The name: Doranya

Storyline: Advantures in our back yard

Three weeks in and we are still loving the RVing experience. We love the flexibility and the opportunities our new Covid shield provides. On September 16 we finalized the deal and drove away the Coachmen Beyond 22C campervan.

Since then we’d been on the road twice, camped in 3 different campsites and spots at Killbear and Killarney Provincial Parks are secured for later this month. Probably the last for the season.

The experience started with me driving us to the “1000 Islands RV Centre” at Gananoque and later that day Alex driving the van, while I was taking care of the car, to our first camping site. We had already booked a spot for a few days at “Smugglers Cove” campground in Prince Edward County, a favorite haunt of ours.

Our friends Stuart & Jane decided to join us with the 2 cats comfortably occupying their trailer. They’ve been RVing for many years, so it was a great psychological help, having them around on our first ever RVing experience. Yes, we didn’t rent and gain experience before buying. We dove in head first. As the previous post says, we’ve been mulling over the idea and researching for more than 10 years now. It may be short lived, one never knows, but this is one of our realised dreams.

The dealer’s orientation was short and not up to expectations. It didn’t go beyond (no pun intended) the obvious. Glad I found a Facebook group for exactly this campervan prior to orientation. Finally, something useful has come out of Facebook, which for us had only been a tool to keep in touch with our families and a few friends scattered around the world. The group, as Alex mentioned in the previous post, has been very helpful. Especially with all the provided manuals and operating & troubleshooting tips.

We don’t think the orientation guy had in depth knowledge of how things would work in our van – it must have been one of the first of these that they had sold. In fact, Alex had to point out some of the important items that he didn’t know about. The fridge though, was pre-cooled and ready for the food I had prepared in advance. Given the timing, all the loading and setting up had to wait. The cooler would keep the food to the campsite.

There were some minor issues. Something with the TV bracket; the swing-arm bracket wouldn’t lock in place…not that we cared as we don’t watch much TV but we couldn’t have it wildly swinging around while we drove, the water wouldn’t heat and the front passenger seat wouldn’t swivel. When we walked around, Alex noticed that there was a decal indicating that the coach was winterised, but was told that it had now been set up for use. “Perhaps the water heater hasn’t been properly set up”, he said.  Our guide wasn’t sure, so called the technicians in. While they were working on the problems, we did some shopping.

Not sure what was the problem with the passenger seat swiveling (it just needed to be in a certain position with the backrest not reclined – A) but it took a long time for the two technicians to figure it out. As far as the water heater – Alex was right: a valve needed to be opened.

Although they didn’t close the second one as they should have, and next morning Alex was on his knees trying to figure out the lack of hot water.

Finally, we had the keys. Time for our “advantures”.

The next few days we’d think about a name. In the RV world people use the term “rig” for anything, a van, a trailer, a bus. Not sure why, but I didn’t like it at all. “Rig” grinds my ears like the squeak produced by two metal pieces rubbing against each other. I associate it with the oil rigs and “rigged elections”, both with negative connotations. What if we were to name our campervan? Apparently, this is quite popular (among those with similar “rigs”… I just had to use that word – A).

Dora and I on the way to the Seven Rila Lakes, many moons ago (late 1970s)

And so, we ran with a few options. The name selection had to reflect an old dream of mine (well, it didn’t have to, but the idea came to both of us at the same time, so it was an easy choice to agree on – A), that unfortunately will never become a reality as with most of one’s daydreams. Way back when, some 30 years ago, all I knew about campervans were the good old Volkswagens I’d seen abandoned on the Black Sea coast at the end of the summer, after being driven by West European tourists to their end. They must have been cheap for western standards if one could dump them so easily on our coast.  When we left for Belgium, I promised my two girlfriends Dora and Vania (or Vanya) that one day I’d buy a small campervan, and the three of us would drive around the world. It was still at the time when I had no perception of border crossings, visas, or travelling beyond some limited trips within Bulgaria. In my late 30s I had finally obtained my driver’s license. All seemed possible then. About two years ago, when Milan, the husband of my late friend Dora visited us, I wrote about my dream. (I never finished that storyline but perhaps this winter while still in Covid lockdown…).

April 1987

To summarise – my childhood friend Dora passed away in 1998, leaving two young children and Milan to fend for them. Krasi, a University friend of mine and the husband of my best University friend Vanya, passed away in January last year at the age of 67, still too young if you ask me. He desperately wanted to visit us. Alas it wasn’t meant to be.

Vania and Krasi, Sept. 2011

And even if one day Vanya manages to visit us here, which I very much doubt given her health and fear of travel, we won’t be driving her around the world. But we can drive our campervan named after those two women. The first thing that came in mind was Vandora (from Vania and Dora). But it sounded more like van named Dora. We tossed the idea out on Facebook and Chris suggested “El Dorania” or so. I loved the idea of Dorania, but the pronunciation in English would be different from what I wanted (‘Dor-an-ee-a’ vs. ‘Dor-an-ya’). Then Alex replaced the ‘I’ with ‘Y’ and there we go – Doranya it is. (And a great name for our “rig” <ouch!>. But I as look at her in the driveway, her 6.8 metres (22’2”) length and 3 metres (9’11”) height dwarfing our neighbours’ vehicles, and can’t help but think of her as “the Brobdingnagian”! – A).

Come-on Alex, look at this Lilliputian, one can barely notice her between the trailers.

And in addition to keeping her in our driveway, we can park her anywhere during our travels. Eh, in shopping malls she takes two parking spots.

If you have a better idea for the name, please let us know in a comment. But for now, Doranya she is.

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