When someone goes on a journey, he can tell a lot, as the saying goes. But sometimes it's the people who stay at home who have a lot to tell. One of them is Detlef Göke, who runs the mobile home park at Marina Rünthe.
Bergkamen - The place offers plenty to marvel at. Göke has not only collected the encounters and the stories, but packed them into a book with the apt title "Nette, ganz Nette und die Anderen" ("Nice, very nice and the others"). On 168 pages, you can read 150 short stories about encounters on the pitch at the marina. He has already sold many copies. "Mostly to guests on the site. They've noticed that I've written a book," says Göke.
Passing through
"It's a reflection of society," says the Bergkamen resident, outlining the encounters and experiences. There are board members of large companies among them and simple camping fans, he says. "But you can usually tell just by the size of the camper, not by the behavior of the person," knows Göke, who leased the site from the city of Bergkamen in 2007. "The site is mainly used by people passing through. They stay here for one night. It is also strategically located on the A1."
The site at the marina has been heavily frequented right from the start. One year after opening, the site was named site of the month in August in the "bible" of motorhome enthusiasts, "Promobil". Göke expanded by four to currently 16 pitches. In pandemic times, moreover, many who always live in RVs used the site. "I heard that I was the only one in Germany who was allowed to accommodate them," says Göke, who at the time obtained permission for a maximum of nine places directly from the district government in Arnsberg.
Died in the beloved motorhome
In Rünthe, world travelers with converted Unimogs and families with small children stay overnight. People from the other side of the world, emigrants to New Zealand, who still have a rolling vacation home in the old homeland and, in order to enjoy the beautiful seasons, change hemispheres each time. Or Australians, who go through the Europe trip like the journeys at home quite classically in the camper. Then there is someone who lives half a year on the place, the rest of the year in Spain. Recently, a woman from Bavaria stood in the marina. "Her mother lives here in a retirement home," Göke knows. Once, he says, someone also died in Rünthe in his beloved mobile home. "A palliative care physician accompanied him here." The hearse, however, remained on the harbor path out of consideration for the other campers.
For the Oberadener, who does not own a camper himself, they are all interesting people with peculiarities. "I am there yes absolute theoretician," confesses the trained heavy current electrician. "I don't have a camper." The gifted storyteller usually gets into conversation quickly on his pitch. "Of course, there are those who don't want contact. But you can tell, and it's not like I'm knocking on the door." Göke lives directly above it, has the mobile home port with the potential stories in view every day.
Ami truck with Goggomobil
A woman from Pinneberg gave him the idea of publishing it as a book. "But I can't write the way I speak," Göke initially had doubts. "She said: 'Get a ghostwriter.' But from where?" The Bergkamen native knows the Werner publisher Magnus See. He helped him edit the records. "At first, I spoke the stories on tape. But Magnus thought he would do better with written text," Göke looks back. "So I listened to myself - that was funny - and wrote it down." See looked over it, corrected grammar and smoothed out some wording.
As a retiree, he now spends a lot of time in the field, he said. "I tend my allotment," Göke explains, looking at the new wildflower meadow that adorns the embankment facing Hafenweg. He pulls out his cell phone and shows a photo of an elegant camping trailer on a Yank truck. "That was a Dutchman on his way to a Goggomobil meeting." Göke continues wiping. One of the post-war microcars rolls out of the garage of the unusual camper. "No. The story is not in the book," the groundskeeper says. And he still has to collect for Volume II, he adds.
Plenty of material
A cat curiously peers out of a children's play tunnel. It hangs out of a mobile home with Recklinghausen license plates and leads into a kind of enclosure. Detlef Göke is immediately in conversation with the owner of cats and rolling home. Three cats accompany the couple from southern Münsterland. Maybe again material for the next book.
The current book is available directly through Detlef Göke. "You can write to me or call me," he says. For 11 euros (book) and 2.50 euros (shipping), the Bergkamener also sends it.