Electrical RVing in Oatman and on the Arizona Sidewinder

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In my final article, I shared the story of our journey simply to get began on Route 66 in California. As I discussed in that article, we bumped into loads of issues, however none of them had been attributable to pulling a journey trailer with an electrical truck. Now, let’s get into what got here subsequent!

Dodging Freeway Theft

Sadly, after we left the Mojave Desert behind and headed towards Arizona, we couldn’t keep on previous Route 66 for very lengthy. A few of the bridges alongside the previous route had been washed away a number of occasions by main rain occasions, some from simply the final 12 months. California’s DOT needs to restore all of them, but it surely’s a course of that’s going to take time. So, we obtained on I-40.

At our subsequent charging cease, there was loads of room for the trailer, even when Electrify America didn’t have EV towing in thoughts when constructing the station. On the way in which out, I discovered simply how good it may be to be charging up our truck as an alternative of pumping fuel or diesel into it.

Assembly the Jackasses of Oatman

Crossing the Colorado River into Arizona, the following main cease on the Mom Street is Oatman. It’s a well-known previous gold mining city tucked proper into the Black Mountains. Should you’ve ever seen photos of Route 66 with donkeys simply wandering down the center of the road, that is the place. The burros are descendants of the pack animals the miners set unfastened a long time in the past, they usually’ll stroll proper as much as your window in search of a snack. It’s a cool, quirky slice of the previous West.

The city has one restaurant and lodge, and the remainder of the companies promote issues like T-shirts, donkey feed, and different vacationer objects. Should you go, plan to spend at the least 2–3 hours seeing most of what’s there to see. The heartbeat of the city is synchronized to the donkeys. At about 5 o’clock, they head out of city to discover a sleeping spot, mate, and so on. And the vacationers who went there to see the donkeys pack up and depart, too. After 5:00–6:00 PM, the entire place turns into a ghost city once more.

However, getting out of city heading east brings up one of many greatest challenges on your entire route.

Tackling the Sidewinder

Proper after Oatman, Route 66 climbs up Sitgreaves Move. This stretch is called the Oatman Freeway, or, extra precisely, the Arizona Sidewinder. We’re speaking about eight miles of slim, steep, two-lane highway with zero shoulders and 191 hairpin curves. 

The Bureau of Land Administration strongly discourages taking autos over 40 toes lengthy (together with truck and trailer) up there. And, as you’ll be able to see within the image, they’re proper! This was a highway that I might hesitate to take an 8-foot trailer on. There are just too many locations the place you’d should drive into the opposing lane and even off the aspect to get a trailer by.

I made the good name and unhooked the trailer for this part, leaving it behind at an RV park west of the city. Taking the truck up naked let me really benefit from the unbelievable views as an alternative of sweating over whether or not the trailer tires had been going to hold off and drag my entire rig over the sting!

Cool Springs

When you conquer the move and begin dropping down the japanese slope, the highway ranges and straightens out, and also you hit Cool Springs. It’s an previous Twenties stone service station that sat in ruins for many years earlier than being completely rebuilt within the early 2000s. 

It was the right place to tug the truck over, seize a chilly drink, and look again on the mountains we simply crawled over. Nevertheless, we arrived after closing time, so all we may do was stroll round outdoors and verify the buildings out. There are not any fuel pumps or EV chargers there, but it surely’s a basic piece of Americana that makes you admire the historical past of the freeway.

One cool and sudden discover was Misty, Cool Springs’ mascot. An indication on the door notifies guests that Misty isn’t a feral cat and certainly has her house at Cool Springs. Not solely was she in nice well being, however she was one of many friendliest cats we’ve ever encountered round a vacationer cease. Should you ever cease in there, give Misty a hug and inform her Jenn says howdy!

Electrical energy Is All over the place, Fuel & Diesel Are Not

One factor I used to be actually pleased with on this stretch of highway was the power to cost up at RV parks. I’ve a conveyable EVSE that I preserve within the eTrunk (Chevy doesn’t prefer to name it a frunk), and it has come in useful majorly alongside this journey. At nearly each RV park that had electrical energy, I used to be ready so as to add 30–40% of a battery in a single day, together with the one close to Oatman, the place two nights obtained me to 100%.

Early on within the resurgence of EVs within the 2010s, RV parks had been the lifeblood of EV highway journeys, earlier than DC quick charging stations turned widespread. Like most different longtime EV drivers, I used to be grateful to not must plug a Nissan LEAF or Chevy Bolt in for hours simply to get to the following city.

Towing a journey trailer, the advantages of RV park charging are coming again. If I’m going to already be someplace sleeping, having EV charging similar to I do at house is a superb profit. At each RV park, I provided to pay for my electrical energy, however no person took me up on it. So, I obtained to do a variety of free driving and have a extra handy time when staying someplace a number of nights.

The one “gotcha” to that is that it’s a must to be very cautious to not stress out RV charging pedestals. They’ll solely deal with 40 amps of steady energy draw, and fewer is best. Should you begin by subtracting warmth or air con whilst you sleep and leaving some room to run a microwave and fridge, you’re finest to maintain the EV energy draw at 16 or 24 amps.

Having to do the mathematics and cost slower than I might at house is value it, although. No RV park I’ve ever heard of or seen presents free fuel or diesel.

As soon as once more, this proves the worth that an EV provides. As an alternative of being reliant on costly and doubtlessly spotty gasoline availability (particularly in rural areas), you will get electrical energy mainly wherever there’s a plug.

All photographs by Jennifer Sensiba.