davidmcowan

After getting our toddlers out of infancy we are back to car-light-hood. This morning we'd planned to head to a friends house about 20 miles away and I went out to start up the van on a cold, Denver morning and the van wouldn't start. Too cold. Back when I had two cars I would have jumped one with the other, alas I had no second car. I came back in and posed the problem to my wife, five year old and two year old. My five year old just suggested we take my bakfiets. ("Dad, let's just take the bike." total win!) A tad too long of a trip for that, we waited about 20 minutes for the sun to crest and warm up the street and then the car started.

Reminds me that single car ownership requires a few extras, like, say, a portable battery jumper.

Artkansas 

And don't forget the long, grounded extension cord.

B. Carfree

I like your child's attitude, very solution oriented and positive. You must be doing a grand job of parenting to keep that pluck alive and well.

gerv 

Good time to remember that a portable battery charger costs < $100. A second car... ?

Downsizing gives you an opportunity to think outside the box too. There are about 10 good possible strategies to help you in this case. Any one of them would be much cheaper than a car. Top of my list would be to get the family car going somehow and get the battery checked/replaced.

But your five year old is off to a good start!

davidmcowan

I'll be cleaning up the battery connections this weekend with the hopes that it is revived. If not, we'll need a new, cold weather battery as we are packing up and moving to Minneapolis this coming March. I hear it is quite a bit colder there than Denver.

Ekdog

Colder, but pretty bike-friendly, from what I've read:

[h=1]#1 Bike City: Minneapolis[/h]

Roody

We find AAA road service to be a lifesaver for one car families. One drawback is that on extremely cold mornings you might have to wait a while for AAA service. On those below-zero mornings, a lot of car commuters are late for work--but us carfree types manage to get there on time!

My household got a new (to us) car a couple months ago. In the first week we had it, it died three times. Fortunately, it was under warranty so the breakdowns were inconvenient but not costly, and a free loaner was included.

(Actually, I think our road service is from one of AAA's competitors, but I can't remember the name of it.)

Roody

Yes, colder, and the cold lasts for weks at a time. As I recall, it gets cold in Denver, but often warms up after just a couple days. In the upper midwest, it can be cold most of the days between November and April.

wahoonc

A LOT colder, higher humidity too!

I do like the cycling in the MSP area, I have never ridden in winter their, but the other season was very nice. Lots and lots of places to ride, as well as being home to the ABCE Tour.

Aaron

davidmcowan

Funny, I'll think about how much colder it is in mpls on my ride home from work today in 0 degree weather. I love riding in MPLS, great (but chilly) place to live!

wipekitty

IMO, the worst part about this region is actually summer!!!

Denver summers were great - I never used AC. Around here, it gets hot and gross and sticky and buggy and smells like the South...Minneapolis gets it worse.

wahoonc

I was out in Denver a few years back during a "heat wave", non stop news coverage, etc, etc... it was 83°F and 60%RH I had just come from Iowa City and the week before Savannah, GA. Everybody thought I was nuts because I was wearing long sleeved T-shirts and blue jeans.

Y'all want HOT? Come visit me in Georgia in the summertime. Mid 90's for both the temperature AND the humidity percentage.

Aaron

wipekitty

Oh yeah? I may have had you beat the summers I lived in Mobile, Alabama! Biking around in that...no thanks, I'll take -20 any day. Really. (Denver, on the other hand, was actually quite pleasant, even in the low to mid 90s.)

wahoonc

Been there too, at least you could catch the breeze off the bay in the evenings. When I was in Charleston we worked over in Goose Creek, but would head down into Charleston in the evenings to catch the breeze off the harbor in the evenings. Stayed for a bit in Summerville outside of Charleston, it was tolerable, it sits on a bit of a rise and gets the breezes in the evening, unlike many of the lower lying areas. Funny how geography works that way.

The Midwest summers can be brutal too, my grandparents were dairy farmers in NE Iowa, remember many a hot summer night hoping for a thunderstorm to cool things off.

For some reason I don't tolerate cold very well, never have. Heat and humidity don't really bother me that much.

Aaron