MOROCCO BOUND A Solo Motorcycle Journey
to North Africa |
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14 Sept 2002
(Saturday)
in the shade, in an oasis, Zagora, Morocco
I am here! The end of the line. Zagora. It is not quite the end of the civilized world, but you can take a camel to get there from here! I am 3,658 kilometers (about 2200 miles) from Enkenbach, Germany. At times today, especially in the last 2 hours, it seemed as if the gods were conspiring to keep me from getting here. The closer I got, the hotter it became, and the stronger the winds blew. I swear it was like a bad dream….. you know the one were no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get to a certain place? It was like that. But I am here now, stripped down and sitting in the shade, cooling off and drinking lots of water. I’ll backtrack to this morning…..
Once again was up at 0530. My hand-washed clothes had dried overnight, so packing went quickly. By 0600 I was having my petite dejeuner in the garden outside. Double espressos and hard rolls with sweet jam. Loaded the bike and tipped the outside attendant for washing the bike overnight. Was rolling by 7 am after first taking some photos from the hotel rooftop. Not two blocks from the hotel I was reminded of the perils of traffic in Morocco. A horse-drawn wagon came careening out from a side street and flew straight through a traffic circle. Only this time it was the weight of the wagon driving the poor horses whose hooves were skidding on the pavement as they tried to stop. Again, everyone managed to avoid them, and continued right on as if it was a normal occurrence. I was beginning to wonder if it was!
As I began my descent into the Draa Valley, bright sunshine and cool mountain air embraced me. I was almost euphoric. In hindsight, I might have stayed and savored it a little while longer.
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