It is strange to start to settle into camp life and the daily routine so I am taking a day out in Frankfurt to sort myself out, get some exercise, and get some of the jobs done on Nelson that just dropped off the list before departure. Everyone I know who has set off on a trip such as this sets off with the back of the truck full of stuff that has not quite made it into the correct storage place or was a last minute thought/purchase cluttering up the back of the truck.
I was happy to get to the campsite on the river Main near Frankfurt last night as the trip, 4 hrs according to Google Maps, actually took 8 hours which is a pretty poor ratio, thanks mostly to a series of “stau” or traffic jams on the Dutch and German autobahns, so it was a long day of driving straight off the ferry. Once I was stopped I was rewarded by these lovely views of the river Main as the sun set as I ate my dinner of Scottish Salmon and a well earned alcohol free beer.
So gradually this morning, after a nice sleep in to 9am, I have managed to make good progress on the truck
- Firstly packed everything into the correct spots in the truck so that the back is clear and I can sit and move around inside.
- Connected up the new gas canister and got the internal and external cooker systems working
- Sorted the wifi grabber to link up to the campsite system and set up run phone wifi etc from the Nelson network
- Got my VPN and music speaker system so I have music/radio outside as if I am in the UK
Plan for the rest of the day is
- Get a decent run in to combat the effects of sitting in a car all day yesterday
- Work out why my track is showing in my satellite system and not on the webpage
- Fix the wiring on my 12v system on the dash
- Find out why my spotlights have stopped working
- Check wheel bearing tolerances as they were all regressed and rest 300 miles ago
Plus get things like this journal up and running, as this is likely to be my main way of logging the trip (sorry if its a bit boring if you have read this far)
Cheers
Gerry, Frankfurt 17th May