Very old fire trucks from Eastern Europe. Dutch riot vans with the bars still in front. Trucks for transporting horses. Everything can be converted into a camper, can be seen at the camping weekend of camper club Dubbellucht in Assen.
Double sky? These are vehicles with rear double tires. The 361 members of the eponymous motorhome club who have settled on Jan and Bertha’s TT campsite have a motorhome based on a Mercedes Benz or Hanomag-Henschel. ,,We share our passion for these old-timers and strive to keep them on the road”, says chairman Petra Oosterhof of Dubbellucht.
According to her, it is not easy to put one label on people with such a cool bus. ,,Our club has 2600 members with very different backgrounds. Just look at the age. The youngest member is 18, the oldest 86.” The weekend is not just about meeting each other. There is also a market to exchange parts and technical classes are held.
Flowerpower
What is striking is that many campers are cheerfully painted. Take Harry van den Berkmortel’s (72) 40-year-old camper van, one of the few vehicles that was not a company car before. As if we are still in the middle of flower power, so many flowers can be found on the outside and inside. Live-Love-Laugh is the message on the entrance side. His life motto can be read on the driver’s side. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can get you there.” Van den Berkmortel: ,,People always have to smile when they see me coming. I often have to stop along the way, because they like to take a picture of the camper.”
Crochet doilies
Inside, the seating areas are dotted with crocheted rugs. Behind the windscreen it is a colorful collection of shells and flowers. Buddha stands guard. A guitar is ready to be played. Music is his passion and his life. That life takes place entirely in the camper, because Van den Berkmortel no longer has a house. ,,I am originally from Deurne, but have been traveling around with the camper for years. Lately I’ve been on a campsite in Zuidlaren. If my girlfriend and I feel like it, we can go to Spain or Portugal for three months.”
To get more space, Van den Berkmortel single-handedly demolished the shower. He picks up a plastic bottle hanging by the front door. “Look, this is my shower. I punched holes in the cap. I put water in the bottle and hold it above my head. That works fine.” The toilet looks a bit like an old-fashioned poop box, which Van den Berkmortel can pull out of a base cabinet. Some tools, pots and pans, a bass guitar, clothes and a fine collection of hats; with that we have pretty much had the earthly things of this freebooter. His secret is not to drag too much ballast along. Literally and figuratively.
‘moi’
‘Moi’, says the front of the converted teaching bus of Evert Blaauw (66) from Hoogezand. “A meeting like this is always fun. A little chat, a beer with each other, some music. Us knows us. It doesn’t get much better.”