I don’t even know where to start. It has been months. I don’t even remember when I last wrote about
life and work in Northern Kenya. Was it
the beginning of May just before heading out on our trip to the USA to meet up
with our kids? Or was it in April? I suppose I could look at my blog records and
find out, but I won’t do that just now.
Instead I’ll free flow with whatever comes out and not worry about what
was going on before. It is exactly 2
months since Reuben and I headed out of Maralal to catch a plane to
Wisconsin. And what a 2 months it has
been!! America was fun. Hectic as usual. And HOT!!
I expected nice Spring weather and a cool yet sunny day for the planned
high school graduation party I was putting together for my daughter at the end
of May. We arrived in Wisconsin on the
12th May and did have nice Spring weather for about 4 days. Then it suddenly jumped into Summer with a
bang! Hot hot hot. Not a day where it didn’t hit at least 90
degrees Fahrenheit!! Usually closer to 100!! Or over!!
Yikes! Despite the heat, we did a
lot of fun things outdoors. Walking
around the family farm. Going to Valley
Fair amusement park in Minnesota. Having a garden party with lots of games and
fun. All in 90 to 110 degrees weather at
the end of May. Crazy. The climate of the world is so messed up and
unpredictable. While we were in the USA
experiencing overly hot May weather, the rains in Kenya were going crazy too! We kept getting reports of heavy rain storms
washing out more roads and flooding more towns.
We arrived as a family back in Kenya on June 2nd. Despite the fact that we were 12 hours later
than planned due to canceled, diverted and delayed flights the whole way from
Wisconsin, and none of our 7 bags arriving with us, it was good to be back in
Nairobi. We still had hard travel to get
to Home to Ngurunit and split up to head North by various roads. The way I went, with my son and a friend in
the Pajero car, turned out to be quite the adventure. First, we drove to Maralal to spend the night
and make sure everything was in order from our being away for 3 weeks. Also, we wanted to pick up our big dog Bruin
to have him in Ngurunit with us. The
other team had gone the Nanyuki way to Ngurunit to bring them past the place
little dog Mouse had spent the time we were away. It was like her doggy summer camp. My friends in Naru Moru took excellent care
of her, taking her on lovely walks and swims with their other 4 dogs and sending
me little video messages from her now and then.
So fun to get them. But now I was
looking forward to meeting up with her and the rest of the family in
Ngurunit. After a night in Maralal and a
morning organizing, we set off for Ngurunit a bit late in the afternoon ready
to get there as quickly as possible.
Only to have plans take an unexpected twist, as usual!! We had traveled barely 20 km out of town when
we came upon a huge blockage of trucks stuck in the wet, muddy road unable to
get up the hill. Many smaller cars were
stuck on the edges from trying to get around the stuck trucks. No hope of passing there anytime soon. So back we went and to an alternative route
through a town called Poro. This proved successful
if a bit stressful because while the road was clear of big trucks, it was very
muddy and scary to get through. We made
it with some skillful driving by my son and continued on our way to
Ngurunit. The delay meant we got to the
half way point, Baragoi, after dark about 8 pm.
On top of that, the Pajero’s clutch was starting to act up and slip now
and then. We stopped for dinner at my niece’s
house and debated: go on with a faulty
clutch and hope to arrive safely in Ngurunit or stay the night in Baragoi and
deal with it in the morning. We so
wanted to get home that the policy of ‘as long as the car is still moving, keep
going’ won out. Off we went about 9 pm headed on to Ngurunit. Well, we almost made it! We passed Illaut about 11 pm, the last town
before Ngurunit 18 km away. 2 km later,
the Pajero could not go up the little hill out of a dry river bed
crossing. Stopped in our tracks. Middle of the night, 15 km from home and
hyenas making a racket near and far. No network. No AAA to call for a tow truck! Ever resourceful and never beaten, I sent my
son walking back to Illaut, with our big dog Bruin for protection, to look for
a motorbike. While he was gone, a
Samburu elder walked by coming from the local network tree and we happened to
know each other. With the hyenas so
close, he started a watch fire and we settled in. My son found a motorbike and driver, left the
dog with us and headed off into the darkness towards Ngurunit. We lay on the hood of the car watching the
sky, enjoying the fire and chatting into the night. About 1:30 am the rescue car arrived. We packed it up with all the luggage and left
the elder sleeping in the car. We made
it to Ngurunit from our adventure a bit after 2 am. The next morning, the rescue car was sent
back to tow the Pajero to Ngurunit and there it sat for the next month while we
struggled to find the replacement clutch parts.
That month has been full of travels in our project Mobius, a Kenyan made
car!! More adventures that will await
the telling another day. For now I’ll
say that yesterday my daughter and I got back from another trip to Ngurunit to fix
the Pajero. It was lovely to have the Pajero
yesterday coming back as once again near Poro, we found rain, mud and stuck trucks
in our path. Another detour and another
muddy hill to get up in order to make it home.
A bit of synchronicity in a way. Though
this time the clutch didn’t give out! I
would rather some new adventures than repeating an old one anytime soon! I still have a few Mobius travels to recount…but
will save them for later. Enjoy life
where ever you are and in whatever weather!!
Kenya rains still going on and on….I wonder how the Wisconsin summer is
going??? Still hot?....
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