It got dark and cloudy on New Year’s Eve. The wind picked up and there were spurts of rain. It had been a dreary week, with many days of partial cloud cover and combined with the short days and sun so low in the sky, my solar power was taking a hit. Without getting too technical (because frankly, I don’t completely understand it completely myself) my coach battery (the one that runs the DC power in my living space, not the battery under the hood that starts the engine) hasn’t been up to full power for about a month. This is (at least partially) due to the fact that I run my solar power on DC most of the time. I can run my solar in AC mode, and I must do so in order to use the microwave or to plug anything into my outlets, but that depletes my lithium batteries faster than running it on DC. It also means the lithium batteries charge slower because although the power in from the solar panels remains the same, when the inverter is on (turning the DC power from the solar panels into AC power to run my vans outlets and plug-in appliances) the net gain is less than when my solar controller is turned to DC. (Yeah. I know. Complex, right?) Anyway, during the spring, summer, and fall months, I mostly leave the inverter on. That not only means my outlets are always working but it also means that the AC is charging my coach battery. The coach battery also charges when I drive, but lately I don’t drive often. If the inverter is off, then the coach battery gets depleted. During the winter months with the solar panels having limited sun, if I don’t drive much and don’t turn on the inverter often enough, then the coach battery gets low. If I DO turn on the inverter, then the Lithium batteries get depleted faster because they are not only running the inverter and the outlets, but they are also charging my coach battery. (Yes, my head is spinning as well, but I live with this, so have grown accustomed to it.) My end point is that this week both my coach battery and my lithium phosphate stack are not fully charging. Neither has reached 100% for some weeks now. So by New Year’s Eve, my coach battery was getting dangerously low (would not be able to do the simplest of tasks such as keeping the propane fridge running or charging my phone or laptop). I decided the best way to recharge it was to go for a ride. I did. It helped. When I returned back to my spot on BLM land, I parked facing south so the solar panels had their best shot at catching some rays, and I left the van running in order to continue to charge the coach battery. After about a half hour, the engine sputtered and made odd noises so I shut it off. Later, I started it up again and saw that the “Check Engine” light was on. Ugh.
Ah, but I’ve learned that lesson before. Was it life threatening? Nope. Was there anything I could do about it after dark on New Year’s Eve? Nope. So I listened to music, and then read and went to bed early. It rained hard off and on throughout the night, and I slept soundly. When I got up on New Year’s morning, I remembered that somewhere I had one of those gadgets that plugs in under the dashboard and gives a code that tells what’s wrong with the engine. I found it in my glove compartment and plugged it in. I had to go online to find out how to use it but, in the end, I got a code that indicated a general sensor failure. I was no better off by knowing that than I was before doing the test. I couldn’t get any more information, so I hit the “clear” button and the “Check Engine” light went out. From what I read, if it was an ongoing issue, it would come back on when I drove. If it stayed out, then either the issue was temporary, or it was a fluke or it resolved itself. Nothing was open on New Year’s Day, so I saw no point in driving it. I spent the morning making breakfast, having a second cup of coffee, and watching amazing storm clouds roll by.
It was a nice way to welcome in 2023.
The rest of the week was mostly uneventful. The “check engine” light never came back on. My batteries—Lithium Phosphate connected to the solar panels and the deep cycle coach battery—never fully charged, but neither have they fully depleted. They are working for the time being until I can either get to a place to plug in and top them off or until the sun starts getting higher and stronger. Cosmo and I are loving “living here” in Ehrenberg for the winter. Very little driving, everything close at hand, a friendly neighbor to spend time with. Life is good.
Lessons From The Road: I spend a lot of time looking up at the sky. In the past couple of weeks, habits and routines have changed somewhat, and I find myself often waking up hours before sunrise. Knowing I’m truly well-rested and fully awake, I no longer toss and turn and pretend that I’m going back to sleep. Instead, I’ve started listening to my favorite podcast without getting out of bed. As the sky becomes light (and more often than not, truly spectacular),
I slip out from under the covers to turn the coffee on. When it’s ready, I bring it to bed with a morning snack (usually something sweet) and watch the sunrise, listen to either the silence outside, or the wind or rain against the van, and ease into my day by checking e-mail and news headlines. I find that I’m done my morning routine by 8:00 and am ready for whatever the day holds. I tease my neighbor Bonnie about it going to be a “rough day,” telling her I have something to do. That “something” is usually something so tiny that it would have been under the radar in my old life. I will have a chore, like driving down the hill to fill my water tank or sweeping the dog hair off my 3×6 floor. Sometimes it will be a “full blown workday” meaning I have TWO things to accomplish like topping off my water tank AND getting propane. We laugh at how chores that used to get accomplished “in the cracks of our daily routine” now become the primary mission of the day. Neither one of us are oblivious of the fact that our lives are so idyllic that a chore such as having to run to the dollar store for snacks is our biggest inconvenience in life for that day.
I am totally enjoying being stable for the winter. I have no place to be, nothing much that needs to be done. Visiting in the mornings has become such a welcome routine and listening to audio books in the afternoon has grown to be a delightful habit. Interspersed throughout the day are phone calls or texts to friends and deciding what to cook for whatever meal I intend to eat. Even meals have fallen from their everyday routine. I usually eat breakfast after Cosmo and I take our morning walk. After that, all bets are off. Sometimes I’ll eat an apple or banana instead of lunch and then eat a meal at 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Maybe I’ll have another snack before bedtime. Usually, whatever I make as my main meal of the day, whether I eat it closer to lunch time or dinner time, is plentiful enough that I have leftovers which I eat for breakfast the next morning. (I had Kung Pao tofu and veggies for breakfast this morning.)
So I guess this weeks lessons are: Life is mostly beautiful and effortless, if one chooses to focus on those two things, and the second lesson is that no matter how perfect life is, I think the human condition finds some part of it to be a “chore” even if that chore is driving into town to empty your trash. But I think the main lesson is that one can put one’s attention on either part; Whatever you choose to focus on becomes the reality. I’m learning to focus on the sky, the wind, the warm nights, the sunny days as opposed to focusing on the miniscule inconveniences that must be done for me to survive out here.