1 – Getting Started

Written by Brittany Haas

We moved into Tusker full time on September 1^st. It was a whirlwind finalizing projects on the truck, whittling our belongings down to fit into the truck, and getting everything in. We weren’t sure until the last second if we were going to fit everything in or not. But we managed, and even with a little extra space.

The first month living on the road did not offer the freedom we expected. Our first stop was Munich, or to be more exact, Ismaning. Ismaning is a town north of Munich close to the airport. It’s also a town where we used to live. Right after moving into the truck, Chris had to fly to Hamburg. So, we drove to the city with our adventure vehicle and parked at a sports park for a few nights. After that, I had work trips in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and in the Dolomites, followed promptly by a long drive to Berlin, where we spent a week and a half with the builder as they made small improvements and fixes, an expected step when purchasing a custom-built vehicle. The last stop was in Heiligenhaus, near Düsseldorf, for a last in-person work meeting.

Finally, at the beginning of October, we had freedom. Well, at least for three weeks. These three weeks would be our “test trip,” which was originally planned to be 3 months long. Due to various factors impacting our schedule, we whittled the test trip down to a mere 3 weeks, and hoped that would be enough to work out all the kinks, both in our vehicle and in our daily life. Our test trip included northern France and all three BeNeLux countries.

Although we had driven the truck around quite a bit since picking it up May, without any mechanical issues, our first three days of freedom were marked by 3 days of mechanical issues. We weren’t entirely surprised,

My favorite stop on that trip was Clécy in an area referred to as the Switzerland of Normandie. It wasn’t exactly Switzerland, but it was just as good, in a different way. After weeks of too much coastline and not enough trail for me, I finally pulled on my hiking boots and went for a hike, while Chris stayed back and worked on a cable installation for the truck. Although it was a weekend, I had a small work emergency arise while on the trail, so I cut my hike down and returned swiftly in order to make some key reservations for customers at a hut that had just opened up their reservation system. I returned to pure chaos, as Chris had the entire truck torn apart to pull wires through. But, I managed to get all the reservations I needed, and was then able to assist him in wrapping up his project.

This 3-week test trip turned out to be quite stressful. We tried to cover too much distance in the amount of time we had, we struggled to balance full time jobs with full time traveling, and the power coming in from the solar panels was radically less than we were expecting, based on the only reference we had, which was summer. We did; however, have some magical moments that shone through.

After our 3 weeks of freedom, we needed to be back in Germany. Back in Frankfurt for Chris’ work and then in Schliersee for mine. We enjoyed time with friends and family, and took some time in the mountains that I consider home. After wrapping up our work commitments, we stayed in the Munich area to take care of our very last formalities, before finally starting the big tour on November 20^th.

We didn’t get far. In fact, we only made it just over an hour out of Munich and stopped in the small town of Kiefersfelden, just at the Austrian border, to wait out a snowstorm that would be hovering over the Alps for the next couple of days. In all the planning, discussions and research that we did preparing for this trip, stretching over 8 years, not once did we even consider that we might start the tour with a snowstorm. In fact, starting directly in winter was never discussed. But here we were, our first night on the big tour, surrounded by big beautiful snowflakes. Usually, we would be celebrating. But, when you rely primarily on solar panels for power, and those solar panels are being buried by snow, your perspective shifts. We both love snow and winter sports, and usually celebrate each and every snowstorm, but as long as we are on the road, that will be different.

When we finally did start our drive, the Alps put their best foot forward for our grand departure. With blankets of snow covering the surrounding mountains, brilliant blue skies and clear roads, we drove over familiar passes and known valleys from north to south across the Alps. With just 1 1/2 days to get through before the next snowfall, we didn’t have time to hang around. That was probably a good thing, because without that added motivation, we may never have made it through the Alps. There is just so much to see there!

Our first couple of weeks were mostly transit. Our solar panels are useless in the snow, and Tusker doesn’t like cold temperatures either, so we had to rush across the Alps, before settling in at random parking spots in northern Italy for a work week. We then continued through Slovenia, spending one night there, before arriving in Croatia, where the real fun would begin. Croatia is where we planned to slow down and settle into an enjoyable pace of travel.

It turns out, that enjoyable pace is VERY slow. Reaching the mild temperatures of the Croatian coastline, and absorbing the extra sun through our solar panels, changed the game for us. We have been slowly falling in love with Croatia, specifically in winter. More on that later.