Day 7 – Thursday, 13 December 1984
An Unforgettable Ending
Before returning the motorhome, we carefully washed and cleaned it and filled the diesel tank at a nearby gas station.
Then came the dramatic ending to our wonderful holiday.
During peak afternoon traffic, around 4:00–5:00 pm, the motorhome suddenly broke down while we were stopped at traffic lights in the middle lane of a busy road. The automatic transmission had completely failed — the vehicle would neither move forward nor reverse.
With traffic building up around us and young children onboard, it could easily have become a stressful and dangerous situation. Fortunately, luck was on our side. After calling the rental company, they arrived very quickly and arranged for the motorhome to be towed away.
Amazingly, the rental depot was less than a mile away from where we had broken down.
What an extraordinary ending to such a memorable holiday. Looking back, we realised just how fortunate we had been that the breakdown happened so close to the rental office and not somewhere isolated during our travels.
Memories That Last Forever
Throughout the entire trip we enjoyed simple pleasures that made the journey special — cooking our own breakfasts and meals inside the motorhome, sharing food together at campsites, stopping at cafés and restaurants along the way and experiencing the freedom of the open road.
For the children especially, it was an unforgettable adventure filled with giant forests, glowing desert cities, coastal highways and life inside a moving home.
Even decades later, the memories of our California motorhome adventure of December 1984 remain vivid, warm and full of joy.
