We rode Franky from Dakar, Senegal to Cape Coast, Ghana. The road was long and took us through some of our most trying times yet. It was the first time we had thoughts of giving up travel and returning to Canada and to a more stable lifestyle. The most difficult thing we faced was the heat. Fifty degrees of blistering sun from above, reflecting off the road beneath us and a breeze that felt like it was coming from a tiger torch.
Beep beep beep. We hear the alarm and wake up in the darkness. We love this time. It is the coolest part of the day and we feel able to eat and begin riding. It's still dark but we hear people walking through the dry bracken as we pack up the tent and prepare to eat breakfast. A man rides through on a very squeaky bicycle and we smile and wave as he passes. We wash our peanut butter and banana jam sandwiches down with an instant cafe au lait made from nescafe and powdered milk. The mangoes we bought yesterday are perfectly ripe and taste a little like pineapples. Mangoes are a regular in our diet and although we could just pick as many as we can handle right from the trees, we prefer to spend the few pennies and buy them from the locals. After consulting the map and digesting for a bit, we push Franky to the road and ride.
We have recently changed our mode of transportation again. We started out by walking for four months. After that we rode bicycles for two years and now we are riding on mopeds. It was very difficult to give up our beloved bikes but after seeing the map of the African continent and the size of the Sahara, we made our decision. We are not in an endurance race. We only want to experience what the world has to offer us. Morocco is the beginning of Africa for us and it has been very welcoming. We're now on the border of the Sahara. The adventure continues…
