My ideal ‘tortoise’, as I mentioned, turned out to be residing in Cape Town and I was now driving it back to Johannesburg to pack what little I could keep and set off around South Africa and adjoining countries, living out of the motorhome. Many people thought I was mad but I’d never hesitated in my decision, ignoring the many comments such as “Aren’t you scared?” or “You’re going alone?!” What are you thinking?!” My belief has always been that if you believe bad things may happen to you, they probably will. I just believed good things would happen and hoped they would. I’m a glass half-full kind of gal.

Perhaps my son, Ty, was, understandably, the most worried person of the lot. His mother, in her 72nd year was about to flee his family home and depart on some crazy adventure. However, he knew that if his mother intended to do something, it was rather pointless to object as I would still do it. After all, it was my life and nobody else’s.

To me, the house we’d lived in for about 37 years held few precious memories. I’d divorced Ty’s father and it had become a millstone around my neck. Nevertheless, it was the house he’d grown up in and I watched as he wandered around the property for the last time, lost in his thoughts about all the various milestones that had occurred in this place. It was special to him and he thought I’d live there forever. Unfortunately, his memories needed to be tucked away into his heart. For me, the house had become merely a structure of bricks and mortar. I had raised my son to believe he could accomplish anything he set his mind to in life and I danced to the same piper. I needed to escape and he needed to accept it.

I’d asked the universe for certain things the van should have – such as solar panels – and lo and behold, the van that was the right price, in good condition, had them. I’d listened carefully to my mechanic too. He stressed a van with a low mileage. My tortoise had not been lumbering over hill and dale but it had mainly just been parked at beach locations before returning to its burrow. This was the one the universe had provided. I’d prayed and knew this was it – and no, I’m in no way, ‘religious’ per se but I firmly believe there’s a Higher Power up there who listens to me. As I mentioned before … see my first book, Deep Talk – death does not exist – (available through Booklocker.com and other outlets, such as Amazon and a number of others) if you’d like to see where I’m coming from. Wait till I tell you what happened when I was 100kms outside the town of Pofadder. I knew then, that I was being spiritually guided to undertake this lifestyle.

However, Rozinante still had one more test to pass. My dear Cape Town friend, Dieter, (a mechanical and electrical engineer), agreed to look at it and awarded it top honours. Wesley Dempster and Ralph from Tygerberg Caravans, where this couple had placed the van for sale, could not have been more helpful.

You may wonder how buying a motorhome is totally unlike buying a ‘normal’ vehicle. There is so much to learn. This one has a shower, a cassette toilet, a fridge, microwave and cupboards all over the place. While I had previously rejoiced at the extra cupboard space for clothing after I’d divorced, this had now been reduced to an infinitesimal-size hanging space. While many people would put cooking pots in large cupboards, I only cooked for myself and didn’t need a lot of those. The previous owner had made a trolley under the main bed and that originally housed my art material. I couldn’t imagine not continuing with my art as it was part of my life but where would I put the writing books and research I couldn’t bear to part with or needed as a possible reference to my past works. Where on earth would I put my shoes?!