Saturday, 10th March 2007

To: Camp Ke03 (The River Rafting place by the river)

The best part of the day was a 3-hour stop, after lunch, in the town of Karatina. I rolled into town, and it was a big town. I looked around for a place to sit and have a "little break". After looking around a bit, I asked somebody, "Where is a good place to sit and have a drink?" So, he pointed me to a GREAT place! I sat outside in the courtyard of this bar-ish place. They were roasting meat outside. This is the Africa that I love. I am in Bantu-land! Roasting meat, people sitting at a table near mine, drinking beers and having a good time. Next thing you know, those people at that table invited me to join them.

"You can't sit by yourself. No, you just can't. Come!" By the time this offer was made, I'd only just sat down and pulled out my novel to read a bit. So I smiled, shrugged, and said, "Sure, o.k.!" Ended up sitting with them for several hours. They were 4 men and 2 women. With me, that made 3 women. Just enjoying their Saturday afternoon in great style. Lots and lots of beers. I was drinking coke because I knew I still had to ride my bike about 30 km sometime that afternoon, to get to camp. But every time they ordered another round, they'd say, "You want a beer this time?" I'd say, "No," and explain why not. At one point, they were saying, "Don't worry about it. We'll drive you there." I laughed and said, "No, no. Don't worry, I'm fine. I love coke!" These are the kind of moments when I think to myself that if I were just footloose and fancy free, and didn't have to worry about getting to the right spot to meet up with the group, then I probably would have ended up just booking a room in Karatina and partied with these folks all night! As it was, however, we had a nice few hours together, and then I got on my bike and rode to camp.

Well, not quite. I rode about 20 km to a quiet but nice looking lodge by the side of the road. It was still only 4:00. On that road, I knew I could do the remaining 10 km in about 30 minutes, so what was the rush? So, I pulled over one more time. Had a beer (only 10 km to go) and some peanuts and read a bit. Very, very, very peaceful feeling.

Then, I scurried to camp, and arrived there at 5:30. Very nice setting, on a river. And we had pork chops for dinner! GREAT dinner tonight!


------------------ TODAY ---------------- TOTAL
Cycled ----------- 115 km (72 mi) --------- 3,220 km (2,022 mi)
Sagged ------------ 0 ---------------------- 1,702 km (1,169 mi)
Total ------------- 115 km (72 mi) --------- 4,922 km (3,191 mi)
In Saddle --------- 6 hours 30 min --------- 205 hours 22 min
Ascended --------- 1,800 feet -------------- 46,695 feet