GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #59 | Page 78

A MOTORHOME ’ S TALE

LIONEL ’ S FAITHFUL MOTORHOME HAS SEEN MORE OF AUSTRALIA THAN MOST . THIS IS HOW IT ALL BEGAN …

I was browsing through some old stuff on my computer when I came upon something incredible . My first Sprinter motorhome had written a story about a round Australia trip we did some years ago . Here ' s the first chapter …
MEETING YEMMY
I was sitting in a car yard feeling a bit low . Rain was drumming on my roof , my battery was flat and my number plates had been taken away .
Suddenly , my sliding door rolled open and a man with an umbrella climbed in to the back . I didn ’ t know it at the time but this man was going to buy me and we would travel all over Australia together for the next four years .
His name was Lionel and he came back the next day to give me a test run . They had to get jumper leads and another battery to start me up but once I ’ d fired up I ran smoothly and Lionel was impressed .
He took me to his home in Mornington and was going to get me re-registered the next day . Sadly , I wouldn ’ t start , although I did my best . An RACV man came and connected me to another battery that brought me to life . Lionel wasn ’ t happy and rang the car yard to ask for another battery and they offered him a secondhand one . But because I ’ m a diesel and my engine needs a battery with plenty of power , he decided to buy me a lovely , new battery instead . It must have been a good one because it was still going strong four years later .
When we got to the VicRoads place , they issued Lionel with shiny new number plates for me – YEM 471 . Lionel immediately named me Yemmy and there are lots of people who know me through Lionel ’ s column , The Wallaby Track , in GoRV magazine .
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