“Welcome to Yabello”

Yabello, Ethiopia- a small town (Very Small) on the way to the border town of Moyale, Ethiopia (our last day off in Ethiopia after a long three week stint). This is the smallest place that we have had a day off in thus far on the tour, with no internet, no restaurants and no real shops. The one shop in the town was sold out of virtually all the chocolate and biscuits that they had within a 100km radius after only a short time. After a few days of moderate rain, some (a lot) of spirits (not mine :) ) were dampened and people were struggling to see the positives of this more “typical” African village. It is really interesting what rain does to a group that is not used to rain and not used to camping in the rain. Luckily I think if anything is my expertise on this trip, camping in the rain is it. We were put up in the Yabello motel, essentially a gas station that they have adapted into a rustic motel (with some interesting fancy rooms with “rain shower head showers”…those of us that were still interested in “roughing it” fought over spots on the small sections of lawn and dirt out front of the hotel and those that were lucky enough to reach the hotel in time (some riders skipped out on the ride to ensure their hotel room…which is definitely a questionable act, but at this point in the game people are showing their true colors) were able to camp in “relatively” dry rooms. The rain came down hard, virtually all day and night. It was definitely a good test for people’s gear and patience. Gear and patience failed for several people as a result. Some riders tried to do laundry or gave it to the hotel to get cleaned. I opted for dry dirty laundry compared to the riders that at the end of the rest day were stuck with clean wet riding clothes… 100% humidity makes it hard to line dry things. On the road to Yabello the terrain started to drastically change, with red soil, termite mounds and camels everywhere. It was beautiful. The people also started to look differently. Darker skin, much more colorful clothing and way more subdued than the people in other areas along the way. Actually even the people started to thin out considerably as we approach the Kenyan border. The northern part of Kenya is probably the most remote and politically dangerous section along the whole route. Moyale (the bordertown is the biggest town to the north) and Isiolo to the south with Marsabit (the next day off) in between.It is also the most difficult riding we will face on the entire tour. We are nervous as this entire section is unpaved, with difficult lava rock and dirt and corrugation along the entire route. Even the trucks will have a difficult time to get through this section. Storms and rain are predicted throughout the week will make this section even more difficult if that is even possible. But once we overcome this section we will be almost half way done the tour and through the worst (hopefully) that we will face. We are at around 4300km with 24710meters of climbing completed thus far. Of that I have rode just over 4000km. We are all getting stronger despite the fact that the day to day kilometers are wearing us down. We arrived in Kenya today. We start the difficult riding tomorrow.