Let me take you back to a week ago when Shane had picked up our "new" car and the van had been away in Geelong being serviced, and on its return - our efforts to relocate the van in it's spot at our now not quite "new" home. Rain, grass and a caravan over winter are not good friends, and consequently we ended up with both bogged and had to call the RACV for assistance. Yes - all this in the middle of town! Thank heaven for full RACV cover! Having no other option we had to park it in the side street until our wonderful neighbour suggested we park it up the side road to his house where it would be away from passing traffic. I was and am grateful for this suggestion, however this meant that the van was now unplugged from power for almost 3 weeks and the battery was clearly suffering for this. As we have a fairly large portable freezer that we take with us, and no idea how long the van would take to recharge, we had to reassess the idea of free-camping the first night.
Then there was my discovery that the Anderson Plug lead from the car to the van was too short for the new car causing it to dislodge every time you turned a right hand corner, prompting a last minute trek around the local auto shops to find an extension.
So given we were planning to leave today, and it was just for a short while, we parked the van on a slightly higher area of grass outside our home and ran long leads to at least try to get some charge into the battery - at least enough to get a bit of a chill on the fridge before any food went inside the van.
Then there was the weather forecast which had turned to crap. Our original plan was to head west to Mt Gambier, up the coast through Robe and by-pass Adelaide for Port Pirie. However there was nothing good to report about the next 48 hours for that area, and so we decided virtually as we were leaving to just head north and hope to strike some better weather a bit sooner. Believe me - holidaying in a caravan with a wet dog is no holiday!
It was after 1.00pm by the time we set off and it was a good excuse to call in to Thwaites bakery for a pie and a vanilla slice for lunch on the run on the way out of town. Our new little good luck charm "Smooey" on the dash to keep an eye on us as we drive*. We sensibly aimed for Horsham for our first night and booked in to a lovely park on the river at which we have stayed before. There weren't any photo stops along the way today - I think we were just grateful to be on the road and getting the holiday started.
I had almost forgotten how much Kitty loved a walk when we are away. Even though her eyesight is failing, that nose certainly makes up for any loss of senses, and her tail never stopped wagging all the way around the caravan park. If the humans are up to it we try to go for a walk each night before we go to bed. Miss K is OK either way so long as there is a bacon cookie before bed, and yes - there are 3 weeks worth packed into the freezer.
*"Smooey" (or Mandie as she was better known) was a gorgeous English Springer Spaniel who lived with me for most of her life and held a very special place in my heart. Together we won lots of amazing prizes at dog shows including Best Gundog in Show at the Sydney Royal Show many years ago. The "Smooey" ornament was one of a number of Springer & Amercian Cocker ornaments I made years ago and she only just showed up amongst a myriad of other things during our move.
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