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10 Mar 2001
Another local chapter outing, this time down
near Lake Burley Griffin. Originally this was to participate in
the Canberra Festival on Sunday but this was canceled. We went down
anyway and parked in front of the Questacon building overlooking
the lake and, as it turned out, the Centenary of Federation concert
stage.
Fig 2. Overlooking the lake and
concert stage.
Fig 3. Closeup of the stage with
Russel offices across the lake.
We listened to sound
tests all day and well into the night.
11 Mar 2001
One of the main reasons for choosing this
spot to camp was that it was right next to the balloon launching
area. We went to bed in an empty car park and woke surrounded by
hundreds of cars. This was my cue to join the crowd and get some
photos of the balloons.
Fig 4. Some of the balloons.
All morning we listened to live practice with
the artists going through their paces.
By early afternoon, just as I was getting a bit
sick of hearing the same thing over and over, a beaurocrat said
that we were parked in what was going to be the VIP car park and
that we couldn't stay over night.
I was almost relieved to pack up and go home for
some peace and quite.
Well it was a lot quieter at home but also a lot
messier. In November last year I took the truck to Goulburn for
rego. In the week it was away the area it occupied in the workshop
gradually filled with stuff.
The truck never did get back inside, I think the
following photos show why.
Fig 5. The tip we call a workshop.
Yes folks, this
is the dung heap we call a workshop, fortunately we now live in the
motorhome but I still have to work amongst this lot. Is it any wonder
I spend half my time looking for things? I console myself by reciting
my mantra, "Not long now, not long now...".
15 Mar 2001
Andrew and Judy Marnie (with their daughters
Pippa and Eloise) have been staying with us on-and-off for the past
week while performing some repairs on their bus and doing some capital
sightseeing.
On their last day we had a BBQ with hardware and
cooking supplied by Jurgen (my neighbour). Most retired early but
Andrew, Jurgen and myself chatted 'till late over a bottle of Tia
Maria.
Fig 6. We have a BBQ outside the
workshop.
20 Mar 2001
Well the truck finally has a name and, as
it happens, I think that deciding on it was the hardest part of
the project. So what is the name?, I'll get to that in a second
but first let's go over some of the options we considered.
- The Armadillo, still a favourite of
mine, after all it is armor plated and sort of 'folds up' to protect
itself.
- Interesting, well it is an International,
we plan to do a lot of resting and I guess it's interesting.
- Cecil, at one point I got fed up with
trying to think of names.
- GrayNomad, that's grAy, not grEy.
- WinneGrayGo, clever but nobody outside
the motor homing fraternity would get it. Anyway I don't want
people thinking that it was built by Winnebago, come to think
of it neither would they I suspect :-)
Just the other day I remembered a story about
someone, who looked very unusual, and thought he was Jesus Chris
because that's what everyone said when they saw him.
I followed this path and thought about what people
say when they first see the truck. Then it hit me, the motor home's
name would be,
wothahellizat
Of course there are variations on this theme but
this is the most printable.
So after all that we didn't name the truck at
all, everyone else did.
23 Mar 2001
Not long now untill we leave for the Griffith
rally. I'm busy painting so the rig will look mostly finished.
Before painting the dunny/vanity I remembered
that I wanted to run some extra wires, fortunately most panels in
the truck are removable for this very purpose.
Fig 7. Panels removed in the dunny.
I had a visit from a couple of ambulance
paramedics today. It seems they just had to have a look (I hope
there was no-one in the back).
During the conversation one of them
said that they were driving passed when he looked out the window
and blurted "What the hell is that?" to his mate.
What I'd like to know is, how on
earth did he know the rig's name??
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