The Priveleges of Being Me

Ive been having a bit of a difficult time for the past couple of days.

It started with me getting a flat tire at 5:30pm while on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere...
It was very inopportune timing since sunset is at about 6:20pm, and I was riding along a little used road that borders Etosha game park... Ide been dodging assorted wild animals outside the park for the last hour, and given that Im not a local, the thought of camping on the side of the road with lots of prey animals about, just seemed to highlight in my mind the distinct possibility of there being predator animals about as well :))

So, I promptly broke out my little electric compressor (from the very bottom of my side case) and tried to pump the tire up a bit... No go, air coming out around the valve stem!  But, Im running tubed tires on this bike rather than tubeless, and they are not meant to be used without tubes but you can sort of get away with it in an emergency if you are lucky... So, I tightened down the nut that holds the valve in place on the rim, and the hissing air seemed to ease up... another half turn and it seemed to stop... So, I tried pumping it up again and it was holding OK though I left the tire pressure very low (so the tire was still pretty flat on the bottom).

But that was good enough for now, and I got back on the bike with the sun very near setting and headed off along the dirt road as fast as I dared... About 60Kmh. Fortunately the road was pretty good quality and after 30Km and with the sun having set, I made it to a paved road.
I checked that the tire was still Ok (getting pretty hot with all the flexing but still holding air) and then I continued another 20Km to reach my planned camp ground with a feeling of relief ...and camp had a good big fence around it :))

Next morning I left the bike and went on a half day game drive.
When I got back from that I set about fixing the flat tire... Which took two hours and the use of a couple of larger tire levers as well as the two short ones I have, and some muscle help from the workers at the camp site to "break the bead". It took a lot of effort since the tire was now cold and "breaking the bead" was a real challenge.
Got it all repaired though and was happy I didn't have to do it in the dark on the side of a gravel road!

Then I headed off along the main road (about 2pm) to head to the other side of the park where my planned route went... About half an hour later, the bike felt a bit ""wibbly" and I stopped and found that I had another flat on the rear... Well, clearly we didn't fix it right the first time! was my first structured thought... after a stream of expletives :)
But pointing fingers at myself or others was not gonna help... I was about 50Km from camp, and 40Km from town. It was getting late in the day again, and from the experience I just had of getting the tire off, I really didn't want to tackle it alone (I really need to get a third larger tire lever before I try that!).
So, again I unpacked my side case on the side of the road, got out the compressor and I tried the tighten the valve and see if it holds air trick... It seemed to work again but only after a second try at it.
Then at least I was moving again, but the problem of running on a partially flat tire for any distance is that it gets very hot and will destroy the tire rubber... So I limited my speed to 40Kmh and set off as quick as I could.... there were about three more stops to replenish the slowly deflating tire before I made town at about 4:30pm.
I found the last open tire shop and promptly set  about getting my wheel off again (sweaty and dirty and asll a bit flustered of course), and then the guy at the shop used his big machine to break the bead and we got the tube out (it was really hot... 80degC?)
We found the puncture and I checked the tire and found the offending piece of wire... pulled it out with pliers and got everything patched and back together by 5:30pm.
I think the wire was the cause of the first flat too but there were a couple of other holes in the tube that we patched from some other issue I guess so we didn't detect this other leak... I swear it held air fine when we put it together the first time!

Anyway, it was now late again so I drove half an hour and found the first place to camp that I could and set up camp tired and sweaty but satisfied...

... Until about halfway through the night when I realized that one of my side boxes must be missing something... It was too "empty" and Id just repacked all my tools etc, so things were all back in there right place after the repairs... My hats (a big sun hat and a smaller peaked cap)... I must have left them unpacked when I got the air compressor out to fill the tire... Yep, they are probably laying on the road somewhere... Bugger!

So, next morning I got up early, packed up and drove 60km back the way I came to look for them...
Found the little cap laying in the road as expected but not the big sun hat... It must have found its self a new owner :(

Oh well, these things happen... Ive had that hat for quite a few years and I like it a lot though I must admit its getting a bit tatty... Oh well I guess its time for a new one.

So, I rode back to the town I got the tire fixed again and went to the local bakery for breakfast.
The girl at the counter there asked me how my day was going and I said    "Great" :)
... And I meant it... Id just had a long list of minor frustrations, setbacks and calamities and I had been tired and sweaty and spent lots more money than I wanted, but at the end of the day (well mid morning in this case) Im out here doing this by choice... What an incredible privilege it is to be able to ride a motorbike through Africa... regardless of the trials and tribulations, There are so many people who are doing what they do every day not because they choose to but because they have no other choice...

I am incredibly lucky, so I try to act with a little grace as best I can (tho often not as gracious as Id like to be when I think about things afterwards), even when Im having a bad time.

On with the show :)))