Pretty awesome!

It's been a while, to be precise in the year 2012.

I couldn't believe it! Such luck! The main provider of Canadian motorhomes in British Columbia had an incredible offer on the internet:

At the end of the season, all vehicles should be brought to Whitehorse and then convoyed to Vancouver. The price I had to pay for the vehicle seemed like a misprint: €98.00! I wrote to ask.

'Per day?' 'No, for 2 weeks!'......

It's true, not a lie. Of course, there were still the flight and... hm... yes... the gasoline. But that wasn't on my mind - despite many experiences.

How good. I suspected that this time I probably didn't have to drive more than about 2000km. What was that compared to the previous tours, on which I often traveled 4000 to 5000 kilometers.

OK! Especially on my first road trips, gasoline was particularly cheap, especially in the USA. Hm, yes... and I unfortunately didn't think ecologically at that time (not so much).

But since I only discovered my love for road trips at the tender age of fifty and only then actually had the necessary means, that was no problem.

Up until this point now, I had already driven through North America multiple times. My passion began in the late nineties.

And once I started, there was no turning back. Every year at the same time in the fall, my inner restlessness began. The current brochures arrived, along with early bird specials. And there was always some super offer, cheap, flexible, and infinitely tempting. These trips between March and the end of May just had to be taken advantage of.

Thanks to my favorite author Hans-R. Grundmann, I was well informed. In his travel guides, I learned what was possible and what was not. No situation that he didn't discuss or question. I read a lot about things I would never have thought of alone. And it was exactly what I wanted. Joy in nature, no mainstream, no masses. No 'must do', 'must do', and no 'must have'. I read the first volume 'From East to West', with probably more than 500 pages, intensively, absorbing the knowledge about choosing a vehicle, the routes, cities, landscapes, as well as the know-how of dealing with a vehicle that should drive well 4000 km without breakdowns, should be my shelter. And not unimportantly, how the technology of a highly sophisticated, ingenious little holiday home on wheels works.

Grundmann tested many routes, knew where it was beautiful, where there was rip-off or the really nice atmosphere of a quiet, huge campsite. And so importantly, he showed wonderful byways.

For a while, I owned the book 'Byways instead of Highways'. Hm, by the way... I'm currently moving on some kind of byway... deviating from the route. Later maybe more about that.

Actually, I didn't want to travel so far anymore, had less feedback from home, because my husband, anchor and focal point in my life, was no longer alive, and the children had long gone their own ways.

I doubted myself, after all, almost sixty-six years old, and my abilities a little. But the desire for exploration, driving through the lonely landscapes, made me mobile. As it turned out, you can usually do more than you think. And apparently, a woman is younger than she thinks.

And after all, I had already made so many trips through Canada and the USA.

It all started in the mid-90s. After enjoying 14 days in May in New York and watching the bustling, glorious city traffic, my biggest wish was to only travel by myself in the future. Why?

Wanderlust from looking around... it's not quite plausible. And: I wasn't an America fan either - apart from those incredibly nice young GI's back then in Frankfurt who snuck us children the most wonderful sweets and chewing gum when they saw our horde - nor was I extremely enthusiastic about cars, just a little... The New World seemed much too far away as a travel destination. Simply absurd...

After all, I had spent many childhood years in front of the radio, listening to AFN and probably listened to too much 'Animusic'.

And so it happened that I drove across the country more than 16 times in the USA and Canada. Transfer was the magic word back then: you could very cheaply transfer so-called RV's (Recreations Vehicle or smaller motorhomes) from east to west. Unbelievable, a brand new vehicle at an unbeatable rental price, cheap flights, no mileage limit, maximum 3 weeks time, and the choice of returning the vehicle in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Denver, or Los Angeles.

How it came about that I drove again and again is documented in another chapter. Now it's time to get on the road!