Freetown to Port Loko - Day 227

Date: April 2nd, 2010
Distance: 34km
Country: Sierra Leone

Today was kind of a mixed bag. In the morning I took a taxi into downtown. I wanted to get a few pictures and a little more video. (I am sorry I don't have the time to go through it all now. Maybe someday I will post it. Stay tuned.)

While there I basically ate my way through the morning. For breakfast I had some bread with sweetened condensed milk on it. Sounds weird, but it is pretty good. I had some "juice" to wash it down. Okay, it was just from a powder, but it had been made up and frozen the night before, so it was wonderfully cold. Then I had a couple of the frozen yogurt bags. Then had an ice cream. Real ice cream. Coconut flavor. It wasn't the best I had ever had, but the flavor was right on. Being the first ice cream in a few months, I have no complaints. I even went back for seconds. I finished it all off with a big plate of potato salad for lunch.

Then I had to get back and check out of the hotel. I got everything on the bike and started riding out of town. I didn't want to ride all the way back to the highway that goes to Guinea. It would have been about 100km, and the traffic is pretty heavy. Plus I just didn't want to do it. So I hitched a ride on a passing truck. I guess you could say that is cheating, but I already did the road once. I don't recall having that much fun the first time either. (Then again my stomache wasn't feeling great, so that could have had something to do with it.)

Anyway, it was a new way to get around. Not actually as pleasant as I would have thought. The guys who ride around on the backs of the trucks look so cool. In actuality, if you sit, your butt goes numb from the vibrations. Plus the truck was rattling so much you couldn't hear anything else. I put in my ear plugs. With that it was a bit more quiet, and I could really sit back and watch the scenery go by, Beautiful palm forests. You would think that it would be easy to watch it while biking. Sometimes you just get so caught up in watching the road, the cars, what your bike is doing, that you just miss what is going on around you. Also if you are tired it can be hard, mentally, to appreciate the beauty. Sometimes that takes being deaf, and sitting on a numb butt to see.

The truck dropped me off at Bere Junction. Now on the map it shows the road to Port Loko as being a big paved highway. This is not true. Instead it is a big gravel road. So every passing car picks up a shower of dust. Oh, and I was still running into a headwind. Sigh. Oh well, nothing to do. Just wrap the scarf around my face and grind down the road.

Still it wasn't that far to Port Loko. I found a nice place to stay. It turns out the Japanese cyclist I met in Nouachott was here the night before. Shucks, I just missed him. Still, it is good to know that he is doing okay. I should e-mail that guy. Anyway, I got some dinner and headed to bed. With the gravel roads and the wind tomorrow should be another long day.

-Dravis