Here we go on yet another adventure. I have been looking at many motorhomes that may be eligible to bring back to Australia for about 6 months.

Today was day 4 of the looking in Florida and I had made contact with this seller by phone a couple of days ago.

So it was across Florida to Crystal River on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to check it out.

As you can see from the above pix, it is a quite reasonable rig. It does weigh over 14 tonnes and is 38 feet long; but it is the correct width and vintage to bring back to Australia.

For the rev heads amongst us, it has a caterpillar 3208 turbocharged engine mounted at the rear and puts out 300HP. It has no springs, just smoothride airbag suspension and air for everything, brakes, shifting for the 4 speed Allison transmission, accelerator and dunny!!

And now it is mine!!! Take delivery on Wednesday or Thursday, have to organise Insurance and then Registration. It will be straightforward as I was successful in getting my Florida Drivers Licence on friday. It did involve passing both the theory and practical tests though!!!

To the USA

The trip to Miami was a easy one. Mary dropped me off at Brisbane international after taking over an hour to get there in drizzly and traffic jam conditions. But I had plenty of time. My 2 big heavy bags were not a problem and breakfast in the QANTAS Club lounge was a leisurely start to my trip.

The 747 was as full as a State School and my sesat was close to the rear and comfortable. Good people beside me. A couiple from Pensacola returning after a 2 week holiday.

Arrived at LA early in the morning and rechecked my luggage in for Miami and spent a relaxed 4 hours inb the American Airlines Admirals Lounge. Time passed quickly and comfortably!!!

A 4 hour flight to Miami and my bags were the first on the carousel!! In 3 minutes I was in the Alamo Rental car shuttle Bus and headed north for Orlando. It took me a quarter of an hour to find I95 north!!!! But once on it, no problems and I was at my arranged overnight before midnight.

Next day was an early start due to my waking early and a search on the internet found the local Dept. Motor Vehicles office and after a 3 hour bureaucratic and very productive Person in there; thank you Cherie, I had completed my Drivers licence Theory and had booked my practical test for Friday!! Non citizens without residency status have great difficulty obtaining a Drivers licence which is the “ultimate” ID here.

I then visited 2 big Motorhome lots; where I did not expect to find rigs of the vintage that I need, but made some what may be productive contacts.

Sorted out the 110 volt conversion to my aussie multi outlet board to keep cell phone and laptop charged and CPAP connected!!