Last week, we went northwards to visit friends about two days drive (14 hours) away. We were hungry for some “same language” company and we’ve come a long way together, since the 1990’s when they visited us here, before they joined a mission and came to work in this country.
The trip The trip was somewhat of an adventure, like these trips often are… We got up just after 3h00 am, but were not able to leave as quickly as we hoped – our vehicle’s battery was flat. (Our car is now fixed after many months after an accident in April). Francois “jumped” our vehicle and we left: he in our colleagues, the Hendersons’ car and I (with the kids and dog) in ours. I have not driven 8 hours on a bad road since… like forever. And so the trip was a bit of a challenge to me, especially physically as my immune system is still weak after the malaria attack, I caught a tummy bug. Still recovering from this, we tackled the long road. To make things extra interesting that day, was the uncommon misty conditions that made visibility very poor… To top this, our window wipers did not want to work – probably the result of the car not being used for so long. The combination of the wet mist and dusty road made for a nice muddy windscreen that I desperately tried to peer through.
The visibility improved somewhat when I moved to the lead, with Francois following (and hopefully “picking” up any “pieces” left behind!). Hours later, the mist finally cleared, however during this time, I lost my way once – luckily Francois followed in pursuit and stopped me before I got too far lost…Further away, there was a bridge down and we had to wade through a stream, the dog got sick, I developed all kinds of muscle pains…but we finally made it to the city where we left the Henderson vehicle for Phil’s visit later this month. Yes, a real adventurous trip! 🙂
After a good night’s rest, we continued our journey further north. Now, with Francois firmly in the driver’s seat! 🙂 August-September are always the driest months in this country when the rains hasn’t started yet and everything is dry and incredibly dusty. This is also the time for the local subsistence farmers to burn fields to get ready for the new planting season.
We took this picture through our windscreen. The man, bumping a ride, rather looks like a old fashioned cowboy with his red kerchief – snugly in place for better-breathing purposes in the dusty weather. Not a “hold-up” 🙂
#img5# On this picture Franco is counting Heide-Marie’s freckles… Really! 🙂 What a person would do to amuse themselves during the 8 hours + 6 hours in two days on the road! Finally, we arrived at our friends’ house!