here's the problem

A click of the pic will do the trick, and make the pics get bigger quick.

Nighttime Rose.

A cold front is supposed to come through Thursday night; the wind will pick up, overnight lows will be in the 30s, and it goes downhill from there.

But I did figure out that I want to stay in Denver until the front blows over the middle of next week instead of trying to outrun it and taking a chance on getting stuck somewhere for a few days I'd rather not be.

Where I'm boondocking at the moment, which is in a driveway right in front of the Arctic Fox fifth wheel, is a terrible place to be in the Fall if you live on sunshine. The sun is low on the horizon, and huge trees in the front yard block the sun for most of the day, so even under the best of conditions, it's hard to keep my batteries charged up during the Fall.

But with a front coming through bringing a lot of clouds and snow predicted for Saturday and Sunday, staying warm will be difficult since the Lance's furnace runs on electricity, of which I have very little this time of year.

I've faced this problem before but cold fronts weren't a major problem with the Arctic Fox since I set it up to be able to handle the cold. My major heat source in the Arctic Fox is a radiant propane heater, which requires no electricity and keeps me toasty warm no matter the conditions. Yes, the trees still shaded the solar panels on the Arctic Fox, but there are more solar panels so the problem wasn't nearly as bad.

So, the Lance is not the "four seasons" camper that the Arctic Fox is but that's one of the things that I was willing to give up for the simplicity and mobility of the Lance. I figured I could use the lances, speed, and agility to run away from cold weather and problems like this, but apparently, that idea won't work in every situation.

But the Lance is a work in progress; last winter was spent mostly as a test of the Lance's ability to be lived in full-time and my ability to deal with its shortcomings. And the fact that I'm here dealing with another kind of problem shows that the Lance passed its first test.

One of the solutions to this problem is that I stay in Denver and deal with the cold, which is what I'm going to do. But If I left early in October or late in September, I would seldom face the kind of winter problems I'm facing now. But I like my freedom to be able to decide when I want to come and go rather than having a date when I need to get out of town. I would much rather solve a problem like that than give up some freedom to avoid the problem.

Now, with my family's help, there is a way out. A method that will keep me warm, keep my batteries charged up, and keep me comfortable. And I will talk about it in tomorrow's blog post..... Notice my cunning plan of stretching this into two blog posts, which Is proof of how little I have to write about nowadays.

This is the problem I'm having of keeping my batteries charged up in the camper.

The sun is coming up from left to right, and its low on the horizon. So I get a little bit of charging early in the morning as the sun is rising in the sky, then the tree takes over and I'm mostly in the shade when the sun is at its highest, then I get a little bit of charging in the afternoon but by then the sun is on its way down again.

The empty plains near Alamosa Colorado.

Solo Sandhill Crane.

Since Sandhill cranes mate for life it always makes me feel a little sad when I see one flying alone.