This part of our blog chronicles the Intrepids’ adventures attempting to drive around North America in an electric car. In part in recognition of the adverse and unconscionable planetary impact of a frivolous drive in a petrol driven car and in part to refute the popular belief that electric cars aren’t practical for long distance road trips, we have embarked on a drive around the continent in a Tesla S. The planned trip, equivalent in distance to driving right around the earth, will take us from Los Angeles, up the Pacific coast to Alaska, across the frozen wastes of Canada to Newfoundland, then down the East Coast to Florida and back through the deserts and canyons of Texas, Arizona and Utah. We plan to venture well beyond the supercharger network and may have to rely on all types of charging places as well as an extra long extension cord.
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| The journey begins |
Having finally convinced Elon Musk to actually sell us a car, and then overcome the challenges of insuring and registering it as aliens without a local address or driving licence, we are finally on our way. The delay has actually proved a blessing as it’s given the Californian weather a chance to emerge from winter, although we still encounter roads closed by snow in the Sierras and around Crater Lake in Oregon. It’s also meant that in killing time waiting for the car to be delivered we have actually seen much of California and thus are able to head north without too many diversions at least till we get north of San Francisco. (For details of the pre-trip California journey see the previous blog)
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| Plane graveyard, Mojave |
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| Wind-farm, Mohave |
Rather than the coast road which we have already travelled, we head north from LA up the eastern side of the Sierras along the spectacular Route 395, stopping first at Mojave where planes come to die and with the largest windfarms and solar farms we have seen outside of China, stretching from horizon to horizon, and then at the surprisingly interesting movie museum at Lone Pine where most of the westerns were filmed. In Bishop we find a very comfortable hotel and on the spot decide to stay at its sister hotel in Port Angeles, several weeks north in Washington state. The scenery on the road is amazing with snow capped mountains on one site and volcanic desert on the other. The wind funnels down from the Sierras producing incredible cloud patterns as it pours over the peaks and streams down the valleys towards the road.
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| Museum of western film, Lone Pine |
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| On the road again, east of the Sierras |
We start to discover the car’s features and experiment with the autopilot until it gets tired of us driving hands free and refuses to go any further until we behave. It’s amazing if at first a little disconcerting to be able to look around, gaze at the scenery, look out for wildlife and even read the map whilst having the car navigating bends at 100km/hr, overtake, adjust to changing speed limits and slow and even stop if the car in front slows. As long as there is a reasonably clear line either in the centre or at the edge it seems to be able to manage quite well although gives you lots of warnings if it needs you to take charge.
We’ll describe the brave new world of ‘driving’ a silent self-driving electric car in a future blog, but for now suffice to note that in our first 3500 miles we have not had to pay a cent for fuel, and have scarcely touched the brake pedal. Also that so far we’ve managed not to run out of electricity despite choosing some twisty mountain roads and scenic by-ways, largely avoiding freeways and major cities.
The road along the Sierras climbs to over 8000 ft near Bishop before descenting the strange and salty Mono Lake, surrounded by recently created volcanic cones. After a brief stop to inspect the tufa chimneys protruding from the lake we journey on to Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada. It’s one of the largest and deepest lakes in the US and we spend a day driving around its shore, admiring the views of forest-clad snow-capped mountains which surround it. At this point the car’s nav system has a hissy fit just as we come into the city. It decides to perform an update and after blanking out the screen for several minutes decides that we must be at the Tesla factory in Fremont and that we need to navigate from there, with the aid of Santa Claus and his reindeer. Resorting to maps and reading street signs we eventually manage to find our hotel to the sound of Jingle Bells.
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| Strange tufa formations, Mono Lake |
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| With Kathy, Sandee, Scott and Cliff at Russian River |
After a quick visit to the supercharger at Crescent City we’re in Oregon. We quickly decide we like Oregon, it’s a WYSIWYP place, unlike most states where what you pay seems to bear no resemblance to what it says on the price sticker on menu. In Oregon, what you see is what you pay, sounds simple but its a concept Americans seems to find inordinately difficult to grasp; it’s not like taxes are optional or they can be negotiated (maybe they can if you’ve studied ‘the Art of the Deal’?).
So rejoicing in the newfound logic of Oregon we head back inland towards Crater Lake. It’s a long climb through the forests to the snow-lined rim of the crater where we gaze down into the vast turquoise lake filling the caldera. At 600m it’s another one of the world’s deepest lakes with amazingly clean and clear intense blue water. WIth no streams flowing into or out of the lake and no access down the steep slopes to the water, it’s extremely pure. Unfortunately due to unseasonably late and deep snow the road around the rim is closed so after a quick beer whilst the car is charging we drive down the far side towards Klamath Falls and our lodgings at Chemult, a noisy truck stop on the way to Bend, the mountain bike capital of the US.
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| Crater Lake, Oregon |
After a loop along the Crescent Lake Scenic Byway, past Mt Washington, we reach Bend and from there we return via Sisters and the Eugene supercharger to the coast at Florence and a comfortable hotel overlooking the roaring Pacific ocean. The coast north is littered with crags, rocky coves, sea stacks, little bays and lighthouses in the mist. We spend time in Captain Cook’s wake at Cape Perpetua watching the surging waves at Cook’s Chasm and Thor’s Well, before sampling the local brews at the nearby Yachats Brewing and Farmstore. Then it’s on via Newport with its splendid iron bridge and large fishing fleet to the night’s lodgings on the harbour at Garibaldi. The following day, having become all esurient like, we backtrack to Tillamook, the diary capital of the US and fill up with electricity and cheese at the Tillamook Creamery, a very popular cheese factory, the finest in the district where we watch cheeses being made and try out their ice cream. From there we travel east to Portland and a lovely little AirBnB not far from the city’s main park.
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| Florence waterfront |
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| Oregon coast |
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| Thor's well, Oregon coast |
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| Oregon forest |
After two weeks on the road we decide to rest up for a few days and sample the food and beverages of Portland, the city of roses (and of bridges). We visit the expansive rose garden where new breeds of roses are developed and tested before heading downtown to check out the city’s vibrant restaurant scene and waterfront park. We are surprised to find that the city although 100mi inland is actually a major port with many ocean-going ships in the Willamette River. We learn from the bartender in ultra hip bar and restaurant, ‘Tasty n Alder’ that tomorrow is the day of the annual rose parade so we are up bright and early to join the throngs lining the streets to watch the endless procession of marching bands, flower bedecked floats and beauty queens on horseback. Even the cops have taken a break from shooting black guys and Australians in pyjamas and are jumping off their bikes to play hopscotch in the street with six year old girls. It’s a fun day but exhausting so after the vintage fire-engines we need a break at Lucy’s nearby favourite deli/winebar ‘Shalom Y’all’. Portland is a laid back sort of place, where most of the population seem to have been extras in the TV series Portlandia, or maybe were the actual cast.
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| Tillamook cheese factory |
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| Cape Meares lighthouse |
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| Time to smell the roses, Portland |
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| Curious float in the Portland Rose Parade |
Unfortunately our stay in our ultra comfortable AirBnB comes to an end and we are back on the road, eastwards this time to Hood River. We drive on another ‘heritage scenic byway’ through the Columbia River gorge. Although it’s not a gorge in the raging torrent foaming in a narrow chasm between towering cliffs sense, it’s nevertheless spectacularly scenic, with the wide river cutting through steep sided hills with magnificent vistas and cascading waterfalls plunging into the river. The gorge funnels the wind so that Hood River, the town at the end of the gorge is a major centre for wind and kite surfing. We check out the local brewery (well one of many, Hood River seems to rival Newtown for mixing hops water and yeast) and cross the river into Washington, our fourth state on this road-trip. Not lingering too long at the Mt St Helens Lookout we drive on through forest roads and past lakes full of trout to Woodland, a few miles north of Portland where we stay in another BnB, on the bank of the Lewis River, watching for otters and beavers from the deck. Backtracking a few miles to Vancouver (no not the Canadian one yet, that’s in the next blog) to fill up with electricity we cut back to the coast and follow the Washington Olympic Scenic By-way which wends its way around the Olympic Peninsula, through forests, mist shrouded capes and isolated fishing villages.
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| Columbia River Gorge |
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| Viewpoint, Columbia River Gorge |
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| Bridal Veil Falls, Columbia River Gorge |
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| Mount St Helens |
At Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, we find a 300’ column which offers incredible views over the estuary before we drive across the longest bridge on the west coast and back into Washington. Long Beach where we stay claims to have the longest beach in the world, but that’s in the same vein as their so called World Series Baseball, as their only reference is the US and Canada and we can safely assert that it’s fake news. Nevertheless it’s a nice sort of beach but way too cold and windy for us so after another electric stop at Aberdeen we press on to Forks, a fishing and forestry settlement who’s main claim to fame is as the location for the Twilight movie. Fortunately there are no vampires out tonight and again we stay on the banks of a river, the Quillayute this time in a beautiful lodge where we watch bald eagles and an elk crossing the river. Northwards lies Cape Flattery, the most north westerly point in the continental US, shrouded in mist with crashing waves stunted cedar and fir trees clinging to the cliffs, secret coves and caves. It’s eerily beautiful but a little damp. We turn eastwards and drive along the narrow coastal strip between the snow capped Olympic Mountains and the Straits of Juan de Fuca which we had sailed through just over a year earlier. There are lavender farms, rose gardens, vineyards and herds of dairy cows, fishing villages and innumerable RV parks before we reach Port Townsend, a fascinating largely victorian town which has transformed itself from a prosperous lumber centre to a prosperous tourist destination. Many of the wooden Victorian mansions have been converted to hotels and guest houses, and the brick warehouses to boutiques, wine bars and craft breweries.
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| Cape Flattery |
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| Wild Washington shore |
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| Sea caves, Cape Flattery |
It’s great travelling with no fixed itinerary, so instead of our original plan of heading for Seattle, we drive aboard a ferry for Whidbey Island and Anacortes on adjoining Fidalgo Island. It’s a short ferry ride across Puget Sound and then a drive across the narrow channel of Deception Pass where the tide rages and swirls to our lodgings in Anacortes, with its views across the Salish Sea to the snow-covered Mt Baker on the mainland. We meet up with Liz (ex Clipper Unicef) and husband Scott who take us to see their new boat which is being readied for a voyage to Alaska and generously spend a day showing us the sights of the islands. Then, after a quick trip to the Fedex depot in Burlington to pick up some cables and plugs, just in case, a visit to the supercharger and an appointment with a car wash, our sparkling new chariot is back on the ferry, this time for an island cruise to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. We check into our BnB in the middle of the island, say hello to the alpacas and make it back to the wharf in time to jump aboard the Spike Africa, a beautiful 3 masted gaff-rigged schooner. The skipper soon learns he has an expert helmsperson on board and Intrepidtoo takes over for a quick sail around the island, fuelled by the last the Panamanian rum as the sun sinks slowly behind Vancouver Island to the West. The sunset brings the first US component of our circumnavigation of North America to a fitting close with the Intrepids crossing by ferry to Sidney (sic) on Vancouver Island, Canada in the morning.
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| Lighthouse, W coast of San Juan Island |
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| Capt'n Intrepid at the helm |
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| Liz and Scott and Bellatrix, Anacortes |
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| Deception Pass, Fidelgo and Whidbey Islands, Washington |
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View from Mt Erie, Fidelgo Island
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| Almost home, well in Sidney, British Columbia |
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