Day 10: Happy May Day!! Denver to North Platte, NE

This is a travel day, but started the day with the comfort and familiarity of old friends, Pat and Wendy.  I was able to give Wendy a quick hug before she hustled off to work around 6am.  A little later, Pat and I watched the beginnings of the Congressional committee's questioning of William Barr.

I left Denver around 9:30am, with a full charge (courtesy of the Kohrt-Wischmann NEMA 14-50 receptacle in their garage), AND using my new adapter!  My GOM was reading 209 miles.  My original plan involved camping this evening... however, I decided to once again use a hotel.  I hadn't intended on "winter camping," and the weather forecast has been cold, snowy, and/or rainy.

I got a charge at the West Orchard fast charger (out in a farm field), and put my $20 in the jar beneath the charger.  Doesn't look like anyone is at home today, but I had already met the wind farmer on my way to Denver a few days ago.  During my charge time there, I just walked up and down the adjacent road... cold (41 deg) and windy, so it wasn't appealing to walk too far.

After my charge, I got back on the road and headed toward North Platte (about 110 miles), where there's a Fast Charger in a Walmart parking lot.  I hooked up and went in to Walmart to walk around a bit, while I was getting my 80% charge.  It was expected to take about 36 minutes.  This charger costs $0.30/minute, and as with all Fast Chargers, only will provide that high voltage charge up to 80% of your battery's capacity... any more, and it could damage the battery.  When the 80% point is reached, the charging slows to that of a 220-amp charger (however, if you kept it hooked up to the charger, it would keep the same $0.30/minute rate... so UNHOOK it after 80%).

When I was unplugging, a woman walked over to me, and started asking questions... then another person joined her.  They had never seen anyone use the charger before, and had LOTS of questions... I was happy to answer them, and pique their interest even more about electric cars.  I told them it wasn't that unusual not to see someone using them, as you'd likely only have your car hooked to the charger for 30-60 minutes, depending upon the charge you needed.

After the charge was complete, I headed to a Japanese restaurant for supper (outstanding Japanese food... in the middle of Nebraska!), and then went to Pals Brewing Company... no American Porter, but they did have an English Porter and a red ale.  I tried little 5 ounce pours or each, and chatted up a local during my short visit.

Finally headed off to my Motel 6 to check in.  That place was fairly clean, but allowed animals.  There were multiple times during the night when dogs barking woke me, so I was happy to get up and start my day at 5:30 the following morning.