The First Outing

We finally got a chance to take our Beast out for a night this weekend.

We spent saturday morning having a lesson in truck systems and maintenance. We learnt how to change the oil and all the filters: oil, fuel and air. We also went through pretty much all the parts of the truck and learnt what they are and what can go wrong with them. It was a lot of focus on what can go wrong but we are seriously hoping that nothing does.

We discovered that there a few things wrong with the truck at the moment – not least that the alternator is shot and needs replacing. Its a good thing that our shipping date is a couple of weeks away. It meant that learning how to jump start the truck was pretty crucial and we’ve now got that taped.

We’d booked a campsite about 10 miles away from where the truck is being stored. That’s 10 miles of tiny country lanes. Talk about a baptism of fire – driving it for the first time in roads little wider than the Beast itself. On the way to Campsite we got lost so turned 10 miles into an hours drive.

Anyway we eventually got to the campsite despite having to negotiate a u-turn on a fairly small road using a driveway for help. So we parked up in the campsite and were approached a couple of minutes later by the owner with the words “Why have you parked that monstrosity in my garden”.  We managed to persuade him that it was a camper and that we’d booked and he sent us off to a corner where no one else could see us !

We set about spending the remainder of the afternoon and evening trying everything in the camper and on the truck to check it all works and identify any snags. There were a few.  The high point of the afternoon was realising what a great place for sunbathing the roof is and how nice it is having a cold beer from the fridge up there. The other real plus is that the shower is fantastic – high pressure and oodles of hot water – Result.

All afternoon people walking by had been staring at us and finally in the evening one of them caught me outside and I ended up in a half hour chat about the Beast. A couple of other people joined in too. I think we are going to cause a bit of a stir everywhere we go.

The night in our new bed was absolutely fine until we were woken at 6.30am by a serious rainstorm beating down on the sunroof above our heads. I’m sure we’ll get used to it.

Fortunately we didn’t get lost on the way back and took a slightly quicker route. We did end up going down one really small road where we were practically driving in the ditch it was so narrow. When we got to the end we looked back and saw the sign “Not suitable for HGV’s” – Oops. No harm done and we didn’t meet anyone.

So overall a really successful first outing and next time we see the Beast we will be taking it down to the docks to ship.