Jambo, Jambo
This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I have to share with you an unusual lunch experience, not typical, but always plausible on the TDA tour. It was a ride of 130 km, so the lunch truck set things up around the 70 km mark. Not really a tough day, but a headwind added a little stress. There were four of us riding together and we hit the lunch truck after about three hours of riding. Not a world record pace, but considering we made a Coke stop earlier, we were making good progress.
We pulled off the road and down a small dirt path about 10 meters to where the truck was located. Catlin, the mechanic and part time lunch chef, had prepared tuna fish, fruit and the usual peanut butter, Nutella and other accruements. He announced, as we entered his domain, “watch out for the bees.” He wasn’t kidding, thousands of bees all over everything. You’d think we’d stolen the queen bee. Despite this unpleasantry, we had to eat. When you’re riding thousand of miles, one thing you don’t skip is a meal. So we made our sandwiches, picked at the fruit and pretended that it was lunch as usual, with hundreds of bees all over our cloths and food. Next it was a hump of camels that lumbered their way into our temporary resting place. They kicked up the sand with no regard. After the dust settled, a Shepard led his huge flock of sheep right into the eating area. They bee-lined it, excuse the pun, right towards the hand wash station and a small puddle of dirty water. They knocked over chairs, the water jug and split around Brenda Trenholme who was stuck in the middle of the chaos. So, now we have a large number of stinky sheep crashing our exclusive lunch party and thousands of African killer bees swarming. A little too much excitement for this brief break. Oh well, and that too shall pass. We finished eating in haste and jumped back on our bikes. Off we went. Just another lunch on the road with the TDA.

Ciao

Easy Rider