Last night it started raining and a cold-front followed us into town. We rented 3 Cabanas for the 7 of us and the main Cabin had a fireplace and a kitchen with a real pot and even a kitchen knife, not to mention a strainer and an egg lifter, real luxury. When Pie saw the rain he started waxing his ugly boots, not to make them clean, but to make sure they will be water-tight in the rain the following day. We got lucky, it never rained today. Today he had to put his foot down to save himself when he started skidding out in a corner in the mud, and the entire sole of the one boot came off, so I see he is now walking around looking for glue to fix the boot, he refuse to bring new boots when he can see the end of our bike tour at the end of the next Leg in February.

My Master Chef Mystery Box that Peens had compiled for me consisted of 2 onions, some Viennas and some Chorizo, cream and spaghetti,  cooking oil, garlic and some chillies, and cold meats and bread for today’s lunch. So I made a Creamy Garlic Sausage Pasta for dinner.

Our town last night did not have any ice at any one of the two shops, they say the Ice Man never made his rounds this week, no one knows what happened to him or when he will be coming again.

Today we ate dust, the whole day, all 230km was on gravel which switched between good fast Gravel “Highways’ very bad sections with lose stones, other sections with a middelmannetjie in the middle to catch out anyone not focusing, and many stop and go’s, which took very long some times, over half an hour. Some of us have a little Sleep Switch which can be turned on and off at will, so it was not time wasted for all of us.

There was one section we called The Road Of Stones, very tricky and technical, you had to be WIDE AWAKE!!!

Another section had not one but 3 graders, driven by Psycho’s who did not care for us, followed by their Crazed Cousin in the Water Truck, turning the soft graded sand into mud. I dont have photos of this as I was too busy just keeping my bike up-right.

THE ENEMY !!!!!!!

But we all got through the day, stopping often to re-group and check on each other. There was not really any place to stop next to the road, but we did find a coffee stop at a hotel on the lake, and when we arrived the owner was in his pajamas  making himself breakfast, he had no hotel guests and tried to explain to us that he was going to do Maintenance today, but because it was cold, and he liked Bikers, he would make us coffee.

The Scenary was breathtaking today, really beautiful ride.

Here are some photos of the day:

Dog’s dusty face:

When we got into tonights little town a few of us went looking for accommodation, there were several Cabanas but each only had enough beds to sleep 3 or 4 people, we were looking for a place where we all could fit. Rocky found a place that slept three and decided that he really needed to sleep there tonight as it had a copy of his dog at home.

I have not seen a Labrador, so have not had such an emotional connection on this trip.

The sun sets very late, so the Horse Whisperer and his Side Kick went for a swim in the lake.

 

Another un-known plant:

We are very far South now:

Tomorrow we stop traveling South and turn East to cross the border into Argentina, this Leg stops in El Calafate. We have now turned off Route 7 and are Route 265, which becomes Route 40 again once we cross into Argentina. There is a TV Program on South African TV called Voet Spore, (Tracks,) and they have driven their Toyota Land Cruisers on expeditions through Africa, the entire South America, Madagascar and more, and they drove Route 265 last year, and they said that they have never driven on a more beautiful road, so lets see if tomorrow can be more beautiful than today.

Peens is going to Braai for us tonight, and when I look at his Box of Ingridients it looks like he will attempt to make “Braai Broodtjies” (grilled cheese) on the fire with the meat, (no salad as the only little shop only has rotten lettuce and very sad looking soft tomatoes and no cucumber, no feta and no olives.)  And sadly he has not got a Toe-knyp-rooster,” so I am waiting to see how he will turn the bread when he can’t clamp it inside a special grid (toe-knyp-rooster,)  that holds the bread inside while you turn the grid on the fire.

Luv Ja Madly !!!!!

XXXXX

Fleisch