One time, two years ago, I took a couple days to bike down to Champaign from home. I went with a close friend. We loaded tents, sleeping pads, two pairs of underwear, and a shitload of granola bars on our bike racks and in our backpacks for the ride down. It was a memorable trip. In desperate need of bathing, we jumped the fence of a public pool that had closed for the season only a day before. Well, no complaints…entry was free! We ate whole pizzas and chatted with the locals (who were vastly different from those I interact with these days). The day after the trip was over, I had to crawl to the fridge just for a cold beer.
Cold beer is certainly no easier to obtain here. That’s why this time, we drank “dolo”—it’s the local beverage that could be most accurately described as “hard sorghum cider”. I’m looking back on my past posts and realizing…holy crap! I don’t think I’ve talked about dolo! Lacking refrigeration, it’s consumed as cool as possible. Perhaps like a fine red wine. One of my goals for the summer was to learn how to make it. Unfortunately, I was working my butt off on real work all summer, except for the short trip home. I’m scared: will I ever get summer off again!?
So, I went on another extended bike ride. We started down near Ghana, and the tour continues in a circle around the country, counterclockwise. Think clock-face: I rode from 6 o’clock to 3 o’clock. It was great! Except one volunteer’s village, I’d never seen this part of the country before. The tour is still well in progress, and you can follow along and see pictures at: http://www.burkinabiketour.blogspot.com/
You can read about the group there. I had a great time. The first day was all on paved road—without much traffic—and it went so quickly that another volunteer and I missed the turn at 75 km, chatting leisurely, and went an extra six kilometers. Whoops. Thank heaven for cell phones! Africa has changed drastically because of them. Without them, I’d probably be dead. It’s incredible how well this worked out. Immense thanks and congratulations are due to volunteers Marita, Julie, and Rachel who organized the tour. Spectacular thanks are due to those of you who donated (you still can on the aforementioned blog!).
I kept having flashbacks to the ride I took two years ago. Waking up early in the morning, shoving some carbs into my gut and moving along before the sun gets too high. There was even a moment—coming around a curve, where power lines hugged the road and sorghum plants (resembling corn) filled my periphery—when I could’ve sworn I was cruising down Route 47.
School starts October 1st. Time to warm up the cables on my resource room project and refresh on lesson plans. Already?
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