Bellingham to Baker, and Back

Every now and then my desire to pull long-driving stunts in our electric car gets the best of me. Yesterday's trip to Mt. Baker was such a trip!  It all started when a fellow LEAF owner inquired on the Seattle Nissan LEAF Owners page if anybody had driven their vehicle from Bellingham to the end of Hwy 542 up on Mt. Baker.  There were rumors that it had been done, and a growing energy by others thinking that it could be done.

Studying the elevation profile of the drive, I believed that the drive was possible with some savvy eco driving...and maybe a bit of luck.  I was so confident, in fact, that I decided to drive our 2012 LEAF, rather than the 2013, even though the older of the two has lost 10% of its battery capacity.  

To get on the road as early as possible, Tanya helped me get the kids out of bed.  Charlie, Sabrina, and I pulled out of the garage and into thick fog at 7:15am.  I zipped along at a wonderful clip into Burlington, quick charged, and we were in Bellingham by about 8:30am.  What a great start!  After quick charging in Bellingham, I plugged into the J1772 "Level 2" electric vehicle supply equipment to take the charge from 75% to 100%.  As we tromped around Sehome Village, we were fortunate in seeing a large group of cyclists.  Charlie and I were flipping out:  two-year-old Charlie waving and saying "bye" and me, the tall drink of water that I am, yelling, "Look, kids!  A tandem bicycle! A TANDOM!"  After the cyclists rode past, Sabrina told me that I had embarrassed her.  I wasn't quite prepared for the pre-teen comment, but did muster a witty, "it won't be the last."

We walked around for quite a while looking for a park or playground near the Bellingham charger, but finally gave in at 10:00.  The timing felt great to head on up the mountain, as the weather was starting to warm up.

The drive up to Mt. Baker was uneventful, just me driving within 5mph of the speed limit.  We even had a chance to stop a few times to check out the awesome views as we started to really climb in elevation.

No way was Charlie getting out for this photo op.  There was a scary drop-off on his side of the car!

The elevation gains towards the end of Hwy 542 are very intense, and we actually fell short of making it to the end of the road.  We did, however, drive 59 miles from Bellingham and ended up stopping at the Austin Pass Lake/Heather Meadows parking lot.  We hit the Very Low Battery Warning just before stopping, and, for the first time that day, I wondered if we were even going to make it back to civilization.

Sea Level to 4422 Feet

One thing that I've learned in doing these Sunday drives with Sabrina, and now Charlie, too, is that the trip cannot be just about the driving.  We have to inject some play!  The Heather Meadows area is very accessible for young children.  We hiked around the ranger's station for an hour, and could've made a whole day out of it.

The trip back to Bellingham was nothing short of brutal, though!  For how steep the road is going up to higher elevations near Mt. Baker, it was shockingly disappointing to not regenerate more energy on the trip back down.  We drove almost 21 miles from the top, arriving at the Chair 9 Pizza & Bar with a very scary battery level.  Tanya later told me that she was worrying about us at about this time. She then checked the battery level of my LEAF on the internet and it showed no battery bars/levels, a 1 mile range, and the vehicle plugged in trickle charging.  Sorry, Tanya!

We did find some 120 volt outlets at Chair 9, and the owner was very receptive to us charging while we ate some lunch.  It is always a relief to meet business owners who are willing to let EV drivers charge while being a patron at their establishment.  I made sure to let the owner know, too, that the hour of Level 1 charging cost her about 10 cents in electricity.  Seeing that we spent $30 on food and drinks, the margins were on her side.  We should have stayed at Chair 9 for two to three hours, but that takes me back to the wild card:  children. Sabrina and Charlie were not going to last, so I left with a freakishly low battery considering how far the drive to Bellingham was ahead of us.

We made it another 21 miles over 30 minutes to the Nooksack River Casino in the town of Deming. And in having to stop again for a painfully slow Level 1 charge, something wonderful happened.  We I was in crisis mode at this point, and when I reached out to fellow LEAF drivers, Tyrel and Trish Haveman of Bellingham, the goodness in people showed itself.  Tyrel and Trish didn't hesitate for a moment in figuring out what we needed.  They drove out to the Casino and stayed with us for more than an hour of the hour and fifty minutes that we were in Deming.  It was nice for me to have some time to chat and find out about the Haveman's upcoming 1,500 mile EV road trip.  Sabrina and Charlie also had a break; a break free from Dad's supervision which led to them terrorizing one another in our car.

Both kids in the front seats, only getting their father's attention with the occasional blood-curdling scream.

Leaving the Casino, Tyrel and Trish led us back to their place via the backroads (for the slower speeds to save on battery), where we Level 2 charged with their EV charger for about a half hour to get back to the CHAdeMO high speed charger in Bellingham.  When it was all done, we pulled into our garage at 9:15pm.  A 14 hour Sunday drive!

Tyrel & Trish in Bellingham.  There are three LEAFs in this picture!

Lastly, I hope that fellow LEAF drivers can learn from my misadventure.  Surely, there is somebody out there that will pull this trip off without a hitch.  I look forward to the time when the Bellingham to Baker, and Back trip will be done in a single charge with a Nissan LEAF.  Who will be the first?

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