In search of the tarred road.

Sunday afternoon I went searching for this new tarmac.












I missed an early Saturday ride because of a satellite behaving. Yes behaving! I went into the office at 5am Saturday to figure out why it wasn't tracking and after talking with the technician from Sky Vision we tried manually tracking. It stayed locked and we haven't had to track since. We expect our satellite to move, and hence our VSAT terminal tracks the satellite. We changed Friday night and the tracking wasn't working. Go figure.

By the time I finished it was 10am, I was hungry, Bent had left on his ride, and people started calling wanting to meet me or take them swimming. So much for a Saturday bike ride. I promised myself tomorrow I would ride and got on with a lunch meeting and taking Nashesha swimming.

Sunday afternoon I go north on the road under construction to find where they have laid down the tar. There is a rumour that somewhere in the middle they have some tar laid down. It is going to be a ho hum ride I figure, but then I didn't figure on bumping into anyone I know.

The parts they haven't ripped up the old tar is so potholed you wish it wasn't there, and the ripped up parts were rough. But I was enjoying being on this familiar road for the first time for awhile.

I did 5 five minute intervals with 3 minutes rest and ended the fifth inverval at the top of the steepest hill and slowed down to enjoy the view. I had a hard time on the last interval.

Just before Lengijave I saw a mzungu boy with a backpack on his back and a goat on a leash talking to a masai man on the side of the road. It is not a common sight so I am justified staring. It is Ezra, looking like a Dharma bum! I was thinking of stopping at his place on my way home.

I pulled over happy to see him. He doesn't look that happy to see me.

Ezra and his wife are bush pilots with a 7 week old baby.

I invite him to have a warm coke at this duka at the side of the road.




As we sip our cokes I enlist a kid hanging around to take our picture, including the goat for his lactating wife. Ezra explains he has been hiking down into the plains with his mother and hence the reason he looks tired and dirty. Someone gave him the goat for his wife. They were to take a bus but the driver wanted 5,000shs for the goat, so he put his mom on the bus and walked the 8 km remaining home. He started to perk up as we drank our cokes and caught up on each other's lives.



We begged a soda crate to sit on and the scowl was replaced with almost a smile.










Our photographer kid takes his job seriously and keeps taking more pictures of everything around including this vegetable seller









I head on uphill into the black clouds to find the tarmac. I crest Oldonyo Sambu and ride down the old tarmac to the market. No new tarmac. Halfway down to the plains I come upon tar as you see in the first picture.

I ride it for 5km and turn around and slog up hill for 30 minutes . I stop at Ezra's place and meet his mother who is stiff and sore and after a beer i meet his baby boy who comes with mom. I get home about 6pm 70km only but it felt like 100.