The African Road Trip Test

I've gotten quite a few lessons in "African Road Trips" over the past 8 months. One thing I've come to realize is that things rarely go as planned. My conclusion is that you know you're traveling in Africa if at least 2 of the following 3 things occur:

1) Your vehicle breaks down
I think I have yet to take an extensive road trip in Africa that didn't involve some sort of car trouble (ie. this attempt to drive to Cape Town).

2) The trip takes at least 5 hours longer than scheduled

3) You need to use the toilet, only to realize that a bush is your only option for the next several hours

My most recent road trip, to Zimbabwe, passed the "African Road Trip Test" with flying colors. In fact, it was a perfect 3 for 3! Here are some of the highlights...

We got just a few hours down the road, to a town called Polokwane, before Dave's truck broke down (African Road Trip Test #1...check). Luckily, a friend of a friend of a friend of ours was a mechanic in that town. In this picture, Dave and the mechanic are hard at work on the truck. Notice Bhuti standing and watching.

Not to be outdone, Bhuti pretends to work on the truck as well.

I wasn't even going to pretend I knew anything about cars. Tara, Chevonne, and I just chilled as it took almost 3 hours to get the truck fixed and back on the road.

Almost there...

We finally arrived in Zimbabwe, just a few hours behind schedule. From the border, it was supposed to take us about 8 more hours to reach Harare. But things never work out like they're supposed to...

As darkness fell upon us, we realized that the treacherous roads in Zim were not safe to drive at night. Our plan had been to arrive in Harare before dark, but, like I said, things never go as planned. We were left with really only one option--to pull off the road and sleep in the car. Now, I'm not sure how much safer sleeping in a car on the side of the road was compared to driving the dangerous roads in the dark, but that's what we did. This is a picture of my "bed" for the night.

So, the journey that we had planned to take 18 hours turned into a 30-hour adventure. That's 12 extra hours of travel (African Road Trip Test #2...check)!

Now, you might be wondering how we passed African Road Trip Test #3. Well, let's just say it got a little ugly, and if I'm ever asked to share my most embarrassing moment, this story will probably be the first to poop...er, uh...I mean pop into my head. But I'll save that story for another time.

Overall, it was a road trip that I won't soon forget. Never a dull moment in Africa!

Zimbabwe

Well, "Road Trip: Part 2" starts tonight, as I'll be heading off on another 20+ hour drive to Harare, Zimbabwe. I wrote previously about our STeM (Short Term Equipping Missions) training this past July. Some of the guys from Zimbabwe who came for our STeM are going to be running their very own STeM this week, and I will be traveling up to Harare to assist them. Please pray for safe travels for myself and the six other J-Life staff members whom I'll be traveling with. I also ask that you pray that the Lord will provide me with an extra dose of energy this week. I couldn't tell you the last time I have slept in the same bed for 5 straight nights, and constantly living out of a suitcase has been wearing me down lately. Pray that God would use me on this trip in great ways and that He would be my strength! Thanks so much to all of you who have kept me in your prayers!

Road Trip!

On Wednesday night, I left with a group of 10 people from Acts Family Church for the road trip of all road trips. Our destination: Namibia. Our ETA: 22 hours after departure. We were to travel, by car, from South Africa, through the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, and on through the Namib Desert of Namibia, all the way to the coastal town of Walvis Bay, Namibia, which was located on the Atlantic Ocean. And so, our long journey began...

Our first stop: Botswana!

I'm not gonna lie, there was absolutely nothing to see in Botswana except for the dry Kalahari Desert. By the end of our trip, Botswana was synonymous with BORING!

We finally reached the border of Namibia...

...which was apparently proud to be "Cattle Country"!

But, again, we found ourselves riding into more desert, this time the Namib Desert. We passed the time counting warthogs that we spotted on the side of the road. Overall, we spotted 49 warthogs! It was a long trip--three countries in one day--and we were all relieved when we finally reached our destination.