Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Day 19 -Jan 27

Welcome to hell... or should I say Dante's Inferno.  Last night just before midnight it was still 80 degrees in my tent.  A situation that falls in the category of less than ideal for a good nights sleep.  I finally got to sleep around one.  Then at 4:30 the Islamic call to prayer started over the loud speakers from a mosque in a nearby village.  Well it really isn't the call to prayer.  What it is, is the alert that in a half hour the call to prayer is to happen.  That lasts about 10 minutes.  Then the real call to prayer happens at 5:00 and last for 15 minutes.  This morning was special because someone's alarm went off at 5:45.  Beep-beep,  Beep-beep,  beep-beep.  Well you get the gist of it.  It went on for 5 minutes, it went on for 10 minutes and at 15 minutes I got to the point of ... that's all's I can stands and I can't stands no more.  So I said in a direct voice....  Would somebody turn off their alarm already!!!  There might have been a couple of different words in there.  It was a topic of conversation in the camp and people were guessing as to who did it.  Rather than let the blame fall on the innocent, I stepped up to it.  People said it was deserved and they had been wishing it would stop but....  The comments were that the message was delivered with a certain tone to it.  Oh well, I guess I will have to work on my tone extraction techniques.  But people said they doubt an alarm will go off for a time again!

Back to welcome to hell...  In the afternoon of today's ride the bike computers thermometer read 49 degrees Celsius.  For the non metric peoples that is 120 degrees.  Holy hell it was hot out there today.  89 miles in the heat.  Tomorrow is 90 miles and it is supposed to be hotter.  So eat your heart out all of you stuck in winter with snow and sub zero temps!

And lastly,  a medical update.  The little boy with the hose refilling water bottles at the coke stop and selling them as new, got me.  Let's just say the bottom is falling out of my market.  And we are in a desert camp with no bathroom facilities, heck no nothing...  running water or anything.  So off I go into the desert at a fairly quick pace to dig a hole to do my business, on a regular basis.
:(

4 comments:

  1. Oh boy have I felt your pain! Hopefully you're water borne sickness will pass soon. As for the sleepless night, I have been waiting for you to mention the oh so wonderful call to prayer! The best is in the main cities when there are many competing ones all a few seconds off each other so you get a cacophony of calling. Why do they need to be called five times a day? This is 2015 - isn't there an app for that?

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  2. Hi Michael,
    A suggestion on the nasty water problem. : When you get to Khartoum, go to a drug store and buy a pint of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to use to kill any bacteria in suspect water. Pour a capful into a pint or so of thewater in a clear plastic bottle—shake it up—and wait a while. Eventually you’ll see small bubbles. In the presence of light the peroxide releases free oxygen and turns to water-so it tastes about the same as water. The free O2 kills bacteria. Keep the bottle of peroxide in the dark. 3% peroxide is the std in the US. You can experiment with the amount to add to hopefully find a workable solution. Also while you’re at the drug store you might pick up some "Align" pro biotic pills-for any more colitis. Hope this helps.
    Bob and Linda

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  3. The 'tone' will get you every single time! I'm sorry but that was hilarious! I could picture you laying in your tent, staring up at the ceiling and just ready to do bodily harm. I guess you won't be getting up for Islamic Prayer time anytime soon.
    Did the person who's alarm kept going off 'own up' to their part in the whole morning debaucle?
    Thanks for the laugh!

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  4. Sorry about the runs. I can't imagine riding in that condition with the kind of heat your talking about. You run the risk of dehydration, but you all ready know that. Do the folks driving your van carry water for you? I expect not or you would not have gotten sick.

    Take Care and don't drink the water.

    Ray Van Ostran

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