Finally made it to Dakar

Still attached to my only key...

Just replaced the ignition so I'll still need it to open the fuel tank...

I was not red from drinking.

Well... not completely caus of drinking.

Bob and Scott helpin a brother out.

Thanks for the hook up Bob!.
PM sent

No problem guys. They are the same ones as the one I gave Jack. I hope they get some good use 'overthere!

Some video as promised. Sorry about the smudge, we found one of the few water crossings in the area right before this clip.

nice Todd

Thanks Erik. Just trying to see as much of this place as we can. And lauging my ass off while I'm doing it!

It was a good ride last week… We had a little bit of everything.

We had water crossings.



We had power slides/drifting (also a fuel leak, which I'm sure added motivation for someone to pick it up before the camera came out).



We also had time to stop and smell the roses, watch the livestock, and enjoy mother nature…



And then…we all reverted back to our adolescent years.

Apparently, the CB has some skills (or he learned it all from the interent).



Like I said, it was a good ride.

I went to Praia, Cape Verde last week for work. I didn't take the bike because, well, it doesn't float! But after exploring the island I sure wish I had.





A bit of info about the Cabo Verde islands if you want to know more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Verde

Mrs 34 came along as well and on Saturday we did some exploring.

This was about mid way up a wonderful, twisty road. We got to the top and I told her I had to go back and get some pics for you FF's.



I was taking pics when I heard a growl coming from the bottom of the canyon. Upshift, upshift, upshift; downshift, downshift, downshift. Repeat! So I waited patiently, listened to him doing what I wish I were doing and caught him as he went by



The paved roads were outstanding on most of the island. But the dirt roads looked even better!



That one was just over the ridge. Man, what I would have done for a 500 EXC and a couple extra days.


And beautiful blue water is what waited at the Northwest tip


And this guy too.


I didn't have the opportunity to figure out how to rent a bike but it would be worth while if you ever make it to the Cabo Verde islands. I hear the other islands are even better.




Why does the……
well, you know the rest

looks nice Todd, I had a layover 1x in Cape verde on way back from Joburg, unfortunatley we never got to leave the plane.

Hey Erik. If you stop there again hopefully you will get a chance to check the place out. I think many of the flights to and from Joburg stop in Dakar these days so make sure you give me a call if you stop here!

Thanks, would love to visit if I ever get a chance to head that way again.

Meet Alan the Aussie. He clearly drinks the right color kool-aid. He rides well and he's one hell of a nice guy.



And Scott found some new rubber for his two-fiddy.



Our little band of hooligans is getting larger!

I received the flight tags yesterday. Thanks again Bob!

We rode to Saly again this past weekend. There was some bad mojo going around though. One of us went down, one of us had a front tire go flat, almost went down and is now walking like a gimp and one of us got dumped into the ocean. Pics to follow………..

The route:

We had a three day weekend, the girls took the stuff so could ride and we lined up a bigger, better house by the beach (Villa 1 was already rented). What could possibly go wrong?:eek1

The girls were rolling by 0930 and Ryan and I weren't far behind. Larry went deep sea fishing and would meet us later in the afternoon.

Strike 1: we passed a gaggle of cars at a speed bump and when Ryan got back on the road his rear tire kicked out and he went down on the low side. His pants were ripped but he was fine. The bike seemed fine until he tried to find neutral and couldn't because the tip of the shifter was gone. It wasn't far away so he threw it in the tank bag and we hit the road again. A little JB Weld and it should be good as new.



Strike 2: the house wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. Our first clue was when the rental guy started driving away from the beach and where he said it was located on google maps. The second clue was the dirt patch that had been a beautiful green lawn in the pictures. And then of course there was the house itself. Either the pics were from years ago or someone was a photoshop wizard. Mrs 34 was pissed so we said no way and went looking for lunch and some wifi.

She located a cool house with a pool that was still available for the weekend so off we went!

While we were getting settled at the new pad, Larry was catching a bunch of Tuna.

Strike 3: never tip the boat guy before he actually gets you back to shore and dry bags only work when you actually use them. I'll leave the rest of the story for Larry...........

Strike 3: What can I say? My dry bag was nice and dry at home.


So, I decided it would be a good idea to go fishing before hitting the beach house. Back in the day, we would get on the fishing boat from the dock… “Who needs a dry bag when you go from the dock to the boat?” Guess that was back in ‘Merica... Apparently, we had to take a much smaller boat to get into the fishing boat. No problem, right? We had a great day fishing! We were even reeling them in two at a time (17 fish in about 4 hours). It got to the point where we were tired of reeling them in, so we quit early.



Back near the shore, we again transferred to the small boat to get us to the beach. As we boarded the boat, we tipped the Senegalese boat captain (it was a great fucking day fishing). Well, the waves broke left, we broke right and caught a wave perpendicular to the beach and flipped the dugout of a boat. Glad my camera and phone were in my backpack strapped to my back, because that was the first thing to hit the water. After I bobbed up and down a couple of times, I realized we were 5 feet from the beach so I stood up and walked out. The POS boat sunk in 5 feet of water – 5 feet from the beach. I was just glad the boat didn’t hit me in the head as it capsized. ((sorry, no sunken boat pictures available - - I was able to save the smart phone, but the DSLR is DOA))

Larry did bring a cooler full of tasty fillets when he came.. We grilled them that night and had fish tacos the next day. Damn expensive fish though :eek1

Three strikes and you're out. At least you are if you have any common sense. But we don't, so we rode on Saturday.:huh

Ryan laid out a nice route South and we took it. Even through the thorn trees........