About a month ago, Tobias and I co-bought a camperized van with my dad. This plan has been in the works for a while, and my dad (who really was the driving force behind the thing) finally found something fitting his criteria (1. must be a van, 2. must be a "bargoon"). Here she is, in all her camperized glory:
For my dad, the van will provide his transportation and living space when he starts wintering in New Mexico after he retires next year. For us, the van will provide transportation and living space for our trip to New Mexico this October. We are going on a four-week roadtrip in the American Southwest as our vacation for 2006. Yeeha!
So when, exactly, did we morph from a family that vacations in houseboats on Amsterdam canals ...
to one that prefers spending time in ancient RVs with interior wood-panelling ?
Well, to be precise, at around 7:50pm on December 27, 2005, when M'hijo entered the world.
Actually, I think M'hijo has what it takes to be a good international traveller, and we're toying with the idea of Chile or Spain in 2007, but for now, RVing will be the most manageable and fun vacation option for us.
Last weekend, we inaugurated the Beast with a one-night trip to Lizard Lake, a forest service campsite near Port Renfrew. It was okay. It would have been better if we had remembered the folding chairs, a knife, and a corkscrew. It would have been better if it hadn't rained. It would have been better if the Blue Grouse Ortega tasted as good warmish in the evening as it did perfectly chilled at the vineyard that afternoon:
"It seems like my life is all about finding new places to eat roquefort and drink wine", said Tobias as we huddled under the awning. Personally, "in the pouring rain in the middle of nowhere" wouldn't top my list, but whatevs, at least we managed to get the wine open. Tobias' comment reminded me of the title of a chapter of The Alice B Toklas Cook Book: "Food to Which Aunt Pauline and Lady Godiva led us". Aunt Pauline and Lady Godiva were the jalopies that Alice B and Gertrude Stein cruised around France in, and man did they ever eat and drink well on those cruises.
So, since the Beast, at its core, is basically a vehicle for leading us, too, to great food and wine, I hereby christen her Lady Godiva, just because I prefer that name to Aunt Pauline. May she live long enough to shelter us from many rainstorms, travel many kilometres, and hold in far too many roquefarts (a term that, strangely enough, is not defined in either Wikipedia, or on Cheese.com).
