GARY & MARIE...OUR LIFE IN QUEBEC!: Goodbye Old Friend!...1981 Dodge Ram Camper

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Goodbye Old Friend!...1981 Dodge Ram Camper

When we were living in Ottawa, Marie and I crossed over the river into Quyon, Quebec, the summer of 2001 and bought a used 20 year old 1981 Dodge Ram camper. It originally came from British Columbia, where it had been built, and the present owner had used it very little. We found it sitting in the shade of a few trees slowly turning green with moss and, after brushing away an accumulation of leaves and cobwebs, took it for a short drive. The rest, as they say, is history. We took ownership and brought it back to Ottawa where we spent the rest of the summer tearing out the old shag carpeting, drooping roof liner and generally giving it an update. We replaced a few minor mechanical parts, the toilet, alternator, the batteries (more than a few times!) and water pump over the years, usually on the road where they would fail, bought new tires and bit by bit the we freshened the old girl up and she looked like new. Yet always there was the chance of something falling off and breaking due to the age of the van but all in all we found it pretty reliable. So much so that we never hesitated to drive it down to Florida on a few occasions to visit Mom and Dad, Lyn, Don and Dee, down to Boston a few times to visit with Marie's family, out east to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick one year, up through the Gaspé one summer to see Marie's uncle, and a few weekends to the Maine coast these past few years to enjoy lobster and the fresh sea air. But back in 2007 we took our longest trip with the camper - across Canada, into the prairies and the States to Vancouver Island to see my friend Bruce, returning through Utah to spend a few days with sister Carolyn and Michael. As always Muffy our toy poodle accompanied us on our trips and she proved to be an excellent traveler. This past year though we found we were not using it much, the house construction taking up most of our time and, as the van passed her 32nd birthday, we found age was starting to take its toll on many things - rubber gaskets were drying up, propane leaks were developing, holes were starting in the muffler, the grey water tank needed replacing, the windows were leaking and electrical shorts caused probably by overwintering mice were becoming an annoyance. The old engine and transmission though still ran like new and probably will run forever but we were not ready to sink any more money into it. So last month, after advertising on Kijiji and getting interest only from people too far to drop in, we put a for sale sign up in the window and parked it on the side of the road. A few people looked at it and this past week a local couple decided it was for them and put down a deposit. After doing the appropriate paperwork and shaking hands a few days later they happily drove it away. We now have an empty spot in our drive (and hearts) but will always have fond memories of the old girl and its faithful years of service. gws