Day TWO Friday 5th April 2013

The day started well, had a storm over night and Pepi got rained on as the roof leaks, will have to fix that sometime, after finding Lani I managed to heat enough water for coffee and a bucket bath, hit the road and drove on the old 101 ALL THE WAY UP TO Polokwane, where I used to go to boarding school when it was called Pietersburg or something similar. Then continued following the 101 and ended up on the N1 highway, got to a tollgate, which I refuse to use, and had to pay R33 or go back home, that made me grumpy and I was determined not to pay another one, unfortunately, the road led through Louis Trichard and up to the Tshipise turnoff, which is where I was going, but we hit the next tollgate 500m before the turnoff, well if I wasn't already grumpy I certainly would have been now, I fought with everyone about not having an alternative road to drive on therefore they could not charge me a toll, fell on deaf ears, after a long hard day of driving and the dogs not happy, and too many hours in the van with fumes from the engine giving us all headaches, I just got gatvol, told them I'm not paying and drove through with my R32 firmly in my pocket, I took the turn to Tshipise, wanted to go and see the biggest baobab tree in the country, but it was late, the dogs were hungry, I had not eaten all day, and I was fed up, so I took a side road to the dam hoping to camp by the water for the night and try again in the morning to find this tree, which did not seem to want to arrive, and we headed down the worst corrugated sand road I have ever driven on, jolted my poor camper to her very bones, I never saw a sign for the dam, we went 22km in 2 hours, it was pitch dark, nowhere to stop, hot and tired, and irritable, and we ended p back on the N1 just about where we had come out after Louis Trichard and the Tunnels, well was I now pissed off, so badly that I just drove the 30 km back to Louis Trichard, stopped in an empty park and collapsed, poor dogs were buggered.

48 Hours on the road and my headache had reached MIGRAINE STATUS.

Day ONE Thursday 4th April 2013

After having to pack the camper in a hurry yesterday because the new tenants moved in earlier than planned, I finally left at 6am this morning with a very disorganized and an over packed camper, not great, a sleepy Julian saw me off and let me out the gate as I no longer have any keys, handed them all over to Beau Gosse.

We made slow time to the Tswaing crater where we were told 'NO DOGS ALLOWED', had to talk my way through the security guard, then the receptionist, then had to drive to another gate and talk my way through that guard, then headed for the camp site and before I could get going, some white oke in a fancy 4x4 arrived and said I couldn't take the dogs, I told him I sorted with the receptionist, he said he would go and check, before he rounded the corner on screaming tyres, we were lready on the path and gone....heavy walk for the old dogs but they made it up to the lookout point, would not have made it all the way around so we turned around and came back, the oke was pretty mad but did not say anything.

I had a bad meal along the way, dry pancake and even drier mince with a cold cup of coffee for my R51.
The day got worse, very hot, brakes are hard to use, accelerator is worse, the dogs did not much like the camper and a lot of sms's up and down with an ex tenant at Semarja, caustic and nasty, and Johann got himself stuck on the highway in the Jetta, which he has just bought from me and now he does not want the car.

I hi Nylsvlei and was tired of driving so we found an abandoned road and set up camp for the night, slept inside, woke up in the morning, stiff and sore from having two dogs on top of me....and Lani had disappeared in the night, I searched all the bushes for her with no luck, had to tell the puppies 'Walkies, find your mom' and luckily their strong noses went looking in the bushes and a few minutes later out came a very wet Lani, it would help in future if the deaf dog was not the one to go walkabouts.

After 24 hours on the road I had a MASSIVE HEADACHE, and we only did about 230 very slow kilometres.

The sign that keeps everyone away from the camper.....

The story of the ROOF RACK!

So, because the camper was absolutely buggered, engine wise, when I bought her, and this I found out when I got stuck on the highway for 5 hours driving her from Lenasia home to Randburg, I did try and fix her,but that turned out to be an idiotic idea, so,we finally decided a new engine was needed, remember the old Bubbles ll?

My new baby had her spare tyre on the front, but once we fitted her with her brand new 2.2 Y Toyota engine, we had to add a radiator in the front where the tyre used to be and this left us with a slight dilemma of what to do with the spare.

One option was to assume that I will never get a flat tyre and just leave the spare at home, apparently this option was not recommended, especially as I no longer have a home to leave it in, second option was to carry it inside, this would seriously dent the space the dogs would have to roam their new home and find spacious spots to sleep in where they would not be on top of each other, it is after all a very big spare wheel!!, THIRD OPTION WAS TO FIT A ROOF RACK AND PUT IT UP THERE, so this is the one we went with, I mean, how difficult can putting on a roof rack be?

I perused the Internet to find a roof rack, none to be found, no scrap yard had one, the 4x4 place could fit one for R5 000, the welding guy in Strydom park could do one for R3 000, but no guarantees, (of what I did not ask,) I got onto CES (community exchange) and found Munya, who came and bought some of my furniture for Talents and promised to come and fit my rack in exchange as it turned out, one of his specialities in life was welding, this was a long and convoluted story, and ended badly, still no rack.

Time was fleeting at this point and a plan had to be made, one of my tenants moved out and took some of my furniture with her, she promised to ask her brother, Lucky, who said he would bring along his welder and do the job, I am still waiting.

Finally, Johan and I decided to simply do the job ourselves, as we have already stated, how hard could it be?

I went along to NJR Steel and bought the steel, turned out to be too thick, too heavy and too little, but what the hell, use what we have and lets not make a big deal out of it, still a simple job.

So we grind the ends, lay it out, take out the old welder and weld away, it takes a full day to discover that welding isn't quite as simple as it looks in 'Footloose', so we don't get very far, but we still have time so we plan another day.

Day two and the welding goes on, I get up on the roof of the shed to waterproof it, and Johann has a stab at finishing the job. The old clamps we are using need a bit of oiling as they are rusted, so rusted that we eventually have to grind the bolts off and buy new ones, unfortunately, one of the bolt heads breaks off with our rough treatment so we have to drill it out, this proves difficult as none of our drill bits are small enough. We get tired and call it a day, time is still on our side so we plan another day.

Day three and our frame is complete, our clamps still need some work but we are going to circumvent all the challenges and simply fit the frame to the clamps and then weld the lot together and bugger all the silly bolts, great up until we discover that the clamps are not made of steel that are made of aluminum - and can therefore NOT BE WELDED. So passes another frustrating day of cursing, sweating and planning and getting not much further.

Day four, Johann has made a few plans, not a Dutchman for nothing, and we have drilled a hole in the frame and bolted the clamp to it so no weld necessary, unfortunately, he has buggered up all the drill bits in the process so hops off to buy himself a drill sharpener, this takes us about 4 hours to figure out, we sharpen a few bits and none work, the thick steel, the one I bought that was too thick remember? is simply too thick to drill through, so, off to the hardware, R100 bucks later we come home with new bits.

Well away we go, drilling and bolting to our hearts content, finally getting to the point where we can lift it onto the campers roof and fit the last of the holes for the last two clamps, and voila, the frame is heavy and too short sitting on top of the clamps and only fits one side, the roof of the camper is too round so back to the drawing board, we decide to add a spacer bar between the frame and the head of the clamp, this looks a lot better when we fit it but still a bit tight, denting the roof a bit, we say what the hell, we measure the holes, go off and drill them come back again, fit it, it doesn't fit so we hammer the parts that are proving stubborn, get the clamps hooked into the gutters tighten them up, check the roof isn't too damaged and take a deep breathe, well imagine our surprise when the rack is actually up, bolted tight and looking like a million bucks.

So we get the tyre up, this is not an easy job but we manage, and we chain it down, slip a cover over it, made from some old wannabe leopard skin bed cover and all looks great, finally we have achieved our objective, it only took 4 days, cost a lot of blood sweat and tears, we have scraped hands, burned fingers, steel filing splinters and lots of blisters, but I have learned how to grind, weld and swear profusely, not necessarily in that order - but our rack is fitted!

Now I have to hope I never get a flat wheel, because getting that tyre off the rack, is not a one man job and I may have to sit on the side of the road for a long time waiting for a knight in shining armour, but whatever, we are still proud of ourselves, now for the solar panels...........

The Fast Lane

Life is starting to move a little bit faster, I think we are gaining momentum. Johann and I are having a hard time getting the roof rack fitted, but as always, a boer mark a plan!!!

The cottage is not yet rented but I still believe I will rent it before the end of the month, Beau Gosse is coming for a visit tomorrow so I can hand over the keys and give final instructions for the running of my beautiful house, I hope he fixes her up the way she deserves, sounds like he intends to.

I have everything packed, a few items I am not sure what to do with so they will be stored, packed or donated, as usual, everything is ready to go into the camper but it looks like a ton of stuff, I think I will be dumping some of it, I know I can live for a long time out of a backpack, but it might take us awhile to get back into that kind of survival mode, although, to my credit, a lot of the stuff belongs to the dogs, large pillows for the floor, bedding to cushion the heat of the engine which they will be sitting on, 8 towels, 6 bowls, 36kg of Pro Pac food, shampoo and grooming aids, leads, wow..............maybe I should leve the dogs behind, I think I have less stuff than them....

Still have the kitchen to pack up for Linneth to come and fetch over the weekend along with my washing machine and microwave, the washing machine cannot be taken out without cutting off the fitted plug, I have no idea how my mother got it in in the first place, talk about a Boer mark a Plan???

So too much to do still, not yet sorted with the solar panel either, may have to go without one and pick one up on my travels, will see today what I can sort out, excitement might not set in for awhile yet.

Cami-Leigh called today from the sunny Carribbean, she is being transferred to the Australian, Alaska run, great choice, long cruises so less work, and more over night stops so they can have some down time in port, lucky girl.

Haven't heard much from Gissie, must be busy working or busy playing, hopes it's the latter......

Winter is on it's way, that's a blessing, the camper is pretty hot and the dogs will have a hard time if I travel during the heat, so winter will allow us to travel anytime that suits us. Anyway, best time of the year for me, winter, love the fresh mornings and sitting around the fire at night.

So today I had a visit from Beau Gosse, actually Thomas is his name, BG is his e-mail persona and he thinks it's cool that I call him Beau Gosse, he started sprouting the permaculture handbook to me and told me all the things I'm doing wrong in the garden, wow I only had one meeting with him and told him he has to keep this a permaculture garden and the man is now a convert, great news, means my travels might actually bear some fruit and I might actually end up with some permaculture gardens around the country by the time I land myself on my plot in the middle of nowhere.

So I think our lovely 114 - 5th avenue North may be in good hands.

Back on the Road

Hi Guys,

Been awhile since I visited this page, but I do have news, the camper is finally on the road, not yet complete, but 99% so and will get to the finishing touches this week.

We took her out on the road for a weekend to see how she would run with her new 2.2 Toyota Y engine, also to figure out just what to pack and what to leave, with space to spare the tendency is to pack her to the rafters, but this will make her sluggish so the secret is to know what I will use and what I will never use - or more likely what I can actually do without, hard decisions.

I guess I have to start with the dogs, all 4 of them, I was going to put the older ones down but don't have the heart to, so we travel with Lani Lani the drag queen, Slick the limper, Josephine the crock with her 4 wooden legs and Pepi the greyhound.

So, we found ourselves at Bernally's, a new fishing venue, we were the first over nighters as the place is not yet finished, so we had to use buckets to flush the loos, shower under the stars with the outdoors shower, great fun, and had the owners in and out offering all manners of helping hands, wood, braai grills etc... they were a great pare, both missing a leg due to some mishap, they had about 8 dogs, two of them trundling around on 3 legs, Ruth, Lorraine and Cami-Leigh and Ruth's dog Clover, made up our group for the weekend and a lot of fun was had, not a great place for hiking but as we had the place to ourselves, this was no hardship, we used the lapa next to the future bar as our sleeping spot, we did get a bit of rain so it was great not to have to pack everything into the camper to avoid it getting wet, a place I will recommend to anyone with a wonderful couple as your hosts, Bernard and Ally.

Finally, I think I may actually have got rid of my appendages..................