Open Access Article Originally Published: July 17, 2001
Highway 85 runs through eastern Wyoming and skirts the western edge of the Black Hills, a 125 mile long by 65 mile wide range of mountains towering as much 7,400 feet above sea level. They are majestically clothed in pine, aspen and burr oak.
We are racing south from Sundance, Wyoming to Lusk 136 miles away in our 2000 Honda Insight. The road is smooth, straight and traveled only by the occasional RV and rancher pickup. Either side of the two-laned road are vast stretches of rolling range land flanked by pine covered promontories. We are making a steady 70-75 mph, but we are pushing the Insight's hybrid drive system close to its limit as we climb a series of long grades. But this is the only point of the trip where I become concerned about the state of charge on our battery pack. Even climbing over 4,000 grades, the sprightly little automobile is holding its own against even the most powerful SUVs that cruise the highways of the Black Hills and the streets of Deadwood.
Thursday, July 12th
I decide to take our Insight to the Black Hills, which are nearly 600 miles to the northwest of our home here in Omaha, to see how the car would perform in the demanding driving conditions of the West. In June, I'd driven it solo some 700 miles to Detroit but that is over fairly level ground . I reported on that trip in EV World last month. This time, I'd have a companion along to share the scenery and the adventure. While in the Black Hills, we would attend a special christening ceremony for a young child who was named in honor of our deceased son. After the ceremony, we would make excursions to two places I have long wanted to visit: Devil's Tower in Wyoming and Agate Springs Fossil Beds in Nebraska.
We leave home about 5 PM and head north up Interstate 29 in western Iowa. I-29 follows the Missouri River Valley as far as Sioux City where the river turns west at Yankton. I-29 runs straight north to Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota. I didn't bother to fill the tank since it was three-quarter's full. This would be enough to get me to Sioux Falls, about a 200 miles north, where I planned to spend the night.
We stop to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary with dinner at the Perkins in Sioux City, just up the river a few miles from where the Lewis and Clark Expedition buried its only fatality, Sgt. Floyd. By the time we reached Sioux Falls, it was nearly 9:30 pm, but instead of stopping, my wife suggests that if I feel up to it, she'd be willing to drive on through to Mitchell, another 50 miles away on I-90. She's read my mind, as she usually does. The night is clear and the road straight. We are averaging better than 63mpg at 70-75 mph. We pass the miles with the windows down enjoying the cool night air and brilliant night sky. It is on this stretch that the front of the Insight becomes coated with hundreds, if not thousands, of smashed insects.
Friday, July 13th
The next morning after refueled the car and cleaning the bugs off the windshield, we set off for Lead, S.D. (pronounced "leed" not "led"), deep in the Black Hills. I briefly try "semi-surfing" again, but it seems to make little difference in the car's performance, so I swung out from the behind my "companion" and zipped on down the road.
We stop briefly at the Missouri River near the community of Chamberlain, S.D. Here the state has built a wonderful combination rest stop, tourist center and museum dedicated to the Lewis and Clark Expedition which stopped near this point both on their way West in 1803 and on their return in 1805. The view overlooking the Missouri is simply magnificent!
We took some time to explore the museum and talk to the grounds keeper who had just bought off of Ebay a used electric utility vehicle for maintenance work around the complex. Inspired by our brief stop, I put on my audio tapes of Ken Burn's documentary on the Corps of Discovery. We enjoy the rest of the ride across the state reliving the incredible history of the expedition that mapped the geography and natural history of the vast territory that would one day become the United States of America.
Lewis and Clark never reached the Black Hills. That would be left to the miners who invaded this island of mountains, forests and streams that raises above the ocean of grass that was the American plains in the 1880s. We reached it just after the noon hour, stopping to buy a few things in Rapid City before heading for Mount Rushmore.
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1 comments so far...
28-Jul-2001
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This is a terrific article - answering most, if not all, of the questions I have about the capabilities of a hybrid electric vehicle here in the U.S. I do still have a couple of questions:(1) I live in Central Texas, and down here in 100+ temps. for extended periods of time (we're currently at 15 days above 100) during the summer, with drought conditions prevalent, how would a hybrid react to being driven in city rush hour conditions with A/C on high for as long as 45 minutes at a time?(2) I have traveled into New Mexico and Colorado, climbing the Rockies at Rotan Pass (a VERY steep grade). Some years ago, my Chevy Cavalier wagon - a 120 hp. 4-cylinder engine, actually
Posted by: aline guillot
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