of Watson Lake is the spectacular Northern Lights planetarium type show; I had never before been to a planetarium.  With about 100 miles put in the car at the chademo station, I decided to charge at hotel from a block heater outlet.  Which gave me a solid 5 mph at 120vac all night.  The problem with many grid voltage charging opportunities up here is low voltage of 100-110vac.  That's usually a result of three phase power which is nominally 100/208 where split phase is 120/240.

On the road from Muncho Lake yesterday, I saw bear and buffalo at several locations.  When I get an album put together, I'll post the URL 

I'm thinking of turning around at Whitehorse where I hope to find a/some TT30 adapters.  Connecting to RV parks "30 amp" outlets would make such charging more palatable.  I think I'd would rather deal with 200 mile days charging at RV parks than deal with the Flo nightmare that might give me 300-400 miles in a day.  Probably more BrandX charging venting later.  Right now, I will just say that Tesla has solved the charging problems but the various BrandXs have refused to adopt Tesla's strategies on billing, navigating, and maintaining.

A light rain this morning in Watson Lake so I'm waiting a bit before I  depart to do battle with Flo chargers in Testlin and Whitehorse.  Fellow travelers have warned me that Whitehorse is not a good overnight stop but I will likely be forced to stay there tomorrow night.  215 miles in the car right now.  I think Whitehorse is 300+ miles so I can not hope to skip the Flo in Testlin.

Muskeg

 One of the few tales that my father would tell is how they dealt with Muskeg in building the Alcan Highway in 1942. He told of how bulldozers (they used hundreds or maybe thousands of bulldozers) would push trees over the Muskeg and then build the road surface on top of the downed trees.   With trees subject to rot, I imagine that was a fairly short term solution of 10-15 years before reworking/repair was required.

Until recently, I had little idea of what Muskeg is and where it is found.  I had the impression that Muskeg was associated with permafrost and that it would be found farther north.  Today, I chatted with a fellow patron of the Tetsa River Lodge who was wearing a T shirt that mentioned Muskeg.  He informed that Muskeg is soft marshy ground that can swallow both people and vehicles.  Once swallowed, neither is likely to be extracted.  This guy works oil projects.  He said that Muskeg is not much of a risk if trees growing on top are large; small trees are likely to be found growing in Muskeg.  He said that there is a lot of Muskeg around Fort Nelson which is near the beginning of the Alcan.  The guy also said that Muskeg might catch fire in a forest fire.  If so, it can smolder through out a winter and burn again the next season. 

I'll stick in some electric power comments here.  I noticed what might have been some wood power generation plants in the vicinity of Edson.  Here in northern British Columbia many areas are supplied from diesel engine generators, both utility owned to supply entire communities and small private off grid diesels.  I was greatly surprised with the dearth of PV.  I talked a bit with the owner of Tetsa River Lodge who operates his own diesel powered micro grid.  In order to provide for some diesel down time, he has a small battery setup.  He was using 12 large single cell sealed lead acid configured in two banks of six in parallel.  I guessed that each cell was about 300 amp-hours but he informed me that they are about 800 ah.  He charges the battery while the diesel is running rather than from PV panels.  That got me to thinking about how PV panels might be used in the far north.  Even though summer is their primary season, I heard several comments that the problem with PV is low winter production.  My current thinking is that panels should be near vertical, perhaps 10-20 deg off vertical and pointing several directions.  They could not rest on the ground as mine do because of snow ground cover.  I've heard it said that they have knee deep snow coverage for around 7 months.  Near vertical would likely allow snow to slough off.  The ground mount would have to hold the panels several feet off the ground and allow snow removal equipment to operate.

Another aside.  While passing through burned areas, I was thinking what a good opportunity for some carbon sequestration that would be.  Neighbor Ray has long experimented making charcoal for soil amendment and sequestration.  But, he is not oriented to low cost and efficiency.  I offer the idea of, in burned areas, bulldozing trenches and pushing fire debris into the trenches.  Then, making charcoal in place and leaving it.  Details are left to the reader.  Maybe I should do another blog post on charcoal.

With less than 100 miles in my battery, I leave Toad River Lodge for expected better charging 40 miles down the road at Northern Rockies Lodge.  If I get a good charge rate there, I will make Watson Lake later today.  I look forward to seeing the Northern Lights facility that is there.  Watson Lake is supposed to be the end of a string of Flo 50kw chademos that go toward Alaska.  This "charge for 10-15 hours in order to drive less than 100 miles" sucks.

Here I am at Northern Rocky Lodge charging at 5 kilowatts I think. Paying dearly for both charge and Wi-Fi access. I think around $70 Canadian. Their silly web-based Wi-Fi access prevents the Tesla from hooking up. So I have cell phone access but not car access nobody knows where the car is. To kill some time I just loaded up blogger on this cell phone on their Wi-Fi and an experimenting. That is expanding on this post with voice to text. Seems to be working very well.

To reach Watson Lake where there is supposedly Chademo   charging, I will need four or five hours of charging. Watson lake is abouOne attraction to Watson Lake is the Northern lights facility they have there; I'm eager to learn more about the Northern lights.

Let's see if I can insert photos directly from phone.

not what I wanted.  The \above is block heater outlet charging maybe at Ft Nelson. Trying again:

Better.  The above is charging at Northern Rockies Lodge.  Let me set up an album where higher resolutions can be used:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ucvzV3PwaaJbhrkKA

Mile 0

 Since the last Alaska trip post is so poorly organized and is larger than I would like, I start a new one, beginning at Dawson Creek.  On leaving Dawson, after all the below tribulations, the "Alaska" trip odometer read 2914 miles (from Dale) and 723kwh.

I arrived in Dawson yesterday, found my Highway literature and found a tire shop that identified my last Laufenn bad tire.  The car had been complaining of possible rear tread wear and the need for front end alignment.  So, I depart on a perhaps 3000 mile AlCan Highway trip with four good tires but a spare that can not be expected to last more than a few hundred miles.  I don't expect to find a new tire of the proper size until I return to southern Canada.

I used a "block heater outlet" at my hotel last night to charge.  I arrived Dawson with about 25 miles of range left and I will depart for Ft St John with ~110 miles in the battery.  I now have easy access to my Chademo adapter and I hope to encounter Chademo chargers in the Yukon.   Worst case is that I do less than 200 miles per day if I am forced to rely on 120vac outlets.  With SuperChargers, daily distances are more than 500 miles charging at up to 250kw.  120vac can give me 5-10 miles of charge per hour of charging time at 1-2kw  A Chademo might give me up to 50kw or up to about 200 miles of charge per hour of charge time.  Due to payment requirements, getting a Chademo started will be non trivial.   In addition to the fact that Brand X (not Tesla) chargers are notoriously unreliable.

Dawson Creek is known as the start of the AlCan Highway.  The fact is that, when construction began in 1942, a road already was in place from Dawson Creek to Ft Nelson.  The road was completed when crews working from Alaska and Canada met.  My father never mentioned the crew working from Alaska nor the historic meeting.

My Canadian phone is working quite well.  So far, it has reception in the areas I've been.  I've been able to do email most everywhere I've been.  The Tesla cell service has also worked well so I generally know where I am and where I'm going.  The Tesla does not present much information about BrandX chargers.   I have "share phone location" working for those with gmail addresses.

Saturday morning, Ft Nelson

When I pulled into Ft St John yesterday morning, the Flo app directed me to a non existent 50kw chademo charger.  Eventually, through the PlugShare app, I found the charger located behind a GM dealer.  A long and painful telephone conversion with the Flo people finally resulted in getting the charge session started.  47kw peak and declining from there.  The Flo person kept wanting me to do things on the app while I was talking to her.  I had no confidence in maintaining a voice call while using the app.  Sure enough, after the voice call had ended, my phone would not work and had a dark screen.  I was ready to turn around.  Without a working phone, I am left with only the the car for navigation.  Normally, the car is sufficient but it will tell me little to nothing about BrandX charging or RV  parks.  I considered returning to Grand Prairie or Calgary or Lethbridge to get phone fixed or replaced.  The GM dealer's wifi provided me internet access on another phone without cell service and I found a phone repair place.  When I found my chademo session had an error termination, I drove over there.  Queries at a ReMax office occupying the site resulted in directions to another place.  The guy there quickly diagnosed that I had turned the display brightness to zero inadvertently while dealing with voice call.  In order the adjust the brightness, you have to see the screen.  A very big design flaw.  The store guy remembered enough about what should be on the screen to correct the problem.  Rebooting did not solve the problem.  Perhaps removing the battery will, should I get in that situation again.  Or, maybe not.

On my last visit to chademo charger, a sales person chatted with me about EVs.  I had seen the dealer's Bolt shuttle car coming an going.  They have had several Bolt shuttle cars and actually sold several.  She started talking about hybrids and gracefully took my correction about hybrids and BEVs.  She showed me their fast charger mounted in the service area.  A probably 50kw CCS.

Onward toward Ft Nelson!  A few miles out of town, I noticed RF tire was about 37psi, down from ~50.  So, I'm driving along slowly contemplating.  The range to get to Nelson is iffy.  If I go back to get the tire seen to, I'll have to charge again.  So, I stopped in a one of the very few convenience stores between the two towns and asked about a tire repair shop.  He directed me to an unstaffed place around the corner.  So, I went back the the store where I turned $5US into 5 Loonies ($1 C coins worth about $.75 US) and used two of them to air up the low tire.  Also bought a can of tire sealant ($20C).  And went on down the road.  The tire apparently was not leaking; I over inflated to about 55psi which it has held since.  This is the tire I had been carrying as a spare until I got it put on in Dawson Creek and indicated 50 psi until Ft St John.

There was much smoke between Ft St John and Ft Nelson but the trip was otherwise uneventfully.  Well, except for two black bear sighting.  I found the still staffed visitor center late in the afternoon.  And was able to buy a 2022 version of The Milepost as well as getting other needed information.

I charged at about 1.5kw off block heater outlet at hotel overnight.  Then, early, drove over to the visitor center free 6kw J1772 but found a Rivian sucking juice while unattended.  The Flo app had indicated that the charge station was available.  Since I must disconnect at the hotel in order to check availability of the J1772, I am reluctant to check often.  Maybe I'll ride the JackRabbit over there though it is really too long a trip for the JackRabbit.

This morning while searching the car for a TT-30 adapter, my phone slipped out of my pocket, hit pavement, and got a cracked screen.  I apparently failed to pack the adapter which would have allowed me to charge near 3kw out of an RV "30 amp outlet".  Those outlets are fairly common up here.

There are quite a few Flo 50kw chademo charging opportunities ahead of me.  Since I got one to work, I am optimist about using them.  The ones before me are supposed to be free.  I see mention of other slower charging sites costing up around $60C for a charge.

7:30am  FANTASTIC revelation!  This cheap hotel has a kitchenette with electric stove.  The stove is plugged into a NEMA1450R.  My Mobile Connector cables are long enough.  It is giving me 35 amps.  I will monitor voltage for a while and maybe increase to 40 amps. I'll consider trying to leave before 11am checkout time.  Hotel is Bluebell Inn or somesuch.

Later that day, I found my joy was short term,  I greedily bumped the charge current to 40 amps.  A major mistake.  A breaker somewhere tripped and my room was without power.  A breaker box in the room did not contain a tripped breaker.  The electric range was on a 40 amp breaker which was not tripped.  I should have limited my charging to about 30 amps and started it earlier.  I moved the car to charge on a different outside 120vac outlet and reported my screw up to management.   The poor girl working the counter could not find the breaker.  I packed up and went to visitor center to check to see if the Rivian was still charging about 8am.  It was, so I went on down the road with only about 110 miles of range.  The Nelson visitor center J1772 station is a ChargePoint but it is supposed to start through the Flo app.   That got me to Testa River Lodge which is a wonderful place but is off grid and uses a generator for electric power.  I did not want to impose on the guy by charging off his generator but he, VERY helpfully, insisted.  After quite a bit of useful and interesting talk, I went on down the road when I thought I could reach Toad River Lodge.  By driving slowly, I easily made it.  The Toad River area is served by a community generator system which does somewhat better than the local generator at Testa River.  I was only getting 3mph at Testa and 4mph at Toad.  A good grid 120vac outlet will give me 5 mph. 

At Testa. I listened in on a conversion involving a guy that broke down miles from Testa.  It seemed likely that he was going to sell his vehicle locally and cheap because towing to a repair place was going to be several thousand dollars. 

For tomorrow, "good" Flo 50kw chademo stations start at Watson Lake, about 200 miles from Toad.  I don't think I will make that without another supplemental charge.  Or, maybe a late start from Toad.  As I speak I have only about 60 miles in the car and about 10-12 more hours to devote to charging.

Wildlife:  at Toad, there was a moose lounging far out in the swift river.  Earlier, a group of mountain sheep was on the road and slowing traffic.  Yesterday, I made two black bear sightings.  A couple in one place and a single bear in another.

Smoke: there was limited visibility yesterday south of Ft Nelson due to smoke.  This morning, there was no smoke and I've seen none all day.

Down time at Toad allowed me to do laundry.  $12 C for a load.  Hotel is about $200 C; for me, that means not two nights especially since Toad management has no interest in attracting EV business.

I'm enjoying the trip.  But the pressure of "do or die" has not allowed me to relax and do touristy things.  There are some hot springs up the road that I hope to do.

 

Alaska?

So far, mainly notes to myself here. 

Thursday after Friday departure

Friday and Saturday nights in Lubbock to commune with Buddy Holley and do things Confederate.

Sunday night in Sidney Nebraska.  After having successfully avoided IH25 in Colorado.

Monday night in Billings Econo Lodge.  Billings has horrible traffic due to freeway construction.

Tuesday night in Lethbridge Econo Lodge where I bought needed phone with Canadian cell service.

Wednesday night in Edson Rode Way Inn.  I've mostly successfully configured the new phone.  Tracking seems to work (others can see my location) and it works in the car via BlueTooth.  Not far from Edson, there is much evidence of foreest fires.  Smoke in the distance, Evidence of recent roadside fire,  A little smoking from smoldering timber.

Daylight hours here in Edson are about 5am until about 9pm.  I would love to travel far enough north (at the right time of the year) to be able to watch the sun circling me just above the horizon.

Yesterday, in Calgary, I went to Tesla Service Center, then on to local KAL tire shop.  I found no joy at Tesla.  As you might expect, they are jammed.  No CCS adapter stuff.  I had hope that that hardware might be available on the edge of the area where it is most needed.  BrandX fast chargers are well scattered across Canada.  Including Yukon.  A new tire cost me ~$300 Canadian.  Conversion is $.75 US to $1 C.  Most all Canadian businesses are willing to accept US dollars but as if they are Canadian.

Thursday, on to Dawson Creek where I hope to get maps and information on roads, etc.  I fear that there will be some slow charging before Dawson Creek and I may have to stay in Dawson tonight.

I had to charge (for a couple of hours) at the Kiwanis RV Park on the west side of Grand Prairie.  The day before, I bought a new tire to replace one with sidewall damage in Calgary.  As it turns out, the real problem was yet another tire with cord separation.  I bought six of that brand from TireRack several years ago and have been putting them on the car as needed.  FOUR of the six have failed with cord separation.  The other two failed due to road hazards.  I am THRILLED to put that brand of tires in my rear view mirror.  I pulled into a tire shop in Dawson Creek and they quickly diagosed the problem (which the car had been complaining about for days) and put my spare with a new Goodyear on the car.  The tire shop could not sell me another new one of proper size.  Until I can find a tire somewhere, I'll have to use the one with cord separation.   Surely, it can go a few hundered miles if driven slow?  Then, I went over to the tourist office (Alcan Highway, Mile 0) and get everything I need except an newish copy of The Milepost.  That's a large guide book on the highway that is updated annually.  

Charging in Edson and Grand Prairie and finding the Chademo adapter which may make this trip go faster:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZSSKXSfHu9VP4ks37

I found the Chademo adapter buried in the car so I have some hope of making some use of the "fast chargers" that are across Yukon every 100-200 miles. Tonight, I am charging at ~5 miles per hour on a hotel outlet that is used for keeping ICE engines warm in very cold weather.  In the morning, I hope to have enough charge to reach Ft St John where I hope to use the Chademo adapter.  Then, maybe, on to Ft Nelson.  If the Chademo charging goes well.  Else, I'll have to start waiting out slow charges.

Future and past details to be added.