Here we go again. Another new owner (#4) and another tow vehicle. This one seems like it might be a bit more interesting though. A bright yellow Jeep, and a woman on her own, a bit younger than my previous owners. Life might be a little different with this lot.

I hope we go away more than I have done before. I was built to go off road and haven’t really had the chance yet. I’ve only done a few trips so far. Here’s hoping anyway.

Our first trip wasn’t so flash, in fact it was a bit of a disaster. Let me tell you how it went down….

Since she brought me home, she’s been opening me up, pottering around, getting to know me and making me into the ind of space she likes. Everything has been cool. The cat loves me and spends loads of time with me so everything has been looking pretty rosy.

Anyway, she packed me up, finagled me through the tightest gates I’ve ever seen - without a single scratch, and hooked me up to Jack. Jack is a pretty cool dude. I like him. A lot 😎

Off we went, through suburbia and out onto the open road. We cruised along really nicely, Jack is so cool, did I mention that already? I really like him!

Up past a forest plantation, over the coastal road, past amazing, massive sand dunes, rolling along till we turned off down a dirt road. This is much more like it!

Dust and sand billowing out behind me, covering me, just like it was always meant to be. Bliss!

We pulled up in a nice little camp spot, with space for some friends to come and camp beside up. I was pretty impressed with how well she got me into position and even levelled me out perfectly. So far so good, right?

Well hell, things started getting a little hairy. She started winding up my roof and the first couple of winds were good. My roof started lifting…lifting…lifting until… Dammit! That hurt! Ouch!

One of the springs inside my belly popped out of place and one side of my roof collapsed. Oh no!! How embarrassing, and bloody hell it hurt! 😭

Luckily some guys saw what was happening, and came to help get my roof right down again. Seriously, it was stuck and not going anywhere. Sheer brute strength was the only thing that was going to help.

That first night, she slept in the back of Jack, and I sat alone. Unhooked, packed up. Useless. Feeling pretty sorry for myself and still not feeling too flash.

Humans though, are stubborn creatures, well these ones were anyway.

The next morning, after some chit chatting and plotting, using more brute strength and a bit of Matt-gyvering, they got my roof right up and propped me open with some poles. We were back in business!

It was awesome! The sea breeze, the smell of the ocean, the call of the seagulls… bloody heavenly I tell ya.

It was really cool to finally be able to show her how much space I had, how useful and handy it would be to take me on trips away - if we could get my springs fixed that is…

Under the light of the moon, sheltering the humans from the dust storm that was blowing that long weekend, we had a blast, and I got a glimpse of how much fun life could be.

When it came time to pack up, my roof wound down perfectly and we thought I was ok again.

Poor Jack was really crook and didn’t want to wake up. He had to have his heart restarted by the RAC guy. Maybe he just wanted to stay at the beach for longer, I dunno. It was pretty unlike him apparently.

It was an interesting and eventful weekend for sure. We made a right bloody pair, and not in the best way.

Fingers crossed we’re both healthy again and can get on with more trips away, in a much less dramatic way…. watch this space 😉