One year ago....February 9th 2019

One year ago...we left our friends in the rain waiving good bye to us in California, Marin County, Fairfax downtown at the Java Hut.

9th of February 2020

It is still the same day of the elephant story and it took me hours to calm down from “what if?”!

A pick up truck stopped with two “officials” checking on us. James said he had waved at them going the other way, but, somehow they felt the need to make a U-turn to check on us ...nice!

I needed to tell the story of the elephant...well, we got big grins and were reassured we did the right  thing though...backing up slowly is highly recommended! They really didn’t seem THAT concerned! Which is also reassuring! ......or...is it that they have been trained not to make “an elephant out of a mouse” or “making a mountain out of a molehill” - scaring the tourists away with horror stories?

It felt good telling somebody!

One of them told us to not ride late at night/evening when the lions are possibly out hunting. We told them we had a plan to stop at the fenced in communication tower antennae areas with the 24/7 security guards another 50 km down the road. We heard good things about cyclist camping there. “Yes”  - good plan! 

Clouds were gathering as they do in the afternoon for the last few days and we rode right into the black abyss  ...not quite making it to “our” Antenna goal when it dumped on us so hard we couldn’t see the road anymore!

Worried about missing the turn, a little blue truck stopped and gestured us to turn and there it was right in front of us - these people are all looking out for us! 

The four of us trying to hide under the solar panels.

...but then sprinting into the electrical power office trailer.

..we waited an hour for the weather gods to calm down. Before pitching the tent in the wet sand we discovered some equipment failure..some of our dry bags are leaking. James found his food bag soaked and I am dealing with a leaking cover (new, bought in Johannesburg, South Africa!) for my front bag .

At least we are alive and well to take care of it.

The cooler bag we bought in Johannesburg is holding up just fine though! We had super cold apple/cranberry juice mixed with ice water...drinking out of wine glasses... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and CHEERS TO US!