A couple who decided to sell everything and travel the country five years ago have decided to make De Doorns their temporary home.
Craig and Linda Evans made their way through the provinces in a 1968 Ford Transit Landliner, after waking up one morning and deciding they were tired of the way life was with its perpetual rat race.
“We realised we were only getting older and definitely not any younger,” said Craig. “The thing is, by the time people retire they are too old to do a lot of things so we decided to start to do those things. We didn’t have any money so we sold everything and took to the open road. The day we left my wife asked me if we were doing the right thing, and I said I don’t know and we took off.”
The pair and their Ford Transit Landliner, the only one currently in South Africa, have visited Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and part of the North-West and Transkei.
After a while they ran out of money and accepted an offer to run a restaurant in a three-star resort.
“We were there for just over a year when we decided we can’t do this anymore,” Craig said. “We couldn’t stay in one place for too long. We were working hard. The two of us were catering for 500 people every weekend. We did everything from the food, cleaning the dishes, waiting tables and cleaning the restaurant. It was killing us.”
In a post in their Facebook group, “Ford-in-Transit” Craig asked if there was anything else they could do. “Duncan Briggs reached out to us and invited us to run the Impnagele Mountain Lodge. It also funds the Roscan Sanctum, a sanctuary for rescue animals. We couldn’t pass the offer up – anything for the animals.”
He added they had no idea how long they would be staying in De Doorns, but one thing’s for sure, they will explore the Western Cape more in-depth while there.
“When we have time we want to explore more of the towns in the Cape and meet more people.”
The couple have had many people help them on their five-year odyssey and their goal is to give something back in return.
“We have a lot of followers on social media, and they have helped us a lot on the way. And, in a way, working at the lodge that helps Roscan is our way of giving back to the animals.”
