Miranda is my normal vehicle at home and since I’ve been driving her, my life, following my accident has become substantially more independent. She was nick-named the sweat box due to my tendency of driving her around the UK with the temperature on full blast (my body following the Spinal Cord Injury no longer regulates itself like normal). Anyone who accompanied me on any length journey would generally end up stripping down to their bare essentials; seriously dehydrated and with bloodshot eyes - as a result of all the moisture being blasted out of them by Saharan like temperatures.
Driving Miranda
I drive Miranda from my wheel chair and it is this factor that makes me independent. It means once I’m in the chair in the morning we don’t have to do any time consuming transfer to and from the drivers seat. It also means that I am sitting in the best position to prevent pressure sores. Once my chair is ‘locked down’ to the floor (I have a bolt under my chair which locks into a tie down) I move my headrest into position with an electric switch and then I am ready to drive.
With my left hand I operate a push-pull accelerator and brake. Once I’m in ‘Drive’ in the automatic transmission I push the control one way to accelerate and the other to brake. With my right hand I control the steering with the adapted ‘horizontal steering unit', which is a chain driven system of enabling me to use the steering. To control the lights, indicators, windscreen wipers I use my head to press three different switches in my headrest.
Campervan Conversion
It was our plan to convert Miranda into a campervan with the aim of making her like a home-from-home, which we thought would make me as independent as possible and at the same time reduce the work load for Chrissy.
We have a sink, twin hob and a fridge. To power the fridge, the electric water pump and the rest of the lighting we have a battery management system and a huge leisure battery, which we can charge whilst we are driving. Added to this we have a series of storage cupboards which seem to be filled up with pasta and cereal at the moment. We also have a water filter/purification system to help insure we don’t pick up any travellers dysentery.
Overhead Hoist
To get from my wheel chair into bed Chrissy helps me with an assisted sliding board transfer. We basically slide my bum across a small board until I’m on the edge of the bed. Once I’m in this position Chrissy lifts my legs onto the bed and it is as simple as that.
Getting out of the collapsible shower chair that we have bought with us is much more difficult and that is why a friend of ours (Nick) welded in a overhead bar that a trolley runs along inside. We then attach a basic chain hoist/jack to the trolley and use it along with a sling to jack me in and out of the shower chair. It seems very rudimentary but so far it is working extremely well.
Air Conditioning
The temperatures in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have been described as ‘ferocious’ during the time of year that we will be driving through them. It had been our plan to have air conditioning fitted to Miranda but unfortunately we ran out of time. Instead we have had an 8 inch fan (which I can barely see pass) fitted to my dash board. So along with the fan our only other relief from the heat will be a plant spray that will spray fine mist over us (simulating sweating) and driving during the early, cooler hours of the day.
Frogs Island 4x4 Mechanical Overhaul
Obviously we needed Miranda to be in the best mechanical shape before we left on our adventure, so we asked Gary and Matt at Frogs Island 4x4 to give her a thorough going over. It was as Gary put it “Miranda’s Birthday’ because they left no stone unturned in ensuring she was shipshape to make this adventure. I have to say Matt and Gary did an absolutely fantastic job and I thoroughly recommend Frogs Island 4x4 to anyone thinking of preparing their vehicle for any adventure – they were thorough, professional and their attention to detail is second to none. Miranda left their work shop with a set of spares and feeling like she was the Queen of the slipstream.
