Setting up camp

Sharing the pain with Kevin Johansen, Troy Gillenwater & Gil Gillenwater

The first sign for South Africa

The “Wrench” @ his work bench

Greetings from Namibia,

The light at the end of the tunnel is visible. We have 15 tough riding days ahead and two rest days before we arrive in Cape Town May 14th.

The last week has been all about mileage. Long days in the saddle, on flat roads, that seemed to never end. We road 530 miles in 5 days, as we crossed over from Botswana to Namibia. The excitement of the “Elephant Highway” kept my interest for the first three days, but as the wildlife sightings subsided boredom set in, along with a sore back side. Arrival into the capital of Namibia, Windhoek, was a blessing from heaven. Not only because a couple of rest days awaited, but I was met by some great AZ friends, Gil and Troy Gillenwater and Kevin Johansen. They’ve all been big time supporters along the way and now we’ll “share the pain,” as we’ll ride the last 1,200 miles together.

The last few riding days also brought along some disappointment, injuries and illnesses to the group. Rupert Dixon, by far the strongest rider of the group, crashed twice and really banged himself up. The last seemingly innocent tumble broke his collar bone in three places and has now put him on the sidelines for the remainder of the journey. He not only will loose the race, that he was leading by some 40 hours, but he looses his EFI (Every Frickin Inch) status. Another peddler, who recently joined the traveling circus, Steve from the UK, has come down with malaria. He had just joined us about ten days ago and had planned to only ride two weeks, when he was struck with high fevers and severe joint pain, sure signs of malaria. Everyone sure wishes both Steve and Rupert the best of health and speedy recoveries.

So it’s up bright and early tomorrow for our 5:30 am rider meeting. I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead. Namibia is suppose to be extremely scenic, having the largest sand dunes in the world. We’ll be crossing through the Namib Desert on some grueling off road routes. Let’s roll.

Ciao
Easy Rider