So last night i went to a wedding. The first of my high school friends to get married. Loads of whiskey and red wine, some dancing, one too many scoops of strawberry ice cream. And Mel and Mandy still looked as pretty as they did when they were in high school. A great night, such a celebration.
So the point is that i leave tomorrow. And i'm still in bed, feeling hungover and trying not to die. I leave tomorrow for a trip up into Africa. The first leg of the tour is Afrika Burns - a 5 day festival in the Karoo Desert. I get picked up on Sunday by the boys in Touwsriver at a little petrol station on the N2. We drive to Joberg, then Maputu, then Inyambane. There we chill on the beach, drink tipo tinto, ditch the car and carry on by bicycle until further notice. Its kind of an open road trip - one month cycling through Mozambique, one month through Malawi, and then the rest is not planned. Maybe north, maybe south, maybe left or right...
I still have a lot to do today. Pack gear into bags, prep for the Burn, buy shampoo, change tubes on bike wheels. I don't think its really hit me just yet that i'm leaving....leaving for a few months on a bicycle in Africa. Fuck. It took a long time to put this trip together. Plans were made and plans fell apart. The bicycle idea only came about when we lost the vehicle we thought we had. But things feel like they have worked out exactly as they were supposed to (I like that about things. How they just do that). And its finally happening and iv'e spent about 4 hours on a bike in the past 25 years. Total.
So yeah, this is my blog. I will keep those of you who are interested informed about where we are and what we are doing. I'l post some pics, some funny stories, and maybe even some not funny stories too.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those who supported, motivated, loved and trusted me in the first four months of 2011. I could not do this trip, breath, think, drink or live without yall. Its been a whirlwind of a year so far, and i think its about to get whirlier.
Keep in touch. Would dig to hear from you - eitanstern@gmail.com
e
p.s. ETA = +- 5 months. I hope.
