Tag Archives: Parks

Burrell Brooks, Eastham, Fantasyland, Front Royal Town Square

Park Crawl

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Eastham Park

A little resting area by the Shenandoah river in Eastham park

Teddy and I slept in today and woke up late. After grabbing a meal, we headed out to Eastham park in the CitiCar.

Another great day. We grabbed a bench and watched a few people float by on canoes. Front Royal was designated as the “Canoe Capital of Virginia” in 1999. We are often seeing people in canoes when we walk along the river. One couple had a dog with them, but Teddy wasn’t paying much attention to its parking.

We headed down the trail and I let Teddy loose for a little bit in the dog park. Afterwards we continued down the path until we reached an area that comes down to the river itself. Teddy drank a bit of water and dipped his toes in, walking around for a bit. Afterwards, we head back to the car.

Oddly enough, the GPS speedometer couldn’t get a clear signal. We drove for roughly a half mile before the speedometer started working. With a clear sky, this is a bit concerning. I may have to move the antenna to the outside of the car.

Panoramic view of a little resting area by the Shenandoah river at Eastham park

Charge

Charging at Jack Evans Chevrolet

I had a goal this weekend to see if I could find and use the level 2 charger downtown. It is in a certified pre-owned Chevy dealership. On a Sunday in rural America, the place was fairly empty. I found the DC fast charger, but I didn’t see any compatible plug to charge the car.

I looked at a few photos and reviews and found that they have three separate charging stations scattered between two buildings. I found the one I needed with the J1772 plug was by the main entrance. I plugged in, heard a click, and saw that the CitiCar was charging away.

I decided to take a walk over to Main Street while the car was charging.

Confederate Monument Controversy

Controversial Confederate monument

I took a look at the Confederate monument in front of the court house. I saw it was on the ballot last week when I showed up to the registrars office for early voting in the presidential election. There is a vote to move it to another location. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, or even knew of its existence. It appears that it isn’t of any specifically recognizable general.

I Want Candy

Store front on Main Street of I Want Candy in Front Royal, Virginia

I saw that a new shop was opening up on Main Street yesterday. The storefront is fairly unique compared to other buildings in Front Royal in that it has a curve to it that wraps around the corner. Teddy and I went in today to have a look around.

Pick your favorite candies and pay by the pound

They have a bunch of bins where you can pick a variety of candy and pay by the pound. I kept seeing different candy that I had long forgotten about when growing up. I had to stop myself and consider that I could leave some candy for next time.

C&C Frozen Treats

Carousel horse themed entrance to C&C Frozen Treats

We went into C&C Frozen Treats next. There are many murals around Front Royal, and the owner of the shop had someone decorate their entry way with the carousel horse theme found inside their shop.

There were only two dairy-free flavors left, and the only one that was safe for Teddy was the spiced cake. I ordered a scope for both Teddy and myself.

Town Square

Dairy-free ice cream for two in the park

Teddy and I headed across the street to the town square. Teddy was looking up at me on the whole trip over to find a seat. He knew he was going to get a treat at any minute.

I poured out some of the candies on the checkerboard table and started having a meal fit for two kids at the ripe age of seven.

Teddy will do anything for a treat, and he put on a really good show for everyone watching. The comments I most often hear is how people wish their dog could do what he does. People are often surprised that he knows the difference between his right and left. One of my favorite tricks is to trop a spoon full of ice cream, and then look away and start eating. Teddy will keep focused on me until I say “release”.

Burger King

After having our desert, we headed back to the CitiCar. We were almost up to a full charge, so I decided we could continue our little joy ride and cruise on up to South Street. We were stuck in the Burger King drive-through for about twenty minutes. By time we got our food, I was ready for a change of scenery and eat somewhere else.

Burrell Brooks Park

The charge from the dealership gave us a lot of battery to run around town with. I decided that we could take the CitiCar to Burrell Brooks Park. I hadn’t taken it there before because it’s simply too far.

The park has a small walking path with fitness stations peppered along it. There is also a playground, music playground, and basket ball court. It looked like a Childs birthday party was going on at the pavilion. Teddy and I found a bench at the far end of the park away from everyone else. The meal was satisfying. I took Teddy on the path around the park before we started heading for home.

Fantasyland Park

It was starting to get into the twilight hours and I was debating if we should go home, or stop by Gertrude Miller Park. I didn’t’ have an accurate reading on the batteries state of charge, and I knew I could recharge at a pavilion. Along the way, I turned on the lights and after a brief moment, they went out.

A CitiCar parked at Fantasyland Park

I was debating if I should go strait home without any lights, since it wasn’t too dark out yet. I pulled off into the Advance Auto Parts parking lot and decided to play it safe rather than be sorry. I pulled out the voltage meter and looked for a 30 amp fuse. I already knew which fuse to check, and how many amps it should allow. After two minutes, we were back on our way.

Rather than stopping at Gertrude Miller or Lions Park, I decided to go for the parking lot in between the two parks. I parked the CitiCar under a large tree next to Fantasyland Park.

We didn’t stay long. I took Teddy over to Happy Creek and let him wade a bit in the water. We walked around for a little bit before hopping back into the car.

Back Again

Just as we were almost home, one of our neighbors walking their dog waved at us. I turned around and zipped on over. Although he was stuck in the car, Teddy and his friend were super excited to see each other. Although the car sounds fairly noisy to me, my neighbor commented that it sounded like someone on a bicycle. This revelation came as a bit of a shock to me.

Teddy is exhausted from having too much fun

We said our good byes and I zipped back to the house and guided the CitiCar into the driveway. Teddy was a bit exhausted. We had been to one park after another, and a few stores the entire day. When I see him twitching in his sleep, I imagine he is having wild dreams chasing squirrels and rabbits through the woods.

In Other News

  • From the advice of other C-Car owners, I’m considering changing the button for Secret Hyperjets to be red.
  • A 12 volt charger arrived that works on both 120 and 240 volts AC power
  • I didn’t make any progress on the window this weekend…
Front Royal Eastham Park
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Trips

Gazebo Gatherings Summer Concert Series Season Finale

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Gear lubricant draining from differential

I’ve been trying to flush the differential fluid in my cars axle. It’s been more than six months since the car came off of the production line in 1976. I’ve been unable to do it without the proper tools to open the fill plug.

My Allen wrenches arrived today. I opened the drain plug and removed all of the differential fluid. After cleaning the plug, I tightened it back on and started pouring gear lubricant into the fill plugs hole. A quart was not enough. I put in an order for some more and filled the old bottle back up with the fluid that just came out.

Drain Plug5/16″ hex
Flow Plug3/8″ hex
Fluid75W-90, 1½ quarts
Gear Lubricant

SIX MONTHS AFTER PURCHASE AND EVERY SIX MONTHS THEREAFTER

* Check differential fluid level. Use 90 weight Hypoid gear oil. Fill to top. In cold weather lighter weight fluid may be used. It is not advisable to mix different weights. When changing types of oil, flush system. Use no lighter than 30 weight oil.

Section III – Maintenance, Sebring-Vanguard, CitiCar 1976 ½ Owners Manual, page 21-22

Teddy and I hopped into the car with a destination of Gertrude Miller Community Park. I positioned the dash cam so that it had both Teddy and myself in full view, as well as the dashboard. I heard something wearing a bit along the way. I wasn’t sure if it was the rear driver breaks, the motor, or something to do with the differential.

We spent some time at the park and then headed to Advance Auto Parts to pickup the gear lube. I brought the old bottle back with the 45 year old oil that came out of the car. They had me follow them into the back of the store and dump it into a large metal bin with a mesh over the opening. They wouldn’t take the container itself.

ICE parking at an EV charging station

With that, we headed over to the town square, only to find a large event with live music playing. It was the big summer season finale of the towns summer concert series. Vinyl Tracks was playing Beatles songs in the gazebo.

While looking for parking, I saw a big ICE truck parked at an EV Charging space. I got a little annoyed that this vehicle was ICEing an EV charging spot. Although the CitiCar that I was driving is an EV, I wouldn’t park there unless I was using the charger. No parking was available at the town square, so we went to another parking lot nearby and came back to enjoy the park.

Blue Ridge Arts Council Flyer for 2020 Summer Concert Finale featuring Vinyl Tracks
Social distancing at a concert

The concert was enjoyable to listen to as we walked through the park. Everyone was spread out and practicing social distancing. A few people wore masks. We walked past someone enjoying the music from their car.

Teddy and I went across the street to get some ice cream at C & C Frozen Treats. The little shop was packed with people due to the concert across the street. We didn’t bother going inside.

Ice Cream!!!

On the way home, I saw an ice cream truck in my community. I stopped the CitiCar on the side of the street and waved the truck down. I purchased an ice cream sandwich that looked like a big Oreo cookie. I got my ice cream after all!

Differential flow plug on a CitiCar

We arrived home at last. I checked the mileage, voltage, reset the kilowatt meter, and plugged in the battery chargers. The axle was a bit hot. I gave it some time to cool down. I came back and topped off the gear lubricant in the differential pan through the flow plug.

Video

CitiCar trip to the park
WAYPOINTODOMETERDISTANCE
Home1,106.6
Gertrude Miller3.2
Advance Auto Parts1.2
Town Square0.4
Home1,115.33.9
Total8.7
RECHARGEENERGYCOSTDURATION
RatekWh9.85¢0.60 mph
Total2.30 kWh23.4¢14:30
Per Mile265 Wh2.7¢01:40

Other News

The motor bumper arrived today as well as a torque wrench.

I had made about 15% profit in my dividend portfolio that I started out late last year. I sold off everything I had invested in it, so that it only consists of profit now. I’m investing the majority of the money into my other portfolio consisting of disruptive tech and a couple EV companies that I follow almost daily.

Things Mentioned

Mobil1 Synthetic Gear Lubricant LS 75W-90, 1 Quart
REXBETI Hex Key Allen Wrench Set, SAE Metric Star Long Arm Ball End Hex Key Set Tools, Industrial Grade Allen Wrench Set, S2 Steel
TEKTON 3/8 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench (10-80 ft.-lb.) | 24330
Blue Ridge Arts Council (BRAC)
Vinyl Tracks
Klondike OREO® Sandwich
Club Car Electric GE Motor Bumper (Fits 1982-Up)
AUKEY Mini Dash Cam 1080p Full HD Dash Camera with 1.5” LCD Screen Car Camera with 170° Wide-Angle Lens, G-Sensor, WDR, Motion Detection, and Clear Night Recording

Trips

Skyline Soccerplex

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A lone CitiCar sits in an empty wet parking lot

It’s still raining today. The weather forecast is calling for thunder and showers over the next few days. The house was getting stuffy and my brain needed some fresh air. Teddy hopped in our car during my lunch break.

I wanted to go somewhere new. We hadn’t been over to the Skyline Soccerplex in months, and so our fate was set. This little car doesn’t do well in rain. I’m not sure if it’s the tires or the breaks, but I suspect it’s the breaks. They are either off, or on too hard without a smooth transition. I want to see if I can replace them with something easier to use.

We arrived at the Skyline Soccerplex. Hardly anyone was there. The parking lot was empty. I grabbed my umbrella out of the back and we were off.

Teddy looks toward the far distance

The Skyline Soccerplex has a skate-park and a playground with eight soccer fields. It’s built on top of the Avtex Fibers Superfund site in Front Royal, Virginia.

There wasn’t much to our little adventure. Teddy and a couple deer were having a staring contest until he started barking. They didn’t stick around for long and ran across a few soccer fields.

In all, our little walk around the loop was just under a mile. I was about to leave when I noticed the lights weren’t coming on. It was the fuse that I had just replaced last night. That task to investigate the cause is going to get a little more priority now.

Two deer running through Skyline Soccerplex

On the ride home, I started noticing a sound. I wasn’t sure if it was the tire, motor, or something in between. It was definitely something that was spinning, or being hit by said spiny thing. I also saw the hot motor indicator lamp finally, FINALLY! went out. I’m a bit curious as to why.

I heard the police behind me and saw some lights flashing. I pulled over, blood rushing, nervous, and relieved to see him rush past going after someone else.

Teddy and I got out of the car and made a new record of 9.2 miles. At 48.2v, I believe that’s about a 44% state of charge, and around 1.03 miles remaining. We may actually get this little car up to 10 miles one day. Perhaps one day we will make it all the way to the dog park. One can only dream.

WaypointOdometerDistanceGoogleT600
Home1,097.4
Skyline Soccerplex1,102.04.64.23.9
Home1,106.64.64.24.0
Total9.28.46.3
RechargeEnergyCostDuration
RatekWh9.85¢0.74 mph
Total 2.33 kWh23.7¢12:29
Per Mile 254 Wh2.6¢01:21
Trips

Custard Greenway

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CitiCar with a fact sheet on the rear window

Today is Sunday. It’s another beautiful day. We’ve been having brief showers throughout the weekend. The air is fresh, and it felt like a great day to go on another adventure.

I got some tape and put up a little fact sheet on the back window. I also added a QR tag and the URL to this blog so people could learn more about the car, my adventures, and the history behind the car.

Afterwards, we drove over to the Front Royal town square.

Details on the back window of the CitiCar
The Royal Shenandoah Greenway

Teddy and I took a walk along the Royal Shenandoah Greenway. Its a little path that goes around the whole town. It runs along Happy Creek, down to the Bing Crosby stadium. It also goes through a few parks and along various roads. We took our time casually strolling along the trail. I let Teddy sniff around at his own pace. He would often lead me down toward the creek.

Happy Creek Arboretum Sign

We walked through the Happy Creek Arboretum on a side path with more shade. It’s made up of a few trees, various plants, a side path of mulch, a picnic table, and a few plaques. There is a water fountain for both people and dogs, but it was out of service. The bench looking out over the creek was also occupied, so we continued on.

Footbridge across Happy Creek

We made our way towards the footbridge nearby to cross the creek. The two of us often like to watch and listen to the water below. Once we crossed, Teddy made a beeline for another open area leading to the river and startled a group of butterflies.

I let him wade in the creek for a little bit. He was thumping the water with his paw, as if he wanted to swim, but it’s just not deep enough for him. After a few minutes, he came back up the bank and we were off onto the Royal Greenway again.

Teddy and Lewie share some Custard

We made it to our final destination for B & L’s Custard. Teddy got a “Pup Cup”, and I went with a small cup for myself. It was the perfect weather for setting outside in some partial shade along with a light breeze. As always, I had him do a few tricks for a treat beyond his wildest dreams. After he licked his cup clean, I let him lick mine clean as well.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Teddy found something stinky on the way back and had to stop to rub it all over himself. After bringing the side of his face down onto the spot, he rolls onto his back and wiggles around.

We saw the butterflies again on our way back, and I was able to stop and grab some photos before letting Teddy wade in the creek again. They appear to be Canadian tiger swallowtail butterflies.

DC Fast Charger for CCS and CHAdeMO

When we got back to the town square, I took a closer look at the public charger. It offered both CHAdeMO (DC) and CCS Combo (DC). In other words – DC fast charging only. I’ve been starting to take an interest in public charging stations while researching how I can modernize the car.

On the way home, we had a couple people honk their horns and wave at us, and I would honk back. We can’t go far, but it’s been a blast driving through town again.

Charging Time & Voltage

I love making spreadsheets. I measured the voltage and kept a closer eye on the chargers as they topped off the batteries. I now have a few extra metrics to keep track of.

On an 11 hour 41 minute charge back to full, a 7.2 mile trip charged at 1 hour and 37 minutes per mile (0.66 mph). For reference, I can casually walk about 1-2 miles an hour. I suspect this is a low rate of charge for a sealed lead acid battery. It is either due to the batteries themselves, the quality of the chargers I am using, or the fact that I’m using four chargers on separate batteries that are still wired in series.

In addition, the 2.6 voltage drop from my trip comes in at about 0.36v/mile. This gives me a general idea about how much range the car has in its current configuration. Forgetting temperatures, accuracy, resting time, calculating parabolic curves, amps, hills, etc. We are working with ballpark numbers here.

Returning home with a voltage of 48.5 is almost on the nose of a 50% SoC. Ideally, I don’t want to go below a 30% charge at 47.84v. So…

(48.5v SoC – 47.84v minimum)/0.36v per mile = 1.83 miles

From this, it seems the car can go a total of 9 miles (7.2 + 1.8) before the batteries get down to 30%. A dead battery sits at around 46.04v. From the same calculations, I would have 6.81 miles left for a total range of 14 miles. I doubt I would be able to get that far unless it was all downhill.

I’ll continue to monitor the charging time and voltages to see if the total miles has an effect on the average volts per mile and charging duration. For now, I can set a timer to turn the chargers off based on each trips total miles driven.

miles driven * 1 hour 37 min

If the car isn’t charged fully by the next morning, I can simply turn the chargers back on.

WaypointOdometerDistance
Home1,077.0
Front Royal Town Square1,080.63.6
Home1,084.23.6
Total7.2
CitiCar odometer readings for a tip to the town square and back
RechargeEnergyCostDuration
RatekWh$0.09850.62 mph
Total2.08 kWh21.1¢11:41
Per Mile289 Wh2.9¢01:37
Cost to recharge the CitiCar batteries
Trips

Royal Excursion

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The sun is out in the middle of a hot July summer day. Lazily getting up, it took my time enjoying the weekend morning. I had plans to pickup an office desk. I got into my 2004 Ford Explorer SUV and found that I couldn’t get the vehicle to recognize that the gear had shifted out of park. Unfortunately, my hybrid 2010 Honda Insight car is also inoperable. Due to the pandemic, I haven’t driven it for a few months and the battery has died. The only operational vehicle at the moment is… the CitiCar. Really? This?!? At least I’m within range of a couple auto-parts stores.

After calling around and making a few arrangements due to my predicament, it was time to enjoy the rest of the day. Teddy and I hopped into our little electric car and started driving. The right rear brake had a sound that concerned me, so I made a few adjustments back in the driveway and continued on again.

We visited both Gertrude E. Miller Community Park and walked over a little bridge to Lions park across river. Teddy waded in the Happy Creek river a little bit and started laying down when he realized we were about to leave. I’ll admit, if it were cooler, we would have stayed longer. I was getting hot, thirsty, and wasn’t inclined to drink and wade in the river.

1976 CitiCar at Front Royal Town Square

We drove over to pick up Ice Cream. Just like last week, Main street was blocked off. It probably put on an extra mile on the odometer, but the car seemed fine on battery charge, setting on the third tick of five, when we parked. Teddy had some dairy-free strawberry mint ice cream as a reward for doing a few of his tricks in some shade at the town square. We could see the ice cream man and his wife, while dressed as pirates, had stopped by the car to check it out.

On the way home, I had some concerns regarding how much load I was putting on the battery as we were on one of the last inclines. We stopped on a side street just before continuing home. Teddy and I had a bit of a serious discussion regarding the batteries and how much power the motor was drawing. After a minute or two, with clear traffic, we pulled out and continued on our way.

As I held down the breaks for a couple minutes going down hill, I was thinking of how much power was being wasted. Ideally, I could just let off the brakes and coast all the way home, but I wouldn’t even attempt that in my hybrid car with regenerative breaking. As we coasted into the garage, I could hear the motors fan blowing and wondered if I should leave the power on to help it cool off. I also considered if I should wait before charging the car.

In all, we go just under nine miles on our trip from a full battery. The fuel gauge read at 50%, half way between the red dot and the next tick. The owners manual states that the red dot indicates a ¼ charge. We could have probably gone an extra mile or two before fully depleting the battery.

WaypointOdometerDistance
Home1,060.5
Back to Driveway1,060.70.2
Gertrude E Miller Community Park1,063.73.0
Front Royal Town Square with detour1,065.61.9
Side Street1,068.22.6
Home1,069.31.1
Total8.8
CitiCar odometer readings for a trip to the park and ice cream store
RechargeEnergyCost
RatekWh$0.0985
Total2.71 kWh27.5¢
Per Mile308 Wh3.1¢
Cost to recharge the CitiCar batteries
Trips

Gertrude Miller Park

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Teddy sits in the shade in front of “The Chez” CitiCar

It was a wonderful day out. Teddy and I hopped into our little electric CitiCar and started to take off toward the community park, only to hear a strange sound while backing out of the garage. I evaluated the situation and found that the front tire was locked up and sliding on the floor. After repairing the brakes and attaching the hub caps, we were on our way.

I could immediately feel the difference in driving. I could go further coasting. I was able to break past my max speed of 32mph and got up to 33! Driving felt almost normal, as being in any other car.

Dedication of the community park to Gertrude E. Miller

We arrived at the community park and found a nice spot in the shade for the CitiCar. The voltage meter was at the fourth notch, reading at about a 78% charge. Teddy was happy to be back in the park. He got to bark at a dog, walk around, smell grass, wade in Happy Creek, and talk to strangers from a distance. We also took a look at the dedication plaque next to the entrance to the park.

The trip home was pretty fun. At one point going down hill I noticed the speedometer was at a record breaking speed of 37 mph. A passenger in another car stuck there head out and said that they loved the car. Taking the slow lane up a hill, we let most of the cars pass until we ran out of road. We were down to about 25 mph at full throttle and pulled off onto a small road to let traffic pass before we were on our way again.

Teddy and I made it home. As I pulled into the garage, the volt meter was just above the third notch at about 61% charge. Hooking up the battery chargers, the batteries were at 12.3 volts.

WaypointOdometerDistance
Home1,049.3
Gertrude E. Miller Community Park1,052.53.2
Home1,055.83.3
Total6.5
Odometer readings for a round-trip to the Gertrude E. Miller Community Park from home
RechargeEnergyCost
RatekWh$0.0985
Total1.97 kWh20.0¢
Per Mile303 Wh3.1¢
Cost to recharge the CitiCar batteries

At the end of the day, a pair of scissor jacks had arrived on my door step to add to my emergency equipment.

Notes

The turn signal has an impact on the motors battery. When the turn signal is engaged, each click moves the voltage reading of the main batteries. The same behavior is seen when flashing the high beam lights. My original understanding was that these lights were powered by the accessory battery.

I’m starting to understand the sounds that the car makes as I drive, specifically with the brakes.