Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Thunder, Lightening and MUD

The weather has made a turn for the worse. Last night was the biggest storm I have ever heard. There was lightening, LOUD thunder and lots of rain.

We went out on our "game drive" this morning and it was Muddy! Boy was it muddy. We tossed and turned in our vehicle - mud flying up and hitting us (cover the camera's, quick!). We got stuck a couple of times! We even had to get out of our vehicle so John our guide could get the jeep out of the mud. We didn't see all that much but as we were heading back to the lodge we....well our car stalled out! We were a ways from the lodge and we had just come upon some Rhino's! Uh Oh! John wanted us to get out of the jeep so he could try and pump, jump start the jeep. So here we are getting out of the jeep with Rhino's nearby. Try and try as he might, John could not get the jeep started. So we start walking back to the lodge...he is walking in front of us monitoring the environment making sure we are safe. At one point he stops and he goes into the bush and yells, throws rocks and there go the Rhino's across the road and away from us!!!!

John does have a cell phone so eventually another vehicle will rescue us but in the meantime an ice deliver truck comes upon us and takes Evie and Ron with him. It was a fun little adventure in the bush! Everyday is new adventure here!

Tomorrow morning (Thursday) Greg and Mike head to Sodwana bay. The rest of Tribe Bang will go on Friday morning. Renee' looked up the forecast for Sodwana Bay in the next couple days. I was mortified at what she told me. Yes, this is for farenheit temperatures. Low of 29, high of 59!!!!!! I came hoping for warm weather. I don't know if the guys will dive with those kinds of temperatures! I did not bring the right clothes for sure. We've had a couple of nice, warm days but it has mostly been fairly chilly.

Tomorrow I'll do a "game drive" in the morning and afternoon as usual and then get ready to try driving a big Mercedes 10 seater van to Sodwana Bay...on the left side of the road! I am the only one to drive a manual vehicle besides Mike and he'll be heading out a day before the rest of Tribe Bang! That will be an adventure, I'm sure. I just hope I don't hear a lot of "when are we going to get there" from the peanut gallery. It may set me over the edge!

Hope all my family and friends are doing well. Its hard to believe I am halfway around the world!

I've been having funky dreams being on this anti-malaria medication. Two nights ago I had a dream that one foot had two extra toes growing and the other foot had three extra toes growing and they were growing due to the medication! In the dream I realize they will need to be surgically removed but I thought "I'll have to have surgery to remove these but that means I'll have to be out of work at least a month to recover. I guess that is not so bad!". That is a sad commentary of how I feel about my job right now! (forgive me if I already told that story in my last posting. I don't have a lot of time on the computer so if I repeat myself...too bad!). Then last night I dreamt I was at some resort (probably like a place like here) and I was in the cafeteria having coffee with Renee'. I asked for creme for my coffee. They said to go up to the front and as for the creme. The lady up there said they were making it. I said "you are making it?" She said they make the creme out of unedible chicken parts! They were grinding chicken parts and bones up and pouring/sieving water over it and that was the creme. The only thing I could think of was that now that I'm vegetarian again that it was a fear dream. The weird thing is they have SO many vegetarian options here. I am in heaven. Their vegetable dishes are wonderful!

Well I best be off. I had time to knit this afternoon and make good headway on Renee's zebra socks. I better get off to bed. Morning always comes too early!

Vacation is a lot of work!

2 comments:

bizyhands said...

Wow, sounds like some harrowing adventures you are having. Those alone should make you have strange dreams. With those chilly temps, better start knitting something warm for yourself! Good luck driving the big thingy tomorrow. Just to get you prepared: are you guys there yet? Enjoy! Terry

Anonymous said...

Gnome -- change your malaria medication!! LOL, I tried a different one this year when I went to India although it was more expensive, no side effects... Can hardly wait to see your pictures! Be safe