Our time has come!

 Oh boy, how glad I am!

With a delay of 14 months and 14 days, we finally hit the road and got going with our trip!

I'll get into the personalities and how we came to be together in future posts, but for today, I'm just happy and grateful that we finally made it.

You see, we had a pretty rough time lately. I'll try and make this short.

The initial starting date for our trip was the 4th of April 2020. Well, you might have heard of this flu like thing going around? That kinda screwed up our plans, just a little. As it did for a million other people. And so we had to hunker down and sit the whole thing out. Not that it's all over now, but the world is starting to become a little more normal and likeable again. 

So a few weeks ago, my human decided on a new departure date. Before we could get the show on the road, though, I had to go and see a mechanic. A warning light on the dashboard had come on a while back, telling me that my glow plugs weren't in the best shape anymore. So they tried to replace them at the garage, but were unsuccessful. They had to call in a specialist. We don't like specialists, they are expensive! And then there were a few other minor things, which all added up to a not so minor bill my human had to pay as she finally got me outta there after 10 long days. 

A day after I was back home, we went for a spin and had to see if all was well. Well, it wasn't. I was leaking some diesel and on the way home another warning light came on on my dash, I was rapidly loosing my cooling fluid. I do like it hot, but man, was I getting hot! As we stopped and my human checked the canister, it was empty empty! She poured in 5 liters at the top, and it all just ran right through me. I hope you never have to experience incontinence, but now I know what it feels like. I was getting all red under my paint, quite embarrassing. 

In this state I could not drive another meter, let alone to the workshop, which was some 40 km away from where we were. She called the towing service, and they seemed to want to sell her the whole truck. 440 Euros just to tow me to the workshop of my choice. Well then, the one next door will do just fine, thank you very much. 

And there I stayed for another two days while they changed a couple of parts which probably were damaged and put back together incorrectly, respectively, by the other mechanics. 

All right, now we were all ready to go, right? Wrong!

The day after that, the next issue arose, when three warning lights came on at the same time. All coming down to the ABS telling me in no uncertain terms that now it was time to direct some love and care towards it. Back to the workshop we went. After buying an original part from the second to next Mercedes dealer (the closest one told us they only sell cars on Saturdays, no parts. Well, let's buy a car then and just take out the part we need, why don't we?), it was installed, and I could drive home again after only an hour. 

Going to the workshop for me is the same as if you go to the doctor. You go there with some minor issue, let's say, a wart on your foot. Nothing major, nothing serious. And half an hour later, you leave the office with a serious case of hemorrhoids. They always find something, always! 

Anyways, where was I? Yes, we got home and my human immediately started to scrub me clean of all these dirty and oily fingerprints which I had all over my body. They work quick, but not exactly clean at that place. After cleaning me from the inside and out, I was stuffed full of kitchen and cooking utensils, food, a tent, an air mattress, a hammock, some clothes and all kinds of other stuff. Monday was going to be our big day. 

And we made it! Not to invite the devil, we only drove some 150 km to a lake close to Hilpoltstein, which is called Rothsee. The caravan area is just a couple of minutes walk from the lake, a nice grassy area, but with little shade. My fridge had to work overtime. 

The lake is very picturesque, surrounded by forest and brush. The area is nice for biking and running, you can swim (obviously) and take out a SUP. Not that I do any of these things, but Carmelo enjoys them.

Rothsee

In town one can visit an ancient fortress and see some nice old timber-framed houses. The ice cream parlor is also recommendable. Says my human. I have to cut our sugar for a while, I gained a lot of weight lately. 

Watching the sun go down over the lake compensated for all the hassle we had in the last couple of weeks. 

Today was a great start to our trip. Where we plan to go and what we want to do, I will tell you in good time. For today, this will be all. Time to close my spotlights and get some sleep.