Continuing the journey

Last Thursday, 26th April, 2012 I finally got behind the wheel of my motorhome and drove it. Yay!!! I was very nervous about ‘having a go’ as I was by now not sure at all that I would be able to do it; the journey had been so long and arduous although I had, with help, overcome all the obstacles placed in front of me. Now this one. I am not a lover of tests, always seem to make my biggest mistakes on them simply because I have always suffered such low self confidence. I reminded myself how far I had come in the last ten years since finally passing my Driver’s test and getting mobile!

My son took me out on a quiet road and put me behind the wheel, after talking to me in lay man’s (or more precisely lay woman’s) terms so I would gain an understanding of how to put my dream of driving this manual into action. Thank you son, you are a great teacher! When I sat behind that wheel, my seat forward so I could touch the pedals (I am five two and a half and it was a bit of a stretch I can tell you lol) and my hands resting on the steering wheel, I admit I had a wobble but I was determined to push through it and I did! I popped her into gear and we were off! A little jerky at first, getting used to how much throttle to use is an ongoing journey I can tell you, but still I was driving her! I could feel the excitement begin to rise up as I realised how much I enjoyed driving her. She is easier than I thought she would be, though mind you I didn’t go out on the highway or main roads yet. I needed to get a feel for her size and to learn to be smoother with the gear changes but I WAS driving her! I went forward to the end of the road and then reversed her back to where I started, each time becoming quicker as I gained in confidence. My son helped to lift me even more when he remarked I would pass the test on long reverse driving in her right now! Nice one son, I was beginning to feel I really could do this!

We spent over an hour doing this and then, as it is a bit of a hike between where I live and where my son lives, I reluctantly handed over the driver’s seat to my son. He drove her to the fuel station and filled her up with diesel, all ready for the next part of my journey. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face and there was a song in my heart as we returned to his place for a coffee and a yack before I headed off to make sure I was home in time to greet Josh as he rode in from school.

I had made arrangements for my son to drive the motorhome to Red Rock, halfway between our places, the following weekend so that I could spend my first weekend in her. I was really in the vibe now and couldnt wait for the weekend to come. Naturally the weather turned inclement but that was not going to put me off. I badly needed some quiet time so I didn’t mind if it did pour down! Not only that but nothing was going to stop my forward motion now!

I still have some things to do to finish her off and decided to use the Friday to put them into motion. The first email I opened when I got home was a reply from the Conversion company in response to my polite but firm demand that they either reimburse me, pay my way up or pay someone down here to have that television wire put in as quoted and paid for by yours truly! He had decided to reimburse me; easier for him and fine by me. Though there were a couple of dissenters with my agreeing to this, saying that it may just cost more than he reimbursed, I went with it.

It is a grey area and if he had decided to fight it I would not see any of it for quite some time. Besides it was not the money so much as the principle that was important to me here. I was fed up with the treatment I had received by more than one male in this situation and was determined to stand up for myself. I sent him an email with my details so he could transfer it and thanked him for his promptness; to my way of thinking there is really never a need for nastiness, how we conduct ourselves in situations like this speaks volumes to others about who WE are, not them! I simply do not believe aggressive or abusive behaviour opens any doors, more likely closes a lot actually. I had made him aware that it was his responsibility; that I had consulted Fair Trading; but that I was open to negotiation. I had also made him aware of how sad I felt that his refusal to take action to solve what was, after all his oversight,taking away my desire to tell everyone what a fantastic job he had done, highly recommending what had up till had been of excellent quality.

He further sent me, along with the proof of transfer, a sincere apology for all the trouble caused me and that meant more to me than the money, funnily enough. Finally some professionalism from the guy! Too late for me to conifidently recommend him sadly but nonetheless appreciated.

Now to find out if I was right in feeliing he had been fair. I went on the search for someone here who could put in the television wire on the Friday, discovering that due to the financial downturn many had been forced to close their doors. So sad for them. Frustrating for me too but not one to give up easily now that I was almost there, I found two possibilities, one apparently too dear for me to consider. Again I went with my intuition. I rang the so called dearer company, knowing they deal with motorhome stuff all the time. I was right to accept what the conversion company told me! It will cost a little less actually. Great! It seems the tide is finally turning in my favour. While I was on the phone I asked them how much it would cost to have a bigger regulator put in and another solar panel bracketed onto the first. Again a pleasant surprise on the estimate, always remembering estimates are flexible.. still, it was nowhere near what I feared. I have an antenna on its way, cheaper than thought… another hurdle jumped easily. The solar panels are just down the road along with the regulator when I get all the other bits together and I am buying from Ebay a great reversing camera. Looking good Sandy!

Friday night was wet, wet,wet! Saturday morning was no better but nothing could dampen my enthusiasm! I packed some books I have been meaning to read, some food so I wouldnt spend unnecessarily (besides I was so looking forward to cooking in my motorhome lol), some fishing gear, clothes, pillows and a doona I could leave. I took some cleaning stuff because I knew she would need that, dust from the builders and the travel had accumulated big time. I took my toiletries and tea towels, washing up detergent, a fry pan and some more utensils to add to what I had there..cups too! Josh was chattering in my ear, all excited to be going to his Auntie Lissa’s to have fun with her family while I was away; everyone was happy.

I set off earlier than planned,too excited to sit around and sure I had everything I needed! My son had done the same thing, ensuring he could just potter along the highway, the rain torrential by now. He was waiting for me as I drove into the holiday park and as I parked behind the motorhome he jumped out with a big grin on his face. I know mine was a mirror of that same grin lol.

Together we went into the little shop which also served as an office to pay for the stay and collect a toilet key. Although I had a loo in the motorhome neither of us knew where a dumping site was and didnt want to leave anything smelly. I do have a book and will give that one a go next time. Ten dollars deposit for the toilet key and I laughingly said no way would I forget to give it back, I didnt want to miss out on my ten bucks back after all. My son and I bantered happily about different ways of ‘camping’; he is a big fan of four wheel drives and tents, for me now the comfort and convenience of a motorhome is the only way to go. I have funny and sweet memories of camping with hubby and kids when we were all young, getting drenched more often than not! That was fun then but at my age, the idea had lost its appeal; bring on the comfort I say! hehehehe

To update at last, I had a fantastic weekend in my new ‘home away from home’. I just loved the peace and quiet at night and the madcap dancing I indulged in through the next day to the music piping out from my laptop. I didnt connect to the internet because I wanted to be free of all obligations but I did take along some of my favourite songs! Ohhh to be able to just be myself for a short while was sublime! Not that it was without glitches. The first was putting up the awning lol. The conversion guy had hurriedly tried to fill me in on it all but with one angry son to deal with at the time, I took very little in. My son and I did our best, hoping it was right and then I drove him back to his home to continue on with his own plans for the weekend. When I got back, the pole I thought went into the ground to secure the middle part of the awning was on the ground, the awning chockers with rain from the torrential downpour that had visited the caravan park in my absence.

Now what was I going to do! I tried my hand at emptying the water out but was too short to be able to do the job. I looked at the sagging awning, worrying that already I had caused damage. I noticed a man coming towards me who had obviously been fishing and decided to enlist his help. He was a lovely person, only too ready to help and called in his much taller son to help him ‘save the day’. Together they emptied the awning of its burden and after much discussion decided the middle pole belonged between the motorhome and the end of the awning. They put it up, I wasnt so sure it was right as yet and sure enough, though it was in the right place it was back to front! Finally it was put in its correct place and with my profuse thanks ringing in their ears, they went on their way with offers of joining them later when ‘Dave’ got back to get the right advice on the awning he and I both had. Sounded good but all I really wanted was to chill on my own despite my usually social nature.

The rain continued to pour down. I kept a wary eye on my awning, not only for a build up of rain (this never eventuated due to my finally understanding how to put it on an angle that would allow run off) but in case the wind got too vicious for me to keep it out. I had a book I had been battling to read for weeks now so after I had danced myself to a standstill, I retired to the comfortable bed down the end to curl up and read. I passed the rest of the afternoon sublimely oblivious to the rest of the world, engrossed in my book and wrapped in my ‘Snuggie’. The peace I had been longing for had finally been granted and I couldnt have been happier, the sound of the rain on the roof combining with everything to soothe and nurture my soul.

No fishing was had that day; no worries, I still had tomorrow and was not overly disappointed with the prospect of another day nestled inside my motorhome if it didn’t eventuate at all this weekend!

Later that evening I cooked my first meal on the gas stove.. mmmmm divine! I danced and sang as I prepared my dinner, filled with energy and the joy of living once again. Ahh now the last thing to do was have a lovely, warm shower. Its times like this, the rain pelting, when you appreciate haVing a shower in the motorhome. I opened up my bag and scrummaged around in search of my towel with no success and I suddenly had a vision of the towel still sitting on my bed at home. Damn!! I looked longingly at the shower but the only thing I had that I could use to dry my body was a spare teatowel… I may not be a huge person but that definitely wouldnt do! I grabbed my brolly and went down to the shop/office in the hopes they were renting out towels to forgetful hopefuls like yours truly; no such luck. Needless to say, a ‘top and tail’ was the order of the day, the weather being a tad too chilly for a drip dry attempt! Dare I say glitch number two and ensuing lesson.

The next day after a blissfully deep slumber I gingerly peeked out of the curtains. To my delight I spied patches of lovely blue sky..yayyyyyy. I was rested and ready to fish now, though those black and heavy clouds to the right were a bit of a worry. The wind was quite high so I decided to wait and watch before making a final decision on what my final day here would hold. I had cooked too much dinner the night before so I fired up the gas stove again and reheated it .. bubble and squeak for breakfast! How long had it been since I had done this? I was grinning from ear to ear, memories of my younger mothering years flooding my mind when the combination of three hungry children and a distinct lack of money combined to encourage me to ‘be creative’, not to mention earlier adventures of camping in the rain. We only had a tent then and it seemed Mother Nature’s humour demanded we get drenched as part of our communing with nature.. ha! Outsmarted you this time Mother! hehehe

That thought was of course somewhat premature. Around eleven, knowing the tide would be starting to come in, and with the continued blue skies tempting me to give fishing a go, I prepared my fishing rod, put it in the car along with all the tools needed for successful fishing AND cleaning them, I drove to the shop to get some bait. I was not going to risk being drenched so taking the car was a good compromise I thought. After purchasing some pilchards, I drove to the spot I felt was the best to fish from here. I baited up, clambered down the rocks and began my quest of fresh caught fish for lunch. I hadn’t reckoned on the wind however. I weigh around fifty three kilos, not exactly light as a feather. You would have been forgiven for thinking I was though as the strength of the wind literally knocked me off my feet, not once but three times before I took the hint and headed back to the motorhome, no fish and lots of bait; not to mention a sore posterior from the rather unexpected and bumpy landings I had been delivered by a once again triumphant Mother Nature. No wonder I love being with her, there is never a dull moment and the stories and laughs never end!
I suppose I should have felt cheated or at the very least disgruntled but it never entered my mind to do so. I was having a ball, the fishing would have been a lovely add-on to my adventure but was by no means the reason for being there.

After lunch, the wind still howling and the rain back once again, I rang my son to arrange the taking back to his home of my wonderful motorhome. I was filled to overflowing with happiness at what my future offered and wholeheartedly ready to continue bringing my dream into being.

Next step in the process:
Its almost the end of May and I have at last brought my motorhome closer. Still without a new dwelling, trying to believe its meant to be this way for a reason, I decided to put her into the RV storage near me which allows me to spend some time cleaning and fitting her out with bits and pieces, not to mention learning to drive her! I have a friend who has a friend lol. She has bravely volunteered to sit beside me while I learn to become fluent with the gears, making my quest for my licence more attainable and less expensive.. yay!!! The first lesson will be this Thursday. My son has done his bit, the motorhome is as nice as we can make it on the outside on limited money and he did give me a couple of quick lessons on reversing her.. did pretty good if I do say so myself 🙂 Yet his home is too far for me to get much time in so I am thrilled to have someone closer who can help me out. Having the motorhome pretty much just around the corner will enable me to accomplish so much more like getting out a mobile locksmith to put the finishing touches on making her secure.. only one lock at this point so no dramas, more convenience as I can lock her from the inside.. just would love to unlock the side door without clambering over the driver’s seat to do it! Minor, like I said 🙂

I went and washed the floor and cleaned all the dash and other upholstery, I’m determined to make her shine! Today I was busy doing things that had to be done so a day off before my first real lesson on a real road lol.. will keep you posted!