bugsonmyboard

When people ask me the standard round of questions of where I’ve been and where I’m going and whether I’m alone, I always have a hard time saying yes to the last question.   There was no one I could convince back home to do this trip, so it is true that I set off alone.  While the vision of a solitary man roaming the coastlines of the world with only his trusty surfboard at his side is a romantic one, I’ve never found it to have much basis in reality.  Of course there are lonely stretches from time to time, but generally, I don’t seem to spend all that much time alone.  Whether it’s meeting other travelers or getting to know the people of the places I visit, company is usually never far away. My recent stay in Western Sahara is a great example of friends that seem to always materialize on the road, where a gang of us spent weeks living at a campground.

Two of the most adventurous souls that I’ve run into lately are Kuba and Lindsey.  Kuba is a widsurfer from Poland and Lindsey is a yoga teacher from the U.S.  They both have spent time other places in Africa, working as they’ve gone.  They don’t seem to have an end to the globe trotting in sight as they dream of crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat.

Bob is the traveling veteran of the crew. For years, he’s ridden is BMW GS1200 from his home of England down the west coast of Africa as far as The Gambia.  He knows more about American politics than I do and holds me to account for most of American foreign activities and entertainment exports.  It was only through the daily exchange of croissant, coffee, witty insults and motorcycling stories that we managed a truce.  He’s also the most deadly man in camp with a fly swatter.

Karen’s father is from Morocco and she has come here to embrace her roots by learning the local tribal language of Berber and first and foremost learning to kitesurf.

When the surf went flat, I got a windsurfing lesson from Kuba.

When the surf kicked up, we all went surfing.   Dyna Rae earned her keep -three surfers, three surfboards, one moto!

On the road, overland travelers going the same direction find each other again and again or hear about each other’s progress and pitfalls through the grapevine and provide advice on routes and border crossings.  It becomes a support network of sorts.  I got invited to Christmas dinner in Dakar by another rider who happened to have seen my blog. Esteban from Spain on the KTM Adventure is having starter trouble in Nouakchott but found a great former Dakar Rally mechanic to help. Jonathan from England got stuck in the desert repairing a puncture. The English couple on a tandem bicycle were run off the road by a truck and wrecked their rear wheel. No one seems to know where the Aussies, Luke and Ben, riding two up on the Royal Enfield have gotten to. The two German guys in a Toyota 4-Runner that helped push me out of the Senegal River are headed to The Gambia to help a fellow German who was camped with us in Dakhla get out of an unfortunate landing in jail. It goes on and on like this..

I think that the point is this: if you have even the slightest notion to set off on some journey of your own design, but no one to share the adventure with, there is no need to hesitate.  Wherever you might wander, your friends are already there waiting for you. Hopefully they’re not in jail when you get there.