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| September 15, 2008. Day 96 - Teslin, YT - Little Rancheria river |
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| With the battery empty, it was decided to wait until about 11:00am and
hopefully get enough charge to make to Watson Lake. Dennis the principal of the Teslin school learned about the solar car and came by to see if he could bring the students over. Naturally, we were thrilled with the opportunity. Since, we were planning on leaving at 11:00, we scheduled for 10:30. In the mean time tourists and locals seeing the solar car from the highway kept stopping to see the solar car. So, we invited them to tell others and come by 10:30 to learn more about the project and see it driving away. Slowly the sun start to shine from behind the clouds. By 10:30 the battery was sitting at 96V, almost half (half empty? or half full?). A small crowd started to gather around the solar car and with the arrival of the students all of sudden we had a large contingent of people. It was surreal, having this many people here. I guess "if you build, they will come" and they did. The last minute presentation went really well. Mark, who have been around for a couple of days took on explaining how the solar car works and showing some of its components, while Lew got behind the camera capturing the moment. We asked the kids to help us get the car driving by doing an XOF1 count down "one, two, three, solar car!" The crowd clapped and cheered thanking us for the presentation as the solar car started to drive. Teslin you were a great audience, it was a pleasure to have had the opportunity to show you the car! Following the presentation we did a quick stop for a photo op at bridge on the other side from the river. The solar car was waiting for vehicles do drive in order to get a clear shot. A couple who had just driven on the bridge pulled over to snap a photo of the on coming solar car. Mark taking photos from different angles also climbed on the bridge rail seeking some unique angles, while Lew capturing it on film. "on the road again", cruising along as the clouds between clouds and a light haze sky. We stopped to fix the velcro from the left wheel cover, it was coming undone. What was supposed to be a short break turned into a lunch break. Mark's lunch was a few peanut butter/ jam sandwich, Marcelo stuck to roast beef/cheese/hummus while Lew endowed himself with a roast beef / jam sandwich, really! roast beef and jam. A few people stopped by to look at the car and take their photo next to the cars. One trucker in particular was very keen on clean and sustainable energy talking about the possible demise of his industry due to greed and lack of vision. Hey, we didn't started that conversation but sure enjoyed talking to someone who spend +$6,000 a month on fuel transporting goods across the country. We exchanged a few ideas, he was determinate to peak Marcelo's brain to come up with an alternative. Marcelo limited his comments to a better truck design but the trucker wanted to see the feasibility of a solar truck. In the mean time, Mark took another 360 panoramic photo of the solar car, this time by the road and later venture to the bush to take another 460 panoramic photos. The vegetation near by was an interesting mix of new trees, left over burn trees from forest fire and bush changing colors from bright yellow, brown and red. Back on the road it didn't take long for the weather to close on us.The heavy overcast didn't provide any light. The car was driving on battery power alone. The hilly terrain eventually gain over us. We found a great location by a beautiful and peaceful lake to stop and charge the battery. The goal was to at least cover 200km for the day, a couple of hours later we got back on the road but the roller coaster road and lack of sum quickly drained the little energy left, we called it the night, found a suitable location on the side of the road and set up camp. Lew and Mark got busy making a fire started, using fallen dead trees while Marcelo boiled water for a Mr.Noodles dinner ala chef Marcelo. Surprisingly, the weather cleared over night unveiling an sky sprinkled by stars and a huge bright full moon. While Lew and Marcelo sat by the fire, Mark got his camera out and created a beautiful and original 360 panoramic night photo. See it below. |
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