Continuing on...
We woke up and rolled out of Emperia, VA at around 5AM. With very little sleep, I stopped taking notes so I will run you through what I remember. I could tell from PlugShare that if I could make it to Petersburg, VA, there would be a good trail of QCs to Boston.
When we left Emperia, Evie was showing 40 miles. Problem was Google Maps told me I needed 44 miles to reach my destination. There weren't any fall back chargers on that stretch of 95 so I was a little unsure. Remember the Emperia charger was dreadfully slow and I didn't want to wait any longer to bring on another 5 miles. PlugShare showed an RV park not too far away and fortunately I bought some adapters for my charging cord (http://www.evseupgrade.com - worth a look) to work at RV parks. Unfortunately, it was way too early and nobody was around at the RV park.
Colonial Heights, VA - Hilton Garden Inn. So we made the decision to go for it. I arrived in the Petersburg vicinity with just barely a couple of miles at the Hilton Garden Inn. There it was in all of it's glory... an Eaton QC!
But wait...oh no...the parking spot was ICE'd by 2 cars. For those who don't know... when a gas powered car parks in the spot you desperately need to charge your car, we call it ICE'd. (Internal Combustible Engine) ICEing is the worst and it most always happens when you need that spot the most. I talked to the front desk but there was nothing she could do. My wife left strongly worded notes on both cars and we got out of there.
The next QC was too far away so I had to find a nearby L2. We found one at a nearby Ford dealer. It took another 40 minutes to get up enough miles to make it to the next QC.
Chester, VA - Priority Nissan Richmond. It was a huge sprawling Nissan dealership with like 6 or 8 L2s, but only one QC. To my dismay, that QC was ICE'd - not again. The dealer had parked a test drive vehicle in the space. Service was there but didn't have the key and Sales wouldn't be there for another 2 hours! Thankfully, there was a guy in Parts who had mercy on me. He called somebody who could get into the lock box and we were in business.
So we're rolling now it's all QCs (mostly) from here on. The next stop was
Richmond, VA - South Crenshaw Parking Deck. Love this spot because it was right next to a McDonald's. I was able to feed the kids and get right back on the road. On to...
Stafford, VA - Rosner (now Leckner) Nissan of Stafford. Wasn't able to get a fully 80% here because it gave me a charger temperature error. I saw this before with one of the Nissan QCs back in Gastonia. The service guy in Gastonia just threw the main switch off and back on to fix it. I tried that here but with no success. I was able to get enough to make my next stop. Plus the dealer had Nissan Leaf Only signs all over the place (sorry this is bad policy). No one said anything but it didn't make us feel welcomed so we got out of there. On to...
Alexandria, VA - nrg Potomac River Generating Station. This was a neat stop since many of us are used to charging at the nrg stations going up around Atlanta. The charging unit was right outside of the security gate and the guard was very friendly. Evie enjoyed the recharge here too because it gave her 85% instead of the usual 80%! On to...
Baltimore, MD - Best Western Hotel & Conference Center. Great location because the business had cones in the EV spot to prevent ICEing. I wish more places would do this. This was one of those Greenlots chargers. ChargeUp card didn't work, but fortunately I had downloaded their app and it worked like a charm. There's a lady in the hotel lobby that sells gourmet chocolate covered strawberries. Delicious!! I bought 6 but only got to eat two. My dog broke into the box and finished the rest. On to...
Carney's Point, NJ - Flying J truck stop. HUGE Blink Charging station with a big video screen. We got lots of looks when we plugged into that one. Oh this was the start of the NJ Turnpike which reminds me... make sure you get one of those toll readers. PeachPass won't work up here so you'll have to find something else. I got mine from Illinois because it didn't charge a monthly fee. I'll talk more about this in another post, but very helpful to have the toll reader. On to...
Edison, NJ - Got a little sticky here. Went to two QCs (Greenlots) and they were both down. Got down to my last few miles, but was able to make it to Rutgers University. They had a maintenance yard tucked away with a QC and parking lot of Leafs. I was just about out of options so thank you Rutgers! On to...
Darien, CT - Rest stop on I-95 southbound side. This stop was a dream. A rest stop with 2 QCs, 5 Tesla SuperChargers. It was late so the food court options were a bit slim, but kids enjoyed the McD's. The look on a Tesla S owner's face when I pulled up next to him and Evie's charging door popped opened? - Priceless.
Old Saybrook, CT - Grossman Nissan. It's around 4:00am and near darkness on the service side of the lot. The only light I see is the welcoming glow of the Eaton QC next to the customer entrance. Thank you!
Pawtucket, RI - Just about out of power and we're heading to the Comfort Inn. It's very rare, but Google Maps led me to the wrong street at first. Not happy at losing more precious miles, but after the reroute, we pulled in at around 5:30am. Fortunately, there was a power plug accessible in the rear of the building. I plugged in, thankful for the trickle charge that would help me make the next jump in the morning. Finally a bed!
Friday 6/26
Checked out around 12:30pm with plenty of charge to make it to our final charging stop before Boston...
North Attleboro, MA - Nissan Village of N. Attleboro. Not our first QC choice, but when we got to Emerald Square Mall the QC was blocked off by fencing. Some contractors were there painting the EV parking spaces. I asked if there was any chance I could get in for a quick charge. They were real jerks about it and needless to say we weren't able to charge there. My wife ended up reporting them to the mall manager and nrg. To their credit, nrg has contacted us several times to follow up on the event and make sure we were satisfied. Cool. Fortunately, we were able to go right down the street to Nissan Village. No hassles. We picked up 80 miles, grabbed lunch at a local park and made our way to Boston.
BOSTON!! - Around 3:00pm, we arrived at our hotel in Boston. Yayyy!! 1,252 miles and 48 hours of charging/driving. Around 18 charging stops, with a full cargo load and Evie had completed the trip. Did I say tell you that I love this car? rj
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