On the Road Again

Well, we are ready to take off tomorrow for home but, of course, traveling is no easy task in West Africa. It involves a whole lot of planning and work and sweat. We spent 2 days shopping for ourselves, a little for our teammates and for the house. Since we cannot buy much upcountry, we need many supplies. It often reminds me (in a small way) of what the pioneers went through. After shopping, almost everything is packed into trunks for easier packing in the truck. After I have finished that, Jim and the boys arrange it in the truck. Today, all of the loading took place in the rain.

Besides groceries, we usually take a case or two of pop, several bottles of propane (so we can run our stove), building supplies and extra fuel for the vehicles in case the stations are out. We usually have two coolers of cold stuff and bags of clean and dirty clothes and dirty linens from the beds we slept in for us to wash and return at a later date. The day before we leave, I head out to the market to purchase fruits and vegetables.

Besides all of that, we need food and water for the road (since Subway is in short supply here) and TP for those roadside pit stops. We also need an “ordre de mission”, a paper giving us permission to travel in the country. We also need money to buy gas and other things on the way – 500,000fg will usually do.

This trip Mr. Bah, our chauffeur, will be driving the van as well, since we have more than the normal amount of stuff, having just returned from the US.



The vehicles are mostly loaded. Tomorrow, we will throw in the cooler stuff, the veggies, the carry-ons, and all those little bags of stuff that seem to multiply. We will shut off the water, lock down the guesthouse, and take off. We will probably pass through 7 – 10 police/army barricades on our 8 – 10 hour trip. We have a place we usually stop to buy pineapples and watermelon (in season) but for the most part, we just try to keep going. We are so excited about getting home.