When I hit the button to unlock the doors this morning, I heard some strange beeps from the dashboard. It was displaying a warning about a problem with the electric parking brake. (I think electric parking brakes are stupid, as they’re impossible to operate as a proper emergency brake like a good old-fashioned lever or pedal with a direct cable connection, but that’s just me being a grumpy old man.) I know from past experience that low battery voltage can cause strange issues like this, so I pulled up my Renogy app that monitors both my house and vehicle battery voltages. The vehicle battery read 9.2 volts instead of the usual 12-13 range.
I haven’t driven the van anywhere in over two months since our Mulberry Mountain camping trip. I’m not running lights or anything off the van battery, but I’ve used the power locks plenty, and all those activations add up. I grabbed my jump pack out of the motorcycle saddlebag, hooked it up to the van for the first time ever, and it started right up. I ran the engine for about 20 minutes to recharge the battery. It started right up again afterward, so I haven’t killed the battery. Still, I should start running the engine a little bit each month while sitting still, just to keep everything lubed up and the battery charged. Either that or maybe put the Battery Tender they gave me when I bought the V-Strom to use, except on the van instead of the bike.
The van isn’t the only thing getting jump-started lately. Suddenly, I’m going to be writing for TopSpeed. It all came together within a matter of days, facilitated by an old acquaintance of mine who works there. They offered part-time or full-time work, and since I’m not traveling these days, I took the full-time option, a nice jump-start to my income. Most of my other employment has been dwindling these days anyway, which is what led me to start looking into alternatives. Job hunting is a dumpster fire these days, where half the job postings are fake, and the other half are scams that want you to pay them for the privilege of working for them. So I’m very thankful to have a human contact, one who I’ve even met in person, on the inside who could confirm that this one is for real and help me get in.
Smokey Da Van 