The Nitty Gritty Of Getting The Ball Rolling.

September 19, 2022 Posted in The Honey Badger Diaries / Musings

In life, taking the first step is possibly the hardest; that fact was evident this weekend as I watched my Granddaughter Miss Maeva take her first wobbly steps and reluctantly let go of her dad’s fingers. She’s been crawling for months, and we all expected her to bounce up onto the soft, round balls of her feet within no time. Her legs were strong, her body willing and able, and we were sure she was more than ready mentally. Yet on the floor, she stayed. Precious little mite. Intrinsically she might’ve known that once she’s up, there’s no going back.

Precisely where we are now with our Great African Adventure. We have accomplished much, and many of our plans have been performed seamlessly, like dominoes toppling, the one event perfectly synchronised to fall and tip the next occurrence. Yet, we are in limbo.

It took a mind shift and a positive outlook to get us back on track. In a moment of clarity, we realised that our odyssey had already started way back when Butch collected the first pile of bubble wrap, storage boxes, packing tape and marker pens, and we began sorting through our possessions. Five piles. Honey Badger, Onrus, Storage, Charity and gifts. After weeks of piling boxes blocking our entrance hall the movers arrived. With heavy hearts we said goodbye to friends and turned a new leaf. That was the first leg of our future journey.

We spent the weeks in Onrus enjoying the first warm flushes of Spring. On our bikes, we explored new territories as we clocked up the kilometres. Every other day we pounded the pavements and paths, enjoying crisp, sunny mornings on the cliff path, always rewarding ourselves with a coffee at Davie's Pool or on special days an ice cream from the Pink Kombi. On special evenings we celebrated on the beach with a basket of cheese and biscuits. Although very enjoyable we knew there was more in store for us before "real retirement" set in.

My girlfriends offered me a seat at their Bridge table on a few occasions, a treat worth a thousand words and one I could become accustomed to! Friends from far and wide made special trips out to Hermanus to visit, share a meal with us, making enquiries about our plans. Some worried about our safety, many admiring our sense of adventure and a few promising to meet up with us along the way. We hope they do. Special friends (hartsvriendinne) who need no invitation just popped in on a whim to say hi and brought a smile with them. They're the ones who encourage us.

Unexpectedly the opportunity arose to have a mini family reunion when Butch's sister Lorraine and her best friend Wynanda en route to Namaqualand made a detour to spend four nights with us in Cape Town. We realised this was special when a nephew and niece phoned to say they would be joining us too. Butch made use of Authentic Travel (more about them in my next blog) to reserve a beautifully restored Victorian semi-detached house in Green Point where we were accommodated for the weekend. How special to share experiences with three out of five siblings, nephews and nieces. Liam thought Gogo Lolli was the bees knees.

We returned to Onrus to continue our packing with a camera full of wonderful memories of The Fat Butcher in Stellenbosch, Kirstenbosch Gardens, walks to try and spot a penguins at Boulders, lunch at the iconic Harbour cafe in Kalk Bay, we had plenty of photo opportunities on our drive along the coast and marvelled at the construction of our passes and the roads hugging the mountians. Our days were chock-a-block with activities and we recorded them all. The wonders of modern technology.

The days accelerated, and soon the inevitable drew nearer. We were wined and dined by friends, celebrating our escapades enthusiastically yet sad to wave them goodbye. The most poignant is saying goodbye to my parents, who do not for a moment begrudge us this opportunity and unreservedly egg us on to live our dreams, knowing that unfulfilled dreams often lead to recriminations. As my Mom always says, “no one has ever died regretting what they did. Rather, they regret the things they didn’t do. Do not look back.”

We were privileged to witness the first World Championship Body Boarding competition in Onrus, which drew crowds and competitors. Rumour has it that the event was a roaring success and many foreign competitors hailed Onrus as the perfect location for the competition. I agree.

We packed up a few of our favourite things in Onrus, cleaned up, dusted, washed the windows and tidied the garden with Eric my right hand man. After tilling and toiling in our patch for close on 17 years it was hard to say goodbye to him and his family. The garage took ten weeks to declutter! Never will I hoard another thing. My mantra is “less is more!” this will be tested tomorrow as we sort and reduce the load on the Honey Badger. Butch lit the fire and braaied his last delicious steak. Finally, I drew the curtains and lowered the blinds, knowing our cottage would pass on to like minded new owners who would love her as we did.

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The third leg of our journey was to Green Point, where the business end has been completed. Wills, Power of attorneys, vehicle licences and our annual TV licence has been dealt with. We’ve had a barrage of jabs for Rabies, Yellow fever, Cholera, Hepatitis A & B and, of course, all our Covid vaccines. With punctured arms, we’ll set forth on our inoculated merry way.

The Honey Badger was serviced in Worcester by our friend Ben Burger, a diesel specialist. Butch has installed an inflation system attached to the wheels, and he no longer needs to crawl underneath the truck to connect bits to the valves. Behind my seat, a compressor has been fitted, which will inflate and deflate the tyres by the flick of a switch called a Central Inflation/deflation system. Ettienne Gautier engineered the system and installation. Unfortunately, a process which should’ve taken a few days to complete is scuppered by Eskom’s untimely stage 6 load shedding.

Jasper Hewitt of Bushwakka 4X4 trailers and Off-road campers in Worcester serviced the Honey Badger by adding a large aluminium storage unit onto the cab’s roof. Herein we plan to store all our seldom used items like diving equipment, winter woollies etc. All other minor repairs and additions were expertly done by his professional team.

With me bringing up the rear, we set off to Melkbosstrand, where the truck would park; for the duration of the tyre system installation. Not unusual, we were pulled off at the weighbridge, and Butch duly inched forward, unperturbed, to be weighed.

Behind him, I could see the emphatic shake of the traffic official’s head. Butch alighted the truck, peered at the scales, shook his head and scratched his forehead. This was not going according to plan. After a lengthy back and forth, the Badger was fired up and escorted to the yard. I followed, perplexed.

The Honey Badger had gained 240kg in weight, and protocol demands that we shed the excess weight and dispose of it without compromising the weight of the vehicle transporting the goods. While Butch dealt with the fine and paperwork, I let out the water (180 litres) we were carrying.

Our braai wood was swiftly disposed of and eagerly carted off by another driver of a once heavy vehicle, and a few baskets were dispatched into our car.

In all the excitement, Butch mislaid his wallet, adding more stress to this already nerve-wracking situation. Fortunately, sense prevailed, and after enquiries, his wallet was recovered. The thought of replacing his driver’s licence, ID documents, and credit and debit cards might’ve been the last straw.

Everyone unanimously agreed that the timing of this event was spot on, giving us ample opportunity to correct our weight before we entered unchartered territory. I couldn’t agree more.

On Wednesday, we will replace our lead acid deep cycle batteries with new lightweight, efficient, cost-effective Lithium ION batteries, reducing our weight by approximately 80kg. We will reduce the contents of the Badger; doing so will be quite an exercise. Neither of us are light travellers.

Our bicycles will be returned from storage and hitched before filling our water and fuel tanks. Finally, we’ll weigh the truck in Worcester and set off on our fourth leg and the official beginning of our trek.

The last three months have been an exercise in resilience, where our patience, mental fortitude, frustrations, humour and relationships have been profoundly tested. Like the weight of water, it looks smooth, cool and life-giving but, in reality, it's heavy. The butterfly has stirred the air.

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Tomorrow morning we’ll be saying our final farewells to Bertus, Anna and little Liam, my new best friend, companion and joy. I hear him calling excitedly, “Butch, Butch,” as he hurries in from nursery school.