New van, boats and a broken windscreen

So Mark showed up in London on July 3rd and first thing on our agenda was to go van hunting. I had already scoped out a couple possible prospects. In a couple days we were the proud owners of a van. It's a Nissan Urvan... very similar to the van we had while traveling through South America. It was a panel van used for work by a carpeter and then a drywaller. So he was filthy when we got him. We spent a few days cleaning him up and outfitting him and now he's set for a road trip across Europe. He's been named Norman II, in honor of our South American van.

Norman and Michelle

The sweet bed we built in the back (check out the mattress).

Saturday we went to Hyde Park to participate in the festivities of the Tour de France. We watched part of the Prologue, which was taking place in London this year.

Then we headed to Aylesbury to catch up with Mark's friend Jay, as well as borrow some boats so that we could spend a couple of days playing at Hurley. A sweet little playspot that was only running because of all the rain England has been getting over the past couple weeks.

Jay, Mark and Chrissy

Yesterday we made a trip to Bristol to pick up some kayaks (thanks Dagger!), as we didn't want to haul our boats on the planes. Everything was going great until we were on the M4 motorway and Mark hit the brakes for a traffic jam only to have his new kayak slide from the back of the van and take out our windsheild!! So we are another £120 down on the Visa watching this stupidy be repaired. At least we weren't decapitated! In Mark's words"There are too many people here....be thankfull for the open spaces in Canada - driving in London is CRAZY and makes Calgary feel like a one-street town!"

Looking out of Norman after the kayak tried to take out the windshield.

Ouch.

We had to stop off at Hurley to work out our frustrations on the river (and try out the new boats) before we headed back to Aylesbury. Today we have hung around waiting for the windscreen replacement guy to show up... then it's off to London for a couple days before we pick up Jen and Jordie and begin the trek to the alps.

Hurley

Mark with fixed Norman