A little family motorhome history

Reminiscing this morning. Here is a little of our bizarre family motorhome history. Sorry no old pictures to give you, only the ones you will create in your mind.

1 – 1985 – Me and Andrew met on a ship going around Central and South America. We were 2 people among 130 from 30+ countries.

(1991 – Put all our earthly belongings in a few backpacks and trunks and moved to Australia with one 6 month old child, Sam.)

(1994 – We put all our earthly belongings in the same backpacks, without the trunks, and moved back to USA with 2 kids. Lizzy was a year old.)

2 – 1994 – We lived in a small 1969 ford motorhome, with snoopy flying on his doghouse painted on the side, for a year in Pasadena, California. This was for cheap accomodation while Andrew went to graduate school. We had 2 small children, Sam and Lizzy. We looked for a suitable parking lot, asked permission to park and worked for them as payment for parking. Our most momentous adventure was to drive to the rose parade a couple of days early and enjoy front row seats on top of our home.

3 – 1998 – We put all our earthly belongings into a cargo van and a tent with 4 children for 6 months. Hannah was only 6 weeks old at the time.

4 – 1998 – We were given a 10 year old, 33 foot, Winnebago Motorhome. It had dusty pink carpet, need we say more. We did 25000 miles in 2 years crisscrossing america several times. We killed this vehicle. Why? We now think that “normal” motorhomes are typically not built to haul a family around full-time. Too much weight and too many miles. A van engine and van brakes and van shocks with too big of a box on the back.

(2000 – We put all our earthly belongings in a few suitcases and moved to Scotland with 4 kids.)

(2002 – We put all our earthly belongings in an old volvo sedan and moved to Prague with 4 kids.)

5 – 2003 – We took off in a 20 year old Avia motorhome from Prague. This vehicle was built by a czech airplane company as a cargo truck, converted into a motorhome by an employee after the “Prague Spring” to take his wife and 2 sons over the newly opened border and explore the continent. We did not bring all our earthly belongings with us this time as we were only gone for a few months. We had 5 kids at the time (TJ was born in Prague) and an adopted family member (Jessica). The engine of our little Avia motorhome blew up on the motorway in Italy and had to be left for dead. We were rescued by a series of friends, another story.

(2006 – We put all our earthly belongings in a van and moved back to U.K. with 5 kids.)

6 – 2009 – We bought our overlander, Maggie, for GBP 3500 and made her into a motorhome from November on. We took her on the road just a few months later on March 11 even though we continue to work on her on the road. We chose Maggie because she is strong. She can handle the weight. She has air brakes. She has a non computerized system so we might be able to fix her ourselves or she can be repaired in poorer countries. She is air-cooled (no radiator). We think she is beautiful.