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.