Old Millie on an Old Bridge

Repairs on the Road

After the bikes dragged along the road for a few hundred kilometres we took the bike rack to an engineer and got it reinforced. You can see the difference as the bikes sit straighter.

Bike Trouble

Mark McCormack built this beaut extension on the back of the van with a tow bar to put a bike rack on.

Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I should have gotten him to build the bike rack as well.

I think there must just be more bouncing around on the back of the caravan than on the back of a car.  It's not supposed to bend like that.

We limped into Warrnambool with a bike on the roof and a bike bouncing around in the van.

This was meant to be a joke, http://oldmillie.blogspot.com/2010/05/now-if-i-put-bikes-there-where-do-i-put.html but this is how we ended up doing it.

Don't Do This #4

Mismatch

Umm, something wrong here...



Oh now, it's OK, it's got electric brakes.

Concatenation

This is what happens if you stop too quickly without electric brakes.

Oh Yeah, the caravan.

We didn't quite manage it that badly. But here we are half way into a service station in the Christmas holidays on a busy intersection in Dubbo. Our first big trip.

The van won't fit under the station's canopy. The traffic is piling up behind us and I can't get the space or the nerve to reverse out anyway.

Fortunately the servo is on a corner and part of a small group of shops. A prayer, a tight but slow and careful turn, lots of preemptive thank you waves and we're off through the car park next door to go around and try again.

A couple of lessons:

1. There's often an easy-to-access diesel pump around the side or back for trucks and morons in 22 foot vans

2. Always, always, always check before you enter a service station, shopping centre, camping ground or otherwise confined space.

A good question to ask yourself:

"Do I really want to back this thing out of there in front of all those people?"

Now, How Do I Get Out Of Here?

Where shall we park?

Here's a lovely spot. Shade, view, quiet, level, water.

There's something else I need to think about...



Oh that's right, "How am I going to get out?"

Why We Need A Checklist

Why We Need A Patrol