Road Trials

I arrived in Francistown, Botswana yesterday. It was an eventful day. I was driving on the way to the border, and was going through a very rough patch in the road, and the truck just stopped. I thought first I stalled it. When I went to restart it, it was DEAD. In the vehicle was myself, Dawn, and three others. All of which are about as mechanically inclined as I am. We lifted the hood and fiddled with the battery and amazingly it started. We made it safely to Botswana. We are camping on the lawn of a big hotel, I know it sounds kind of funny but it happens here all the time. Once we set up our tents, I went to move the truck.. same problem. So, this time we got all serious about the problem, taking the contacts of the battery and cleaning them up with sticks. While reattaching them to the battery there were a few fire works, but we had a doctor and two nurses with us, so I'm sure someone could have resuscitated us if anything went wrong. Once again we fixed it. We were all puffed up, thinking we could handle just about anything. THEN we lost the keys to the truck. I was convinced I gave them to Dawn, she was convinced that I didn't. So, we looked everywhere. I climbed in through the back window of the truck just to see if they were in the truck. NO LUCK. We eventually found them in one of the camping bags, where Dawn had dropped them while putting something away. We were all very relieved. Then it was time to eat, when we realized that we had left all the camping utensils, plates, mugs in a crate back in Zimbabwe. So, it was 'finger food' all the way. WOW... what a bad first day.

I'll be leaving Zimbabwe on Sept. 24. I'm visiting with some friends in Johannesburg for a week then taking a train down to Cape Town. From there, I'm not sure, I think I'll just wander around the coast of South Africa all the way east to Durban. I'll likely spend about 4 weeks in SA before making my way to Tanzania.

It has been a great stay in Tshelanyemba, Zimbabwe, as it always is. Lots have happened. The situation in the country hasn't improved any. The government is now setting up stores where they will sell good using forex. Imagine going into a store and not being able to use the money from your own country to buy things. Seems ridiculous. The big problem is that the 'regular' Zimbabwe doesn't have any US dollars or South African Rand, so once again they are left out in the cold with nothing to eat or buy. They are resilient people that remain hopeful.