In South Africa, a robot is a stop sign. In Mexico, stop was alto. In Chile, pare. But when in South Africa, "I, Robot"
means "I stop." After 17 days without a rest, and riding 20 miles in three hours, I sagged to the midday checkpoint. Here, the prevailing winds are from the east. Guess which direction we've been riding for the passed two days and which direction we'll be riding 95 hilly miles tomorrow? And the wind has averaged 20mph. I don't feel bad about sagging. Yesterday, I was one of the few who finished 101 miles before dark.
So, it's been windy. But, the scenery has been spacious.Someone claimed it reminded him of Iowa. If Iowa looks this fantastic, I'll have to sign up for RAGBRAI (an annual bike ride across Iowa). The terrain rolls for miles with field after field of corn. From the top on one rise, you could see miles away three coal power plants, each with six towers resembling nuclear cooling stacks.
Dullstrom, today's destination, is putting on a show. When we turned off the main road, the street was lined with school children there to greet us. They will be performing at dinner. The mayor will be making a presentation, also.
This weekend we'll be near Kruger National Park. I hope to spend one day recovering from riding and the next on a safari. Because this area has received 400% of it's annual rainfall in the past month, the southern part of Kruger is flooded. Because vehicles can't go off road like they can in Kenya, the chance of seeing much wildlife is remote. That's why I'm not signing up for an expensive two day safari leaving no chance for my body to recover.
This is such a gorgeous country and the coast (where the prevailing
winds will be at our backs) is supposed to have areas rivaling
Big Sur. The people have been universally friendly. One rider suggested we ride in groups of twelve with at least six of them
males. Impala dung! The only thing that takes getting used to in this English speaking country is riding on the left side of the road. But, the roads are SOOO inviting. This is international bicycle touring. Onward to Cape Town!
Happy Trails,
Bruce