A new chapter

Today was the day that we bought 'Judith Too' home. I have been feeling absolutely sick about the amount of money we've spent on 'a vehicle' and thinking about what else we could have done with that money should we have bought another older vehicle for half the cost. Sitting here now, writing this blog, with my glass of wine and Edward tucked up in his bed (albeit indoors, supervised from a monitor), I just know we've done the right thing. She's a safe van, a happy van, and she already feels like home.

The trip home in our original Judith was, to say the least, a tad stressful. We nursed Judith home to Lowestoft from Southend having lost the exhaust on the first turn out of the sellers driveway. Additionally Thai, our staffie cross who we had at the time, was travelling in the back whilst I followed behind with Arthur in our Corsa. Following the exhaust incident, when Paul indicated into another lay-by, I thought 'oh what now'. Pulling up behind him he exited with Thai on a lead with his tail between his legs. Thai did not like motorhoming. The noises from clattering grill trays and varying unsecured objects terrified him and he had wedged himself between the seats and the pedals. Again, less than ideal. Thai travelled home with Arthur and I.

The trip home in Judith Too, unlike Judith, was unremarkable. Instead of stopping off to collect the exhaust pipe and wait for a refit, as we did with dear old Judith, our only stoppage break was for a Pepsi from 'Caren's Cabin' on the A47 as we shared an optimistic giggle about how well things were going. Marvellous.

Judith Too pulled up the side of the house and onto the hardstanding a treat. Paul jumped out of Judith, stood back and looked triumphant. We excitedly let the dogs out. We had expected Arthur, who had previously lived for motorhoming adventures, to have darted out of the house and dashed through the open door to take up his 'co-piloting' position on the benchseat behind the cab. The day we sold Judith we could not remove Arthur from his co-pilot seat. To our surprise however, the dog that was the most enthusiastic, was Eric. To be fair to Eric though, he is mightily enthusiastic about everything. Even flies; sky raisins. Delicious. He can clear a windowsil and down curtains in his bid to rid the house of those pesky sky raisins. It's just a bonus that he finds them excedingly tasty too. Eric ran out of the house, down the side of the van, lept in, and took a seat in the back lounge. He was down. He was settled. Amazing for a dog who'd spent the first five and a half years in kennels and has only been with us five weeks! Clearly Judith Too felt like home to Eric too. Arthur eventually found the back door having inspected the entire exterior of the van first and jumped in. He looked suspiciously at us first before realising this was for real and settled himself down with Eric. Two happy pups.

We had farmed Edward off to his Grandma's house for the collection. It would be difficult to keep a toddler entertained whilst going through the finer details of the new wagon. Eds has told us the night before that he was looking forward to getting the 'big white ice cream van'. I wondered just how disappointed he might be when he realised she wasn't an ice cream van. I needn't have worried. 'Whoa whoa whoa' he exclaimed wide eyed as he ran up the steps. 'Whoa, biiiig caravan'.

Edward is an avid lover of all things motorised. His particular loves are bin lorries and tractors but I think now Judith Too comes at the top of the list with them. He clambered into the drivers seat, took hold of the steering wheel and just beamed. I had two happy pups, a delighted son and I have to say that Paul and I couldn't wait for the next adventure to begin. A new chapter.

How did we start that new chapter? Well, we treated Edward to his first KFC as we sat up the dinette for our first meal. Paul and I popped the prosecco and Eds had a glass of fizzy water. Cheers!