Road Notes: 10/ 136
Just about to leave Dakar… Heading to St. Louis, Senegal and beyond / Day 10 West Africa, Day 136
It’s all falling into place for a smooth departure tomorrow. Hope to be on the bike and rolling out of L’Hostella Francesca, my home while here in Dakar, by 7am latest. This’ll give me 3 hours of relatively cool weather before the serious stuff begins. That’ll be another 2 hours of riding, which I’m not looking forward to, but at the same time am curious about. Just how bad is it going to be crossing a shadeless desert in potentially the world’s hottest temperatures? Almost for sure will be less challenging than my overactive mind has turned this into.
I’m packing 6 liters of water, about 2 more liters more than what grizzled desert rats say you need per day. However, I’m going to need to use some of that for “air conditioning’ along the way, ie dousing my head in water.
But not to exaggerate. This isn’t such a remote road that I’ll be on for this segment. It’s the main North /South Senegal route and there are gas stations, other stops, along the way. However, if I should get stranded somewhere, it could be a long time before I get picked up. Also, almost for sure, these will be stripped down gas stations with no cool convenience store to cool oneself off. Instead, you stand under the roof that covers the gas pumps and try to convince yourself it’s several degrees cooler ‘in the shade’.
All told, adding up the days both prior and after my trip to Paris, I’ve probably spent at least 10 days here in Dakar. It’s funny how quickly you assimilate, how a city starts becoming familiar to one. I have my favorite breakfast spot, my ‘coffee in the late morning’ location, and a different ‘coffee in the afternoon’ locale. I know which of the many restaurants along the ocean front is worth going to, and which to avoid. I know that any considerable distance in this city will take you twice as long as it seems due to the endless traffic. I know that it’s actually a pretty safe city and that I can even walk back to my hotel in the dark, as all the homes along the way are watched by guards who respond politely to my ‘bon soirs’.
It’s about 10pm here and everything’s packed up. I have even attached to the bike my two side panniers. Anything I can do now to hasten the departure in the morning.
How am I feeling? Super duper fantastic! Like how I felt as a kid before starting out on some fun trip, or even, believe it or not, as good as I felt going out on a date in my twenties. It’s very cool to feel this much pleasure and happiness just from what one’s about to do. And it’s such a rarity amongst us seniors. Happiness for seniors is usually linked / limitedto ‘contentment’… ‘quiet joy’… ‘satisfaction’… ‘spiritual renunciation’. It’s supposed to come from things like holding your grandchildren, sitting by the fire as the gifts are opened, walks at dusk, etc… And obviously it does (if you’re fortunate) — not knocking that one bit.
But what I’m talking about here is something different. It’s a deliciously selfish and ecstatic kind of happiness. This is MY DEAL. MY LIFE being lived to the max. Doing something that keeps me in the present, happy, and feeling free.
