GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #16 | Page 36

3. SPEECH OR SILENCE? Many people find continual conversation tiring. Yet long spells at the wheel if you’re not accustomed to your own company can also be. We’ve discovered talking books and podcasts of mutually-liked subjects to be a great way to while away the kilometres. You’ll find you can’t wait to get back in the car to hear the next chapter. I also like to keep my mind active by working out our fuel consumption. I find trying to get my average to drop by a percentage point while maintaining a set average speed to be a good mental exercise. Finding common points of interest, such as unusual letter boxes, trees, signs and wildlife, to look for is also great for keeping your mind awake and the conversation flowing. Listening to podcasts or talking books is a great way to while away the kilometres. 4. TAKE A BREAK I know, stop every two hours, etc. The truth is that regular stops in attractive places help to break up the tedium of a long drive. Your tow car may go for 800km without refuelling, but can you? We used to take a thermos of hot coffee and refuel on the fly, but now we stop, boil the kettle and have it in folding chairs beside the van. 5. REVERSING In my experience, couples who work as a team when reversing a caravan are very rare. The situation can become quite tense in a caravan park. You know the scene: someone arrives at a caravan park and, as they struggle to reverse onto their site, become the afternoon entertainment of other vanners sipping on their sundowners. If this is all too familiar to you, then in the interest of domestic relations, why not ask one of the lookie-loos to guide you? If you botch it up, you and your partner can then agree that it was ‘their’ fault and enjoy your drinks! 36 gorv.com.au