MEIN CAMP

7/07/08

Many of you have begged for a blog on the infamous Beast, so I have decided to oblige. I firstly must apologize, however, if we have neglected any fan emails. We know you are out there, we feel your love and support. And we appreciate it. But being that this is our FIRST Family Vacation Blog, and our LAST family vacation, you will forgive the fact that, well, we suck at blogging. So the neglect is not intended.

Anyway, onto the blog.

Back in 2001, I traveled to the Amazon on a mission trip with my church. I liken The Beast to the Amazon. How you may ask? Well, its very easy.

The Amazon is the people’s mode for transportation, their drinking water, and their toilet. All in one. Well, its very much like that with The Beast.

It is our transportation, our living space, our sleeping space, our toilet, and our shelter.

It is a place of multitasking. Everyday we do a weird kind of dance when we have to eat, or clean dishes, or make beds. Quarters are tight, so its not uncommon to rub derrieres with a loved one on the way to the bunk or to the kitchen.

The Beast is really a Transformer: more than meets the eye. It transforms throughout the day.

Rick and Grace have the back bunks for sleeping, which are used for storage and play area for the kids while driving. It also serves as the kids movie house, when I play a DVD on my computer for them on a long stretch.

Moving onto the bathroom/ kitchen/ dinette area, we have a public space. It is our area for meals while parked, our sitting area while driving, and said table converts to a bed for Heather at night.

Laura and the kids have the bunk above the driving area. This area converts to a storage area and the “dry the wet towels” area during the driving time.

And lastly we have my area which, you guessed it, as the seventh member of the “sleeps six” Beast, is the front cab. This area is well, perfect for driving, with nice cushioned bucket seating. But the area is not so good for sleeping. We had to buy a piece of wood to stretch across the space between the seats to create some semblance of a bed. Being in the front seat does have its advantages:

I have my own personal space, my own breathing area, my own exit for those 3 am and 6 am bathroom breaks. I also have curtains to block the sun in the morning.

Recently, Rick and Laura came up with a great idea for me: why not try to sleep in the stow away at the back of The Beast? Since I sleep like an animal anyway, and the stow was FLAT, I decided to give it a try. Well, an hour into my sleep I awoke to EXTREME claustrophobia. That's right, I felt like I was in a coffin. Never before had I appreciated the front seat so much on this trip. While I calmed myself down that night, I decided to crawl back to my hole the very next night (“It puts the lotion in the basket!”).

All and all, the Beast has been a Highway Star. Especially now that we bought it a brain in the form of a TOM TOM. Yeah, we still almost hit the occasional bicyclist, lamp post, guard rail, and pedestrian BUT we don’t get lost anymore! (please refer to Munich blog 6/25/08)

With Diesel prices at $1.50 euro (about $6 bucks U.S.), the Beast has even been nice enough to at least give us about 18 miles to the gallon.

Things could always be worse: we could be in a VW camper bus. But truly in the end, like all animals we have adapted to the ways of the jungle and when we take care of the Beast, the Beast takes care of us!

Well, good night, I get to sleep in the tent tonight! Oh, yeah baby: I only have to take three ibuprofen in the morning!

Gabe