The EV adventure continues

 Didn’t post yesterday, it was rather slow.  We did manage to do one task on this cold autumn blustery day,  that was to prepare Savvy’s fantastic 7 pepper Salsa.  It is quite the process trying to keep a large pot of tomato’s, peppers, onions, cilantro, and garlic (lots of garlic) at a rolling boil, outside in a cold wind.  We did it nonetheless and then learned to properly can this delicacy in mason jars.  

Final act was to pick up Miss Lori who arrived via WestJet and YVW, then off to a fancy dinner at Basil and Mint.  Next morning saw us off to an early start with the Tesla fully charged after being plugged in at the winery for two days.  We were off to Revelstoke and recharged for the climb up the pass.  Everything was progressing beautifully until the snow started to fall heavily just before coming to a stop, and waiting…. Two hours passed and word came down that it wasn’t construction, but a serious accident that would have the road completely closed indefinitely.  Back to Revy to reconnoiter the options.  Charged up once more, we took the decision to proceed south along the Arrow lakes back down to Castlegar with uncertain range and Supercharger access.  But not before some anxiety over trying to extend the rental agreement and much uncertainty about recharging strategy.  TURO host was helpful to get us back underway with the phone app working again and contract extended one day.  This route was slow and tortuous, and included a short ferry ride at Shelter Bay.  Got to Castlegar and recharged again, way past dark.  Then on to Cranbrook for another charge with hopes of making it to Ft. MacLeod on a less than full battery (road weariness had begun to take its toll).  Coasted into Ft. MacLeod with very little to spare to take on just enough charge to get us to Billy’s at 03:00h.  Straight to bed without injury (phew).  Should be able to get home with a stop for recharge and car wash, hopefully Chachi will be able to meet me at the Park & Jet and wrap this experiment up.  Because the other anxiety inducing matter, unrelated to the LR EV experiment, has been that Nana’s time on this turbulent earth has come to a close and Karen took the opportunity to blow off some steam with her golf girl friends, she might need some time off!

So, in conclusion, while the Tesla technology is rather impressive, and planning/finding charging spots is pretty good in general, there are a few irritating shortcomings, like you can’t game with the navigation through the app outside of the vehicle, which makes seeking alternative routes/stops challenging.  And, it is far from intuitive on how you might investigate alternative charging strategies versus the one proposed by Elon.  Trip interruptions (like the one we experienced) and rerouting are not at all easy, so winter trips through the Canadian Rockies would not be recommended without plenty of time and resources to get a room if plans change abruptly.  I think I’ll remain happy with the tried and true for a while yet.