No GAS!!!!!

The other day I planned to go on a small trip to the east. I had a small route planned out and I knew it would be about 150 kms round trip. Because of the lack of hotels and or larger towns in this area, I had to take my tent and other supplies because I knew I would be spending the night in a village. I strapped all my stuff to my motorcycle or into my backpack and I started to take off. Going down the road I went through the check list in my head to make sure I had everything. That’s when I realized that I’m not certain of the amount of gas that’s in my motorcycle. So I stop, look, and then I make a small detour to stop by the gas station on my way out of town.

I get to the gas station and there’s no GAS!!!! Because I was in the process of switching and had two motorcycles in my possession, I didn’t have enough gas in my container at home. I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention because they told me that the gas had been out for almost 3 days, and since it’s been so long, gas was almost triple the price if I wanted to buy some from someone who was prepared. So what do I do? I go home and I look for something else to do.

The next day I called one of my friends around 2 in the afternoon to see if the gas truck arrived and he told me that it just came in. Iwaited till bout 5 and then went to the gas station. I had to wait in line almost an hour to fill up, and then I went home and got an early night’s sleep. The next day I woke up early and started the packing process all over again!!!

Trip to The Gambia

Most of last week, I spent on a trip where I was able to do some research on a good chunk of The Gambia. For Yall that forgot all the things from geography class, The Gambia the country that in basically inside Senegal. It was a British colony that occupies the Gambia River and a few kilometers north and south of it. Gambia is a different country and it made a very different trip.

For starters I did not have my motorcycle and I used public transportation to get from place to place. I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to go through the hassle of all the paperwork for a new country. And since 11 different times I was asked by the Gambian police to see my passport, I think I made a good choice. Also with the different country came different money, different laws, and probably the hardest thing for me to adjust too, a different language.

Yall who know about Gambia might be thinking, “They speak English in Gambia???” That would be correct but that didn’t make things easier. For some reason it was very difficult for me to talk to an African in English. Even when the dude didn’t speak Pulaar I still had a hard time speaking only English. And when I was speaking Pulaar that was totally different too, here in Senegal there are many French words that are mixed in with the language. I had an easy time understanding them because they would mix in English words but they had a hard time understanding me because I would use some French word or two that they didn’t know.

All in all, it made for a fun trip and I was able to get everything that I needed. I just had a lesson on one of the first things they teach you when you do this kind of work, be flexible!!! I wonder what it’s going to be like when I go to the country to the south where Portuguese is the official language?? That will make for a real fun adventure!!!

Oh yeah, also when I was there I meet a French man that was riding his bicycle across Africa, I was a little jealous!