Distance: 124km
Country: Senegal
Song of the Day: Rolling - Soul Coughing
I woke up and said goodbye to Rithvik's host family. Rithvik rode with me into
Gossas. He even got me a bean sandwich for breakfast. (These are great by the way.) Then I said farewell and hit the road. To Rithvik, thanks for everything. I really appreciate the hospitality from you and your host family. Let me know how that bike trip goes!From Gossas I started heading south. The strong winds of the day before had died down a bit. So I was back to a gentle push down the road. Too bad, I was hoping for the full throttle blast of the day before.
Still I got back to Kaolack in good time. I had a bit of trouble finding a way out of town. I did see a little shop that had stuff they made from aluminum. I was hoping they could make me a new bracket for my water bottle holder. I just needed a short pied of metal, about 12cm long, with a hole on either end and bent 90 degrees about 2cm from one end. Simple. They said it would take two hours. So I went to lunch and took my time. I came back about an hour later and they had about 8 different peices made and none of them were what I wanted. Ugh. Finally I showed them what I wanted and got something about right. What a pain though. Still, my water bottle holder is working again.
After leaving the city, the road becomes nice new pavement. So the next 20km were great. It was still hot though, and a was going through water pretty quickly. But that was the price of making good time.
The reason the road was so good though was that it had actually just been rebuilt. The next 10km were still being worked on. The pavement was being graded off and the gravel rolled flat again. That left me running along rough dirt trails next to the main highway.
Once the construction ended I could see why the road was being redone. In places it was more pothole than road. The cars were swerving all over the road to avoid them. Some of the cars would just drive with one wheel on the pavement and the other in the dirt. For me I was usually able to find a path without potholes, but it was exciting.
I finally made it to Tubakuta just around sunset. Byron had given me the phone number for the volunteer who was working down there. I knew he was up at Thies though for training. But when I called he was worried I was trying to crash with him. No, I just wanted the skinny on a good place to stay. That he knew. So he gave me the name of nice a place. It was a little expensive (around $20) but well worth it. A nice clean hut with a full bathroom and shower. Oh, plus power and I could even steal wi-fi. Great deal.
-Dravis
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