Thursday, 25th Jan, 2007

From Desert Camping to Desert Camping

Thor is one of the African Roots guides. From South Africa. Nice guy. Really, really nice. But drives like a bat out of hell! I will try to wake up earlier tomorrow and get going earlier, so I don't have to ride in that truck! Yeek! Haha.

Another day of desert, almost no life. Passed one small village today. Very small. No cokes. No shops at all. Just a few dwellings. Stopped briefly in the middle of the road. The villagers all came out to greet me. Including women! One young girl (about 15-16 years?) asked me where my husband was. Too hard to explain, so I said he was up ahead.

That's it. Those were the only people we passed the whole day. Played backgammon at camp again, this time with Rory (another African Roots guide) and Abdil (our Sudanese tour guide).

Really funny thing happened at night. To realize how funny this is, you have to picture that we are in the middle of NOWHERE! Maybe 3 or 4 trucks passed the whole day. That's it. Well, we were all sitting around, having our camp dinner, when, out of nowhere, a yogurt truck came by! No kidding! You could see the pictures of yogurt on the side, so everybody was saying, "Wouldn't it be great if they stopped?" Then... the truck stopped, backed up, and pulled into our "camp site". The drivers were probably as incredulous to see us as we were to see them! They opened up their truck, gave us a few free yogurts, and then sold more to those who wanted it! They must have been on their way to Wadi Halfa. How hilarious. Like angels being dropped on us from nowhere.

--------------- TODAY ---------------- TOTAL
Cycled -------- 39.5 km (25 mi) -------- 942 km (579.5 mi)
Sagged -------- 47.5 km (29 mi) -------- 202.5 km (137.5 mi)
Total ---------- 87 km (54 mi) ---------- 1,144.5 km (717 mi)
In saddle ------ 4 hrs 16 min ------------ 56 hrs 24 min
Ascended ------ 920 feet ---------------- 10,170 feet