Nidindo to Dabola - Day 233

Date: April 8th, 2010
Distance: 130km
Country: Guinea
Song of the Day: Gravity Rides Everything - Modest Mouse

Everything seemed to be going right today. I got everything packed up and was ready to go early. Which is pretty good for sleeping in a tent. (Lots of stuff to put away.) I said goodbye to my host. He gave me a goodbye card, with his name, village, region, district, country and capital on it. Plus a few other things. Like apparently Jamie (I hope that is a girl) loves me. Also he listed that New York was the capital of America. Still it was a nice gesture.

I did stop back in town for a bit. I wanted to fill up on water from the pump there. You just don't pass up an opportunity for cool, tasty water from a pump here. I also stopped to have breakfast. I had some breakfast and some more of that rice pourage. I was ready to go.

So I got on the road, and for most of the day it was just a grind through the miles. The terrain wasn't bad though. I seem to be out of the serious mountains, but there still are some good hills. In general though it seemed to trend to going downhill which helped me out a lot. I would need all of that.

I was hoping to get to 75km before I stopped for the afternoon. Just shy of that I found a village with their market day in full swing. Lunchtime. I also saw the guy who had given me a ride two days before. So I walked up and said "hi" to him. He was happy to see that I had received the helmet. I talked with him about my trip (in French) while a crowd gathered. I mentioned that I wanted some ginger to drink, and he went off and brought a full sack full of the little things. He also found someone in the village who had a nice shady hut I could sit in for a while.

So I had lunch there and waited for it to get cool again. I didn't wait long enough, but I knew I still had a long way to go. So I headed out a bit early. I wasn't going to fast, and was pouring through the water. Still I was making the miles which I needed to do.

By early evening it started to cool off again. I was able to get a little speed up. Plus there were a few more good downhills. At one point I was screaming down a hill and a flock of these white birds was just floating overhead with me. Quite cool. Still, I wasn't fast enough, and I only got into Dabola after dark.

My first order of business was dinner. I was starving. I found a place for potato salad. The town seemed to be out of bissap or ginger for the evening though. After that I got checked into the hotel in town. The most expensive one I have been to so far in Guinea. Still it was nice, and they had a TV in the room. Not that I was watching it. I was exhausted and just wanted to get into bed. It felt good to have a day that seemed to go right.

-Dravis