On the road...

And now to get it hooked...

Where did you say it went?

One of the first things we had to learn was how to put up our tents. Tents you ask??? Well, this wasn’t one of those drive around all day and then pull up at a lodge and sleep in beds…nope…we had our bug screens surrounding us in the form of tents – actually very nice tents that kept you dry, bug free, and companionable with your travel buddies because it was much easier to put them up as a team (and there’s no way I could have gotten the first 4 hooks up there!). The first day took a bit of doing and Misheck led us through it but after that, we got pretty darn good at getting them up and down each day. I will admit, however, I was very glad at the end of the trip to turn over the tent to the next group of people.

Lunch on the road

Now…I don’t know about you, but I usually think of vacations as relaxing, sleep in, leisurely breakfast, take in the ambiance…well, apparently it is a novel concept for African trips. We were up early…usually before 6:00. ‘Course it helped that we went to bed early (gets dark early), hence giving plenty of time for 8 hours of sleep by 6 am. It also worked out that they wanted to be on the road early…usually by 7 or 7:30. We got pretty good at taking down tents…quickly. First day on the road we headed out for the Tshipse Hot Springs – about 5 hours away. We finished up breakfast and tents and headed up into the truck. Being our first day it was all novel…the view, sitting high up, tales to share, clouds, trees, anything that moved…it was all wonderful, fresh and with primarily paved roads so it was quite smooth riding. Little did we know we should have relished that part.