0405VWID4-13

DAY: 9 DEADHORSE, AK

In Deadhorse, we finally spent another night at the climate controlled Hotel Aurora. It is actually more of a container hotel with over 400 rooms for the oil workers in the Prudhoe Bay region, the vast majority of whom work two-week shifts off and on. There is also only one small store which is the only supplier for the oil industry companies here. What is interesting is that most of the rigs in town can be moved on huge tires within the tundra. We could charge the ID.4 with our Heliox charger at 480 volts quite fast at Conam. They were great supporting us because it was too cold to charge outside and they allowed us with special permission to charge in their huge equipment shed, as generally any activity does not take place outside with the temperature being this low. Even the smallest distances are driven by car. There are no pedestrians in Deadhorse and Fuel prices are almost double than the lower 48. We made a short stop at the famous Deadhorse sign, where there were already many stickers from Deadhorse travelers. Then we went another three miles north to Gatehouse, where the Dalton Highway officially ends. We had arrived with an electric car for the first time at the northernmost point of the US Highway System in April. Only oil workers with a pass are allowed into the gatehouse to the oil fields. We were also looking forward to a visit with the Deadhorse administration. Tom a representative from North Slope Borough wrote us a letter for the mayor in Key West and we said goodbye to Deadhorse in the evening at extremely cold minus 33 degrees Fahrenheit. From now on we will drive every mile South towards Florida.

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