Well, 4 days away camping in North West of Vic on the Glenelg River over Easter. Awesome.
We headed home to Melbourne today and decided to stop at Ararat to get lunch. Got distracted (kids, wife, dog) and accidentally locked both keys in the van (I do the sneaky door lock from the inside – bad habit I know). I did a double check before we left and made sure everything was locked and shut tight.
Thought well - I'll deal with that on the way home as we had 3 hours in front of us. Got the wife to google "how to break into a expanda" and nothing. Rang RACV – not covered. Googled which locks were cheapest to replace. Anyway. Thought the best option was to try and pop the top from the outside and see if we can access the van via the canvas. Best option I thought. Not sure if possible though.
Had to stop for diesel at the BP at Ballan East (just off the freeway) and feed the baby and that’s when it all turned to pooooop.....
My darling 7 month daughter decided to do a number 3 all up her back in the car seat. In a normal situation we would have changed her and all good but everything was in the van – the locked van!
Ended up stripping her off and wiping her down and putting her in a new nappy. No clothes (as they were in the van). Wrapped her in a blanket and my wife went in and paid for the fuel while my other 2 other boys have gotten cabin fever and were jumping around in the back seat.
I’m thinking “What else can go wrong?”. Laughing but crying on the inside.
That’s when it happened. I look over and there is a brand new Jayco Expanda pop top (similar to mine but newer) pulled up at the bowser next to me. I’m like what are the chances……
I’m like “Ummmm excuse me but I locked both keys in the van in Ararat and I don’t know how I can get in to my van – can I just check if your keys and see if they fit (as some locks are the same as they have numbers on them).
Here’s what they would have seen.
An unshaven dad in camping clothes holding a baby in a blanket in a nappy with 2 boys (4 and 6) scrapping with each other in the back seat with no mum in sight. Asking for keys for a van he was towing.
After explaining the situation of what’s just happened they got their keys out and we checked the numbers.
I read the number on the front drop down bed lock. B12. Their keys B12.
Holly Crap - I could not believe it – it opened the front bed locks.
We dropped them down and through the little gap in the canvas (at the front bottom) I could see the spare keys hanging on the hook next to the door. I thanked, and thanked, and thanked them again. Bloody Amazing.
I had to move the van as there were people behind us so I pulled up in the car park. My wife came over from the servo from paying for the fuel.
The family who helped us also pulled up beside us and asked if we needed any more help. All good. Thanked them again. My mind was already on the next stage of how to break in.
Got home at 5 and ended up getting a long pole with a strong magnet on it and got the spare set of keys out. Took a whole 5 minutes and we were back in the van. This could have ended so differently.
So in all of this. As bad as it is. If you ever lock your keys in the van – just ask a fellow Expanda for their keys - Just maybe they will have a key and save you a few hundred dollars in damage or locksmith costs!
