I had about five hours to spend with Sabrina and Charlie today while Tanya was out and about. Sabrina and I were a bit antsy to go do something and Charlie was in his third day of being sick. I thought that it would be best to take the kids up to the mountains--Sabrina would get some energy out while we tromped around up at the Big Four Ice Caves and Charlie would be exposed to the glorious mountain air that was to surely clear him right up.
As I started to plan the trip this morning (remember that we are all EV--no gas car in our garage), I realized that we would have an easy trip to the Big Four trailhead up on the Mountain Loop Highway, and could probably make it to Darrington via the gravel road part of the Mountain Loop Highway past Barlow Pass. Also, I saw that we would have a legitimate shot at making it all the way back to Arlington where there is a Level 2 EVSE at the Snohomish County Fleet center. The Plugshare app did have the three Blink EVSE units in Arlington as "restricted access" though. I wasn't too worried because, with these being Blink units, I knew that there would be a higher likelihood that there would be easy access so Blink could maximize their profits. Win-Win, and I would have the kids home by 3:00 to start the BBQ and watch our Sunday Night Movie.
When I inquired about the road conditions on the stretch of the Mountain Loop Hwy. between Barlow Pass and Darrington with the Verlot ranger, she clearly had some concern seeing me with Sabrina and Charlie (very sickly). The ranger's parting question was, "Do you have a full tank of gas?" Not wanting to declare myself as the likely first person to try this adventure in an all-electric Nissan LEAF, I paused briefly and responded that "we left Lake Stevens topped off."
With this new itinerary, treking all of the way up to the ice caves at Big Four was not going to be in the cards. We had a great lunch at the trailhead and did the quick hike to a large bridge crossing the south fork of the Stillaguamish River.
Upon leaving the Big Four trailhead, I knew that I could recapture quite a bit of energy on the decent from Barlow Pass to Darrington. There are 14 miles of unpaved, rutty, sometimes washed-out road coming down from the pass. We loved this part of the trip! We enjoyed the beautiful views and occasional stops to play.
I love this shot: EV ORV :)
Upon entering the town of Darrington, I noticed that we had regenerated about 5% less energy than I had expected. I think that this was due to the requisit slow, slow speeds and poor road conditions that prevented the EV-lovers gradual downhill grade perfect for brake regeneration. I bought some food for the three of us at the local grocery store, but it was time to make time. I needed to get home to start the barbecue! Before leaving Darrington, I checked my range (to an outsider this is a ridiculous ritual using multiple apps and data sources). I considered looking for a 120v outlet in Darrington to plug into for a bit, but with less than five miles of range for every hour plugged in, Level 1 charging is not a fun option. With a 5 year-old and a sick 2 year-old, I wanted to go for that Level 2 EVSE (240v) in Arlington. With just 30-45 minutes on the Level 2, I would have enough battery power to make it back home in Lake Stevens.
The trip into Arlington was not bad as there is a gradual decline in elevation just about the whole trip from Darrington. Without this decrease in elevation, I wouldn't consider leaving the town of Darrington with only two battery bars to go ~27 miles to the Snohomish County Fleet EVSEs.
This was a pretty bad feeling. I just sat in the car for a few moments staring at the barbed wire fence at the Snohomish County Fleet facility in Arlington. We were already at the Very Low Battery warning, and the device that I was using to gauge the car's state of charge had us with only a few miles of careful driving range left. The next closest Level 2 charger was located at the Marysville Kohl's 10 miles away. We were about 13 miles from home, so that wasn't going to happen either. At this point I was still comfortable in knowing that I would just plug into some random 120v outlet, charge for a couple of hours, and head home. Tanya could even come and get the kids if need be. To my dismay, 120v outlets were nowhere to be seen! For more than a mile, I pulled into hopeful parking lot after hopeful parking lot and the only accessible plug was directly in front of one of the vehicle bays at a fire department. We eventually drove into the parking lot of a small park with a couple of ball fields. If we were going to find a power receptacle, it was going to be here or bust. I kept the kids in the car and walked around the park...and found two 120v outlets! We pulled the car over to the outlet location, on the side of the bathroom building nonetheless, and I pulled out the emergency Level 1 EVSE and extension cord. The first outlet was not usable, it literally crumbled apart when the protective flap was opened. Not to worry, because there was another on the other side of the bathrooms. It didn't work.
With two kids with me, I wasn't about to leave the park location to venture out with only a mile or two of range. I told Sabrina that she could play at the (small) park, put Charlie in the car to nap, texted Tanya the S.O.S. to come and get the kids, and called Nissan Roadside Assistance. At first, Nissan said that they would send out a DC quick-charge equipped mobile unit to provide me with the charge needed. However, after an hour, Nissan called to notify me that the mobile charging truck was unavailable and that a flatbed would tow the LEAF to our house.
So, there it is. After driving 94.8 miles over a mountain pass with two kids, the memory that will stick with me is the one with us not making it home.
