Debriefing part trois

Clicking the pics may be a bore, but tomorrow I'm sure I'll take a few more.

The Lance and the Arctic Fox, together again, but hopefully not for long.

If only I could figure a way to hitch them both together I would be able to carry my Neanderthal bowling ball collection. Most people don't realize that the Neanderthals lived in caves because caves made excellent bowling alleys. But the Neanderthals hadn't invented anything round yet, so there bowling balls were mostly square.

So here I am on my third day of blogging about how my winter went when I actually answered the question on the very first day when I said it was too cold, too wet, and too many boondockers. And that is how my winter went. But that doesn't say much about how I survived living in my tiniest home, the Lance truck camper.

As it turned out, living in the Lance was less challenging and daunting than I thought it would be. Other than the refrigerator not wanting to run right on propane. The somewhat uncomfortable seating position which is indicative of truck campers. And the batteries not getting as much charging as I'd hoped because of the unending cloudy weather... Some days I had to remind myself I'm living in southern Arizona, not the Pacific Northwest. But as for the Lance itself, I found living in its limited space no hardship at all.

Now, of course, that is based upon me getting rid of even more of the things that I couldn't live without when I first started full timing. I'm amazed at how much better my life is after getting rid of many of the things I couldn't live without. And my quality of life significantly improves the less "stuff" I have to tote around... Just like the Janis Joplin song says... "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

The Lance kept me warm and dry during the wettest Arizona winter ever. The furnace worked great, warming the little camper up within minutes, and unlike most RV furnaces, this one is amazingly quiet. But at the cost of more propane usage than a radiant heater would need. There was also many rainy days, with the wind coming from every direction this last winter, but nary a leak in the old Lance.

Storage is still a bit of a problem, but after spending almost a year living in the Lance, I've decided to "reframe" the storage problem and change it from "a storage problem" to an "I've got too much stuff problem." Since the "I've got too much stuff" problem seems a lot easier to deal with than the "not enough storage" problem.

There's not much that I will remove from the Lance now that I'm living in it, but there are several things I need to add. One of the things I missed the most was my telescoping ladder. I didn't realize how handy it was because I've always had it with me since before I went full-time, but I sure missed it during my winter travels.

Even though the factory furnace kept me warm, how much propane it wastes still bothers me. I have my little buddy propane heater with me, but it was difficult to use, so I'm considering bringing my propane radiant heater out of the Arctic Fox and putting it in the Lance. I absolutely love that heater, but it is kinda large to fit in the Lance, but I might put it in the Lance just to see.

I don't know if this ends my winter travel debriefing. It depends on me being able to think of anything else to say about my life in the Lance this last winter. So I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I start writing.

Theboondork

My grandson practicing basketball in the side yard

My grandson playing with his basketball.

Iris buds.