We spent a lot of time today deciding how to get through the mountains from Steamboat to Salt Lake. The charging infrastructure along hwy 40 is much less developed than along I-80. Our maximum capacity is 400 miles, but to be kind on the battery and make it last, we generally charge up to 320 miles. If things go really awry, the backup plan is stay put for the night, plug into a regular 120V outlet, and get 70 miles which should get us someplace with more juice. (We’ve never had to pull that ripcord though) Better than that is an RV park with 240V 30 & 50 amp outlets. That can fill us up overnight, and we have done that but not on this trip. Or we can use a J-1776 charger and get about 20 miles of range per hour from the charger. We did that today in Vernal while eating lunch so that we could have a bit more buffer on the drive down to the Salt Lake area. People who do this same drive next month won’t have any problems at all. There’s a new SuperCharger going in at Vernal and that will open up all sorts of adventure possibilities. Traveling this way is sometimes more work, but the puzzle of it appeals to my joy of mapping and discovery.
Interesting things: those watch for deer signs are correct. But you should also stop for the deer. We did both and were very happy with that decision. (Twice! Those deer are kinda dumb.) When you see lots of short skid marks on the pavement, it means it’s a deer crossing.
The Hayden Granary is worth a stop. It’s a not for profit community center and coffee shop in an a cool old building. Great quiche, better story.
More power is coming to the people. And it looks different. The new style of supports uses guy wires and has a tiny base.
El Homiez Tacos in Vernal is really good
Today is Wednesday and we saw dinosaurs. Not something that is often said.
Dinosaur National Monument is pretty stinking amazing. Being able to actually touch the bones is cool, but the story of the bone discovery and the development of the site is also really interesting. Also, I learned the difference between Petroglyphs and Pictographs; why have I never really thought about this? (The former is etched in, the latter is painted.)
Yes, the Rocky Mountains are marvelous, but the drive into SLC on 189 past Deer Creek Reservoir is absolutely stunning. Wish not quite so many other people thought the same thing!
It can be hard to measure time on a trip like this. Tonight we are in Utah and it feels a bit like we were just here, but that was 3 weeks ago. We thought about going a bit further, but the charger is right by a Comfort Inn, it’s got a pool and they gave us a discount. Plus there’s a place called Fancy Burgers a short walk away.
Sounds: Laura Gibson, Colin Stetson, Alice Phoebe Lou, Ratatat
heidiola 