I slept a little later this morning--after 7, although I was awake about 5 and staggered into this room, lay down on the futon and dozed off again. I was awake until about 11, unusual for me, but didn't quite make it to midnight.
So far today, I have put in my contacts, put water in the kettle and boiled it on the stove to pour into the glass coffee carafe from the 50s or 60s that Amelia found somewhere. I put in some of my special Assam Chai blend that Molli and Michael (I think?) gave me for Christmas. Then I figured out how to froth some half & half using our fancy new Espresso machine that they also gave us and had delivered here to our North Carolina home so we didn't have to transport it. It's pretty great, but I'll get even better at using it, probably. The teacup has Dr. Who's Tardis on it; it warms my hands and then the warm tea feels good going down my throat.
My shoulder still hurts a little but it's getting better. I woke up with a stiff neck or pinched nerve on my left side about five days ago and it's been there every morning since. I blame the bitter cold weather we were having, but possibly sitting hunched on the couch playing games on the coffee table was a factor. Then we drove 750 miles over two days and slept in a hotel (motel?), which probably didn't make it better. I didn't actually drive very much--Ray did the most and Amelia did some.
It was an interesting challenge--how hard would it be to drive an electric car from Massachusetts to North Carolina? This iteration of the Nissan Leaf has a stated range of over 200 miles. Ray's plan was to charge once in Connecticut and once in Maryland, where we stayed for the night and then once in Richmond, Virginia. One of the things he didn't take into account is the effect of extreme cold. The electric motor is less efficient when it's below freezing, so we couldn't get as far on a charge.
It was fine, though. We (mostly Ray and Amelia) studied the map for where the charging stations were. The ones we used were all part of the EVGo network, although we identified lots of others. The first place we stopped, in Connecticut, was the most difficult. It turns out that EVGo had an old credit card on file for us that did not work. Of course, he didn't know why it wasn't working, at first, and what would we do if we couldn't charge the car??? Ray called them up and got someone who helped him solve the problem. We walked the dog, bought some food from the Dunkin' Donuts nearby, and sat at their outside tables.
When we started up again (with me driving), there was a yellow exclamation point on the dashboard and a message that said "Charging System problem." We looked up the nearest Nissan dealership, about 15 minutes away (in the wrong direction), and headed there. Meanwhile, Ray got someone there on the phone. They wanted him to make an appointment for the next morning. He was naturally not happy about that. "just tell me if the car's going to blow up--can you just look it up in the computer?" Amusingly, we were parked next to a charger, so Amelia plugged it again, not to waste any time that we could be charging. We decided to go on down the road and see if we could get an appointment at another dealership on our route. The one Leaf-certified mechanic at this one was on vacation (it was the week between Christmas and New Year's, not a surprising time to be on vacation). Ray said he was going to write to Nissan and tell them they needed to certify more people. The dealership nearest to our home in Beverly doesn't even sell or service electric cars. Miraculously, the light was gone when we unplugged the car and started up again. I think it's like using a non-Apple accessory--it didn't like the EVGo charger, but liked the one at the dealership? It was also a slower charger, not the fast ones we needed on this trip. The next time the yellow light appeared, we ignored it, and didn't seem to have any problem. It went away after we charged again. A mystery.
The slow traffic most of the day meant we could go more miles, but we didn't arrive until 11:30 at night, after leaving Beverly about 10 am. The Homewood Suites was very nice, with a mini-fridge and 2 rooms, but the closest charger gave Amelia problems that night and Ray trouble in the morning. We only got half-charged before leaving for Chevy Chase.
We had a lovely time with friends there, who had made a breakfast spread for us. Well, they had some leftovers too--a wonderful coffeecake someone had given them, scrambled eggs, cut up fruit. And they drove Ray to a nearby charging station and left the car there. It was in a parking garage, so we had to pay that fee as well. The charging stations ended up costing us a little more than gas would have, but the point is that now we have our electric car in North Carolina. It charges in the carport very slowly, but is completely charged after 2 days and nights, and adds very little to our electric bill. We're not planning any long trips soon.
The last charging station was at a Wawa. "Everyone loves the food at Wawa,' Amelia said. There was an app where you could order food and they would bring it to your car. A salad and 2 paninis sounded good. The car was all charged and we still didn't have our food. Amelia went in (with a mask, of course) and they had it. "I looked out and didn't see anyone," the attendant said. The place was jumping, for sure, and the food was very good. The charger was even faster than the others (100 kw?), and we were home in Durham by 7:00. Yay!
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