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Where in the world is Dean?

I’m right here in Aswan, Egypt!

Hello family, friends and associates,

Sorry to be dark so long.

Everything is good!  My Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt  motorcycle adventure has been moving fast and furious (all good!).  There is not enough time in a day to experience all and everything available.

I have all kinds of reasons why the All-Star Motorcycle Circus blog has been dark for so long.

1.  The cat ate my mouse!

2.  It’s too (early, late, hot, cold) to sit at a computer to post stuff!

3.  After riding 6 hours (7AM-2PM) do I want to sit at a computer trying to upload a photo or go see the unofficial 8th wonder of the world … the rock hewn churches King Lalibela created?

4.  While working on my blog the hotel’s power goes out and 15-seconds later the emergency generator kicks in.  I get a notification that I did not disconnect my external hard drive HD correctly (which I store all my photos).  Now my HD refuses to boot up!   Soooo, no photos until I get home and have the HD worked on/rescued!

The real main reason is lack of wifi in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
In our travels we stay at a few 4-star hotels but many 1-star lodgings which include the Maasai Simba Camp, a jeep safari camp, a brand new hotel with no sheets, no TP and no bathroom towels but plenty of mosquitos.  These 1-star lodgings are the best available in that area.  Many of the hotels we stayed at say they had wifi only in the lobby for a couple hours a day (the service was poor and posting photos took dozens of futile attempts).
Rather than sit in the smoke filled hotel lobby for 2-3 hours trying to get text and photos to the blog, I chose to explore the towns and finding markets and brows shops, visiting historical sites, and talk to the people.
As of today, we have ridden a little over 12,000 km starting with South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and today we are in Aswan, Egypt.

Here’s the sequence of countries and the location we stayed at after the last post.

Malawi – Lilongwe (1 day+), Chintheche, (1-day+), Koronga
Tanzania – Mbeya, Kisolanza, Dodoma, Babati, Arusha (parked our motorcycle for 4-days while we went on a 4-day Ngorongoro Crater & Serengeti National Park safari
Kenya – Merrueshi (1 day+), Mt Kenya (1 day+), Marsabit.

There might be a tire problem.  The Conti TKC-70 that worked so well on the 2015 Silk Road are wearing faster than expected.  The aggressive riders, Tom, Joe, Steve, and Helge might need a tire change.

We spent 8 days in Ethiopia staying in Yabello, Awassa, Addis Ababa (1-day+), Kombolcha, Lalibela (1-day+), Gonder.
In Ethiopia the roads have multi-uses, they are the main corridors for all cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, ducks, chickens, etc.  People walk on the roads everywhere including the centerline!  As we ride up to a group of people alongside the road, they begin to cross the road in front of you.  Children as little as 3-4 years old play by themselves on and along the roads.  And of course huge tractor/trailer rigs, huge tour buses and those dang mini-vans traffic is helter-skelter in-between and around the above.
Arron, riding a new water-cooled BMW1200GS, was traveling alone (as we all do) in an area where the bushes were up against the road.  Suddenly a crazed donkey charges through the bushes at full donkey speed in front of him.  Arron T-bones the donkey and they both go down in a pile of blood, guts and a mess of BMW parts.  Arron wearing full riding suit, Aerostitch, and helmet is covered with blood!  The BMW is totaled, the front triple tree separated from the frame!  Joe and Steve are the first to arrive.  Arron was walking around in a daze.  Joe does an immediate medical assessment, gets Arron to remove his bloody Aerostich to learn that Arron has no wounds.  An ambulance happens to be on the road and stops.  Arron goes to a country hospital approx. 10 km away for x-rays and observation.  He is back at the crash scene in 45 minutes to gather his personal belongings.

A truck is secured to transport the BMW back to Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia).  Arron and one of our handlers go back to Addis Ababa to assist Arron shipping his totaled BMW back to the US (to fulfill the Carnet de Passage).  Arron can continue with us riding in the chase vehicle.  He can fly into Sudan and meet up with our group as we ride north.

The next day, at the Ethiopia/Sudan border, Nick learns his Ethiopia Visa ended the day before we were to exit Ethiopia.  All the rest of us had the correct exit date.  Nick, a Canadian, used a different VISA service and he did not check the dates on the Ethiopia Passort Visa when he got it back.  This means Nick can no longer exit Ethiopia with us.  He must go back to Addis Ababa and get a new Visa with the correct date.  Typically this can take up to a week or more!

We discussed all the options and Tom B came up with a totally out-of-the-box idea!  What if we get Arron to come to the Ethiopia/Sudan border and ride Nick’s bike through Sudan to the Sudan/Egypt border. Nick was able to get his Carnet de Passage motorcycle out of Ethiopia and into Sudan and the bike will sit in Sudan custom awaiting Arron.

Nick will then fly from Addis Ababa to Cairo then takes a commuter flight to the Sudan/Egypt border to Carnet de Passage his motorcycle out of Sudan and into Egypt.  Then Arron will ride the chase vehicle while Nick returns to his moto.

Sounds crazy but this worked!  The original group is back together again less 1 motorcycle.

After we crossed into Sudan, it was a world of difference.  No animals on the road, no people walking on the road, no children on the road.  The traffic was minimal.  The country side changed from lush green mountains, farm communities of Ethiopia to brown desert as far as the eyes can see.

In Sudan we stayed in Gedaref, Khartoum (2 days), Karima, and Soleb,

Egypt – Abu Simbel and today Aswan.  Tomorrow we ride to Luxor for a 1-day+ guided tour.
I’ve been on the road for 55 days!!!  It’s amazing how quickly time goes by on a motorcycle.  This adventure is over in 11 days.
CURRENT LOCATION:  Upper right corner is my Delorme inReach Explorer satellite tracks provided by SPOTwalla.  When activated, it provides a real time track of my travels.  The tab “All-Star Motorcycle Circus & E” opens for more options.  “Adjustments” enables the viewer to select more days of the tracks.

The tracks are archived back to my arrival in Cape Town, South Africa, 10 Jan, 2017.

Use the zoom slider on the left to open up the map to see our entire route. The two tabs in the upper right “Map/Satellite” switches the map illustration with satellite photos.

GlobeRiders has it’s own BLOG “2017 Cape to Cairo Live Journal!”  There is a complete description of the excursion, rider bios, updates of the ride, and an active satellite location link.

6 comments to Where in the world is Dean?

  • Mary Jane Weedin Cunningham

    What a fascinating trip! Thanks for the update, I was beginning to wonder “where in the world is Dean?” Glad you are safe & have had such a magnificent experience. You mentioned Luxor, I assume you will visit the Pyramids? Take care my friend.

  • Thomas Key

    Dean…Lynette and I will be in So. Cal shortly after your return. We expect your full story w/ photos to be ready. Remind me to tell you the Land Rover vs goat story from Botswana. Tom

  • John Cheney

    Thanks for the update Dean. I checked your Spot location two days ago and was glad to see you were still on the move. Always good to know.

  • Ken Southam

    Great to hear an update. Been following your inReach most days. Looking forward to more pictures at a later date. Take care and ride safe. Ken

  • Cletha

    What excitement! What a grand adventure you are having!

  • Joanie

    Be safe Dean! Love these posts!!

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