Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Upgrade...Downgrade!!


 Ah, contrasts!  I've written about them before and lived with them all my life.  Each is unique and interesting as it stares you in the face, begging for comment. So, here I go again with another great example!

 We just finished a great week with a visiting extended family here at Olderkesi.  The Crosby family worked hard on lots of things from fencing to teaching at the primary school. To our delight, they offered to take us with them to spend a night in Maasai Mara!

 We had good game drives and saw four of the Big Five - Lion, Elephant, Buffalo and even Leopard - but only managed to get this shot from behind . . .

OK, so we only saw three of the Big Five.
The kind people at the tented camp gave us all a free upgrade to their luxury tents, and we slept in bliss under down comforters on cushy white pillows, as rain fell hard all night long!

 Our team said goodbye to us on Sunday morning and we began our journey home . . .

Our first glimse of the sky over the road home was a bit worrying . . . 


then we got to what is usually just a small draw for run off, and found a raging torrent. 

After that, the trip got more and more interesting.

Yep! We got royally stuck! We called our friend Johnstone and he said he was on his way . . . but, he didn't come!
We decided to walk to the nearby river.  We could hear it crashing along, so wanted to check it out.  As we turned around . . . we saw this beautiful rainbow.  Personally, I took it as a promise I would sleep in my own bed that night.  How silly of me!

So, this is why Johnstone hadn't gotten there - the river was flowing over the bridge!  We were now, officially DOUBLE stuck!

No one was going anywhere, anytime soon.

Mrs. Oblivious . . . thinking the river would go down!

This is where Jon was talking to Johnstone across the river telling him to go home and come in the morning.  And where I said, "Huh? In the what?"

As we walked back up the sloppy road to the vehicle, we had a nice sunset.  I did appreciate it, but my mind was more on what I was going to eat for dinner!  Pickings were slim!  Our work team had given us some mixed nuts (THANKS STELLA!), so we had those, water, an apple and some chips for dinner.   At least we had that!!!
So, yes, it was a long night - and quite a downgrade from the night before!  It got very cold, but this vehicle had a heater and Jon would turn it on once in a while. (Thanks Russ and Beth White for letting us use your vehicle while ours is in the shop.)

There is a song by Steve Green that says, "I will awake with the dawn." Had that one stuck in my head all night, and so did just that, me and my pjs, and my stylish boots. 
You gotta have it together no matter what, you know!

We went to the river, expectantly.  Yes it was down, but no one was there...boo hoo. Jon decided not to waste a perfectly good Monday morning work day, so set to work clearing the debris from the bridge. I did not help. I was disgruntled...in a good way.


He finally did get it cleared enough to increase the flow under the bridge and take the pressure of the water off the edges. Yea Jon!

Finally! Help has come with a wench and a cable!!  Yea Johnstone!

So, it looked bad in the twilight last night, but even worse in broad daylight.

We had lots of help getting unstuck!

We had a hyena visitor in the night apparently.

Finally home at 10:30 AM and Odie the cat took no time getting back to his favorite spot on the roofrack of the vehicle while we fixed a big late breakfast!

5 comments:

  1. Great picture of Jon and Johnstone, but where's the wench? You are toooo funny!

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  2. i love the leopard! haha! i'm sorry you were stuck all night! glad you were safe! love you!

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  3. You're right, what contrasts! I'm glad you were OK. Weren't you worried about lions? Or crocs alongside that river? I would have been! Like I said, I'm glad you were OK. I loved your story and your photos!

    Linda

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  4. Oh, Vera. I'm amused by this post and some past ones. I can't wait to catch up with you in person! Jodi

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