August 30, 2008. Day 80 - Beaver Creek, Yukon - charging the batteries

I can't believe it is already day 80. I never thought it would take this long. Oh well, got to finish what I started. Today we got up a bit late, we were so tired, at least I was. I didn't sleep the day before pulling an all nighter getting things ready for my return trip (cables, connectors, spare parts). Glad to be back in Beaver Creek among new found friends and back on the road. Well, not quite back on the road yet, the batteries are depleted. The plan is to charge the batteries and clean the car. The car is so muddy from all the drive on the rain and gravel. There was at least about 6 kilos (13lbs) of extra weight between accumulated water inside the rear fairing and mud inside the wheel area. Early in the morning there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. However, once we set up the array it didn't take long for some large clouds to move in blocking the sun, cutting on the charging. My sun dance didn't do much to move the clouds away :), the clouds kept on blocking the sun :( By the end of the day, the charging was seating at 104V (full at 109V), not too bad. The plan is to get up early tomorrow to charge the batteries a bit more before venturing on the road. The low angle sun doesn't provide a good charge while driving the solar car. So, making all the way to Whitehorse (450km) in one day is wishful thinking. Being too much of an optimistic sometimes I think what powers the solar car is a positive attitude :) Jean-Luc and Stephanie cooked another batch of Chilly, it was just as good as the last night. It was almost worth looking for an excuse to extend our stay.