Keep pushing! That’s what everyone keeps saying and that’s what we did. The guest house in Emali was really clean, comfortable and friendly and a little hard to leave after the Crash of Day 2, but Day 3 arrived all the same and it was time to move on. We set a medium and a stretch goal – Makindu (47 km) or Kibwezi (70 km) – really just depending on how tired and sore we were.
Day 3 was rather uneventful except the heat and the traffic. Never did we expect the volume of cars, buses and trucks of all sizes FLYING up and down the road with such reckless abandon (excuse the cliche). Literally, these vehicles were pushing each other and as a result, us, off the road to pass each other no matter where on the road they were – up/down hill, blind corner, straight away or anything else. On more than one occassion Rob and I were forced to jump off our decks, even though we were ALREADY all the way over on the shoulder. They just didn’t care where they drove!
Aside from the traffic, it was simply just hot. There’s zero shelter on the road to Mombasa in this region and it’s rather desert like. We just had to keep pushing and pounding water. The condition of the road and shoulder also got worse. Day 1 + 2 we were mostly blessed with easy surfaces, this was more rocky, patchy and much less smooth, so besides the heat we simply hard to work harder.
Team Kenya started to jump in a lot more on Day 3 too. Fred and Val are eager to learn to longboard and took advantage of the rolling hills to work on their skills. Its pretty funny for Rob and I to come up a hill and see them working their way along. Martina seems to love driving, so with her at the wheel and one of the guys coaching her right hand drive, the other is usually trying to rip off a kilometer or two without getting hit by a vehicle or ending up in the nursing home like me.
We reached Makindu in decent time – around 3pm – and needed to get out of the blistering sun. The town didn’t sit right for any of us and was rather littered with garbage, drunks and trucks. A true truck stop, not a town and certainly not the warmth of Emali. We had some great Pilau, beans and chapati (a safe, cheap, staple meal), charged up on some water and decided we were going to push on. Emali spoiled us and we just couldn’t stand to settle – Kibwezi was a real town.
I won’t lie, we were a little too ambitious with Kibwezi. Between the late start to the day, heat, frustrating traffic and aching bodies (probably mine more than Rob’s) we simply could’t get to Kibwezi fast enough. Rob and I kept pushing, but the sun kept setting. Team Kenya found an even better guest house than the night before and turned around to get us from the road before dark and we had skipped the final couple Kilometers to town by car. Turns out the town was actually off the highway by a bit, so this was a safe idea.
The guest house was really awesome, like something you might find in Mexico or Hawaii, and we each had out own rooms (Fred and Val decided to bunk together) with satelite TV, huge beds, fans, and hot showers and toilets! A much needed comfortable night for REALLY cheap and far from the uneasiness Makindu offered.
Next stop – Mtito Andei (45 km) and the mouth of the National Park.
You guys are pushing hard! I’m impressed with your determination. Congrats to the support team–Martina, who knew you’d be driver-in-chief? Congrats to Fred and Val for trying the longboarding–that’s awesome. Nice to hear you’ve had some nice places to stay–that makes all the difference. Keep up the good spirits–it’s all for a good cause, as you know. Thanks for the updates.
keep pushing mates