Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
By 3:15 p.m., I asked a local how far it was to Lupuezi (also named Kabubu) and
he confirmed my hunch that I had 25 kilometres left. I decided to press on and didn't both-
er stopping for a break. My pace picked up for there was less sand but in retrospect, the
sand was a blessing for it was great for my well-worn tires. By African standards, the spa-
cing between villages was quite far: Kinda was 31 kilometres from the next village, the
one after that was 51 kilometres away and then the last at 25 kilometres. I was psycholo-
gically comforted when I came upon a handful of cyclists and a few walkers, signs that I
wasn't alone. The villagers were incredibly surprised to see me coming out of the bush on
a bicycle. I simply smiled and greeted them as I plodded on. When I stopped a passerby to
inquire about the remaining distance, he said 3 kilometres!
I think the adrenaline kicked in for I flew into Lupuezi and found the Catholic mis-
sion immediately. Father Jean, a young construction worker from Poland was expecting
me. He told me that the priests radioed ahead that morning for him to be on the lookout for
a crazy Canadian on a bicycle. Again, the weather was timed perfectly for just as I arrived
…literally…just as the rear tire came onto Father Jean's porch, the clouds opened up and
there was a rain Armageddon such like I have never seen before.
Father Jean made me feel so welcome. He had food prepared on the table and as I
ate hewasdoingthree things at once aswechatted. Hetalked about the construction ofthe
new church and how time consuming it had been. He excused himself from the table for
he was utterly exhausted due to his early starts and went to sleep. I followed suit and went
to bed at 6:45 p.m. Many storms passed by that evening but the 8:45 pm storm brought the
driving rain into my room through the non-paned windows. I woke up and couldn't sleep
again so I decided to read by flashlight and wrote in my journal, “…. I arrived safely and
managed to do 107 kilometres with the Grace of God.”
The next morning's journal entry started with a quick note on my little sister's 13 th
birthday back in Canada. During breakfast, Father Jean gave me a new perspective about
all the rain. He told me that I was lucky to have arrived in the rainy season for the rain
made the sand on the roads compact. If it was the dry season, he contended, it would have
been much more difficult to cycle through.
I decided to leave after he gave me a short tour of all things that he built. I gave
him a pin and said good-bye. Since I really didn't have a destination in mind, I decided
to simply move forward and see how many kilometres I could complete. Father Jean was
correct.AftercrossingtheLupwejiRiver(thebridgeshavegreatlyimproved),Icameupon
seas of sand. The heavy rains packed down the sand and smoothed out the road which
really made it easier for cycling. I maintained my speed of about 10 km/h and didn't need
to dismount when I came to any sand patches.
I made it to Sokele by lunchtime but decided to push on for I was still full from my
breakfast. I passed a few rivers (not indicated on my map) where each had a village adja-
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