Topeka Trip

On Thursday November 29th I drove my Leaf to visit a friend in Topeka Kansas. It would be a nearly 140 mile round trip and would require charging along the way. I was very excited about the trip.

I charged the Leaf to 100% the night before I left for Topeka. I planned to stop and charge in Lawrence.  I preheated the car with it plugged in so I would use as little energy as possible  for the trip. The temperature was 45 degrees when I left. I knew the colder temperature would affect my range so I tried to be as conservative with my energy use as possible. Lawrence is 37.6 miles from my house. I mapped out my route so I could stay off Interstate I-70 where the speed limit is 70mph. I did not know that Tonganoxie Road had a speed limit of 65mph with little opportunity for other cars to pass me so I ended up going faster than I would have liked on the first leg of my trip.
                                       

Leaving Lansing	Twelve Miles Into the Trip

As I came into Tonganoxie I missed my turn and ended up running across a memorial park at the VFW. The tank and helicopter are real. I also spied an 110v plug on a light pole. I checked it and it was live. That plug would be one of my backup plans in case I bit off more than I could chew on the way home. By the time I reached Tonganoxie the temperature had fallen to 35 degrees.

VFW Memorial Park Tonganoxie	Arriving in Tonganoxie

I arrived at my first stop, the Hyvee at 3504 Clinton Parkway Lawrence, right on schedule at 9am.

The Tee Pee house just outside Lawrence	Pulling into Lawrence Hyvee on Clinton Pkwy

The Hyvee on Clinton Pkwy has a coffee shop/cafe' with wifi and TVs. It was a perfect place to catch up on emails and get a bite to eat. A very nice man stopped and asked me about my Leaf while I was plugging in. I mentioned fishing during our conversation. I went into the Hyvee coffee shop/cafe'. 15 minutes later the man came back with two bags of crappie filets. I LOVE CRAPPIE! We found some dry ice and a thremo bag in Hyvee and I was on my way to Topeka.

Plugging in At Hyvee Lawrence	20 Crappie Filets

I ended up charging at Lawrence for about an hour and forty five minutes which gave me three more bars. I left Lawrence with 9 bars.

                                 


My 29.1 mile trip from Lawrence to to Topeka was pretty uneventful. I was able to drive between 45mph and 55 mph. I drove to a friends house and he followed me to Capitol City Nissan. The Nissan dealer had a charging station on the outside of the building and they were very friendly. I didn't call the dealership ahead of time but I think I will start doing that in the future. As it turned out though, there was a charging station on the street my friend and I had coffee so it really wouldn't have been an issue anyway.

   

                                                      
                                       

row 1, cell 1	row 1, cell 2
row 2, cell 1	row 2, cell 2