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June 18 Thursday - Got up real early today 5:15 AM. But unfortunately our kitchen facilities did not open till 7:45 AM so we could not start pedaling till 9 AM. We did 35 km in 3 hours but the last 3 km in the direct rays of the sun got to me. It's not that hot here maybe 70 degrees Farenheit, but the sun is so darn intense. The 2 leaders were very supportive and rode one in front and one on the side of me as they got me to " Halfway House" restaurant at Headlands. This is a big tourist place. After lunch I developed a new system of covering my ears and neck safari style with a white handkerchief under my helmet. This helped immensely. I was fine for 2 hours from 2 - 4 pm in the scorching direct rays with this new system. There is always a way around a problem. One needs to improvise the appropriate solution for ones needs. A word about Shinge, the Zimbabwean guide. He is fantastic. He was always there for me. He said " Don't worry Victor. I want you to have a good time and tell all your friends about Bicycle Africa. " He was always right behind me , next to me or a 100 meters in front of me, checking back to make sure I was ok. He is my Schutzengel (Gaurdian Angel). This evening we stayed near Rosape at a beautiful 5,000 Acre farm (tobacco, game) complex. The people running it, Robert and Jane Lucas are quite nice with a huge beautiful house. They brought us in to a lion cub cage outdoors. Twice the cubs wanted to playfully attack me from behind but I was saved by Jane yelling at them the last minute. I think this was because I was wearing orange or am the tallest male here. Jane nursed these abandoned cubs from the age of 2 weeks so she was their "mother" and they listened to her. Jane and Robert love animals and will take in any injured,abandoned, or rejected animal that somebody brings. They had quite an amazing collection of creatures including 2 servals that were the pet cats. But I did not pet them. They could playfully bite a finger off. We then went for a drive in their private game reserve and saw giraffes, sable, wildebeest, zebra, impala,eland, and 2 African elephants. The ride was in a flatbed pickup truck. We rode in the back african style and Robert drove like a mad man up to 80 km /hour and the brakes were a little faulty. He was using the emergency brake to stop. It scared the living shit out of me. Later his wife drove half the speed and I felt a lot better. They have a beautiful daughter Amber who is so sweet. I have my own private room here. There are also monkeys on the premises. Tomorrow we will take a rest day and spend an extra night here. The sense of safety here is different. The cars go really fast. It's up to the bicycle or pedestrian to get out of the way quick when something is coming. There is no concept of right of way here or pedestrians first. People think I am weird on my bike to stop for pedestrians. At one point during our ride to this farm at about 2 pm school children barefoot ran for 5 km racing us on our bikes and keeping up. They were so adorable. Generally children here are very respectful and well behaved. Typically they say hello by going down to their knees and clapping their hands in a "thankyou" gesture. This is the driest climate I have ever seen. I find I need to drink about 14/15 liters a day and take in 5 grams of salt to keep my self stable. Tomorrow I look forward to a rest day and writing 40 postcards. A word about our bicycles. For most of the people, our bicycles represent 1 to 2 years income. All the bicycles we saw were one speed. They often had no brakes and the pedals were just the metal spindle part. A good bike may have wood blocks where the pedals are. We often saw in the rural areas people, almost exclusively women, carrying buckets of water or washing on their heads for long distances of several kilometers. Running water is not a given here. It seems only a quarter of the people here even know how to drive or have the ability to own a car. A lot is done with bicycles. All kinds of things are being transported. The Lyon's ice cream carriers are all freezers that are pedaled by bicycle. The sellers wear nice red uniforms. You will see soda vendors too pedaling carts.
