Three adults, four children and two dogs

Day 10: Today we had breakfast outside the motorhome for the first time. Everything was quiet, many were still asleep. I was still thinking about whether I should allow myself a bit of sleep later and I forgot to close the door of the motorhome, at least the fly screen door. I immediately noticed that this was a mistake because Emmi and Pipo stormed past me with a battle roar. At this campsite there are hordes of wild cats who happily lounge in the sun as we stroll along the path with our dogs on a leash. Now they were off leash. The hunt began. It was a bark, a whine, a squeak, a roar. If one cat was in the tree, it went after the next one. It took a quarter of an hour until all the kitties were driven away and I was able to collect two happy, satisfied dogs again. At this point at the latest, the entire camper community was awake - and very few of them looked as if they were happy and content.

But that didn't matter to us, because there were visitors scheduled for today! Gaby and Ecki stopped by. We met the two from the far north, from Luhnstedt in the Rensburg-Eckernförde district, at a campsite in Roses last year and they recommended this campsite to us back then. Since then, Icke and Gaby have kept in touch via WhatsApp, and so we were able to celebrate a happy reunion today.

It was a beautiful, relaxed day, also for our dogs. Viva, a Podengo, and her son Filou got along with Emmi and Pipo straight away - which is almost a miracle considering our two scratching brushes. Between coffee, walks and dinner, we spent hours sharing advice and gossip and wonderful stories from our visitors' almost 50-year motorhome life. I would like to tell you the best one:

It was 1985, Ecki and Gaby with their two sons and their dog had just met (Ecki: “I actually fell in love with Gaby’s dog first”). They drove to Rome in two mobile homes with a couple who were friends of theirs - Ralf and Gitti also had two children and a dog. They were eating in a restaurant when Gitti said: “The waiter has a typical Italian nose.” Ralf, who was morbidly jealous, got up, left the restaurant and drove back to Germany in the motorhome without another word.

We headed home with three adults, four children and two dogs in a motorhome that Ecki had bought for 730 marks especially for his vacation. They didn't get far. In L'Aquila, in the middle of the Italian Abruzzo region, the gearbox of her car broke apart. No workshop, no accommodation, no cell phone - which didn't exist back then - and no money: now good advice was needed. An Italian man took her to his home. He lent them his car, which Ecki drove to the next larger city and got a rental car there as an ADAC member. However, a small Ford with a French license plate, which he was not allowed to drive into Germany. He had to take it to Rome, where a brand new BMW 316 was made available to him. The three adults, four children and two dogs then drove home. What Gaby and Ecki are still sorry about today is that they forgot a bag full of fresh tripe in the trunk of the car that the dear Italian gave them. In this heat it won't go unnoticed for long...