Day 288 Thursday 18th Aug Walden to Alliance 496km

Today the wheels came off, big time, but just for me, the rest had a great day. My bad day can  be traced back to yesterday, when the group split into 2 after visiting the Auto Museum. Pie had still not had enough after the museum and went to see where the old cars were being restored, Milsy and Tex went with him and the rest of us continued to Walden, and that ladies and gentlemen was the first decision made in a litany of  bad decisions that followed, that was responsible for my wheels to come off today.

As a result of us splitting up, two different routes were followed into town last night, because of that two different hotels were used by the two groups last night, because of this each group had made a different choice of where to eat dinner last night, so that decision resulted in one group eating in a Party Pup and the rest of us in a family restaurant, because of that the one group went big last night, joined the part, and our group went to bed early, because of this and no communication on our WhatsApp group our group were standing next to our bikes ready to ride at 7h00, the geriatrics party-group decided to sleep late and needed breakfast and to ride at 8h00, because of that our group left early and stopped for brunch few hours into the ride, we were then joined by the others who caught up, all together, let the good times roll……….. no,  because of riding separately since yesterday, our group had less fuel than the other group, so we had to turn around and go searching for fuel while they continued, looking for a place to have lunch, we had brunch and had not intentions to eat lunch, so the split group would re-group but soon split again throughout the day. As a result, tonight we are once again at different hotels.

But we will go for dinner together and soon all the frustrations will be forgotten and we will have another bite at the cherry tomorrow.

But the big curveball that hit me today and turned a shitty day into a real bad day and made my wheels fly in different directions was that my I-phone just died on me today. I damaged it before this  trip and a new screen was fitted, but I was told it was a generic screen, would not be a problem they said. I suspect that this is the problem, maybe the vibration shook the new screen’s connection loose??  So now I am paying the price. It started switching off by itself a few days ago, a few times per day, but would always switch on again, but today it died and never switched on again.

So, I can no longer use my phone for photos, ( I use my phone for all the photos I post)  so I need a working phone, not just to communicate with our group but also to communicate with my dear lovely wife, but also to take photos on the phone, edit them on the phone and then use them on the blog.

So I bought a new I-phone 13 Mini when we came into town. But setting it up is now causing me great difficulty as my Apple Password was saved on my now broken phone. Further frustration followed when I clicked on “Forgot Password,” it wants to send my new password to my RSA Phone number by SMS, but my RSA Sim is blocked for International Roaming, ( I use an American Sim in my phone in USA,) so I cant get this by SMS from Apple with my new Password. So my only hope is that one of my daughters has my Apple Password, or my wife, (they used it to set up Apple Music I think, but they are sleeping now and cant help me until tomorrow, ( if they can even help me,) by which time I have a helmet on my head and traveling for 9 or 10 hours before I can see if they sent something that can help. So another frustrating day awaits me tomorrow.

Do you see how frustrating this day has been???

Well, all I can say is that one cant just have the good days, there has to be days like this I suppose, and it could have been much worse I suppose. So we soldier on.

So to do the blog I am now reliant on the rest of the group to take photos and email it to me, I can then save them on my lap-top and do the Blog, but brace yourselves, the amount of photos I post are bound to be less until I can get my replacement phone to work, these guys are not all keen photographers, its going to take some begging from my side.

I did receive a few photos from Tex and Milsy after they saw I was having a tuff day, so their photos will be used today. I also saved some photos from the previous day which I will use in todays Blog, but from tomorrow I am running on empty.

It was long hot frustrating day for me, much like the Army : Hurry Up And Wait. And when patience was handed out I was at the back of the line. Doing 600km along small back roads takes time and navigation was an issue. We crossed into Nebraska today, it is flat farmland, grass and bossies (small bushes) and just one agricultural small town after another. Our family once watched a Sit Com on TV, it was about a family in a small Nebraska town, I cant remember its name (if my phone was working I would have Googled it now,) and the little boys name was Brick, his sister was Susan and the mom Frankie, well at the beginning of the show when the name came up it was a photo of a old tar road, running through a Mielie field (corn field,) and there was a crow, well, that is what most of my day looked like, just fields and fields of corn as far as the eye can see, that is what Nebraska looks like.

We stopped off at Carhenge, the equivalent of Stonehenge in England. This entire “art display” was erected in 6 days:

Looks like Rocky has been to gym, (below) showing off the body. Might have to rename him, maybe “Pretty Boy” ???

The photos and stories below was supposed to be posted yesterday, but then we had so many photos from the Auto Museum I decided to keep this story for today’s post. And now I am glad I did as now I can at least put out a proper blog today, (hold your fingers crossed for tomorrow, not sure what I will have to post????

Yesterday afternoon we did washing, we have all evolved since the days when we were “fresh” in doing the washing. Who can forget the early days when Rocky and Pie put their clothes in the tumble drier and added soap powder and came back half and hour later finding their clothes smudged with melted soap powder. Peens is pushing the limits though as he has just thrown his entire Tent into the washing machine????

Then Pie went on his one knee, as he knelt before me, presenting me with a little box, like those you get from the jeweler. I was flattered of course, but decided I was not ready for this big step and change he was proposing at this time of my life. But then I opened the box and it was not a ring, (it did cost more than a diamond ring though.)

So Milsy fitted my new reservoir and adjusted my chain as I made him feel guilty about me always writing and working on the blog while he drinks beer.

And may the record show that the one I glued together never started leaking and lasted over 800km. But who knows what the brake fluid was doing to the inside section we glued, maybe it was dissolving the glue and it could maybe have failed when I needed it most???

Our Riding gear is also starting to dissolve after over 90 000km. Pie’s helmet gave up the ghost long time ago, but hey, if you cant fix something with a hammer, you can surely fix it with Duck-Tape. (One day I will tell you all which part of the duck is used for the making of Duck Tape.)

Now he cant hear us as he cant open his vizor and every American that sees his helmet cant believe that a person can continue using a helmet in the state his is in.

My boots are next in line for the Duck Tape, when it rains my one boot fills up with water and when I walk it creaks and moans. But worse of all they smell after all this time, I bought them in Finland, probably in 2014, and they have been drenched several times over the years.

Today Milsy stopped at a small Honda Bike shop along the way and bought bright red gloves, (how desperate he must have been to buy red gloves to use on an orange bike.)

Tex tried to help with removing what’s left of Pies mirror, (the mirror he broke off when he fell in Moab,) still screwed into its hole.  Peens is wondering where the closest hairdressers might be.

But the one that always brings a smile to my face must be Milsy, here below, with a whisky in his hand, explaining to us how he was sitting, with his feet on his Harley Pegs, (to get more air-flow the the “above areas”) when the bee was blown up into his “delicate-man-crotch-area.”

So next time we speak I will either have good-news or bad news, keep them fingers crossed that I can set-up the new phone. I am worried about the first part of the Set Up, they ask in which area am I based. Can I click on South Africa when I am setting the phone up in the USA ?? Should I say I am based in the USA for setting it up ????

What I now realise is that when we start riding South from Mexico, a spare phone is just as necessary to pack as a spare tube or fuel filter.

Good night to you all, tomorrow is hopefully going to be better.

Fleisch