Flying Pianos in the Daisies

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GG

Race Dog
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
518
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0
Location
Gauteng
Bike
KTM 1290 Adventure R
Ok so all you ruff and tuff bikers... we chose to show our feminine sides and go see the
flowers in Namaqualand, leaving Wednesday lunch time, the route JHB - Kuruman, then
Springbok Thursday pm, then smell the daisies and do as many flowery dirt roads before
heading back via Kimberly de Aar on Sunday.  Well we started well except 2 of our buddies Ysterman and Seamus aka Shameful were wilting daisies and pulled out.... Shameful deserving of his name with 5 minutes to go!  Pierre and I (with Sue) on our GS1200 adventures and Simon on a GS 1200.  Pierre had the route and proudly displaying the new zumo, complete with scala bluetooth headset.... but more about hi tech later!

First stop we discover this boer war graveyard...Pierre proudly confirms Boers won this
one 10 - 0 and starts humming de la rey as we head for De la Rey ville....  I switch to
Juluka ....  I do note that the scala headset has been replaced by earphones


Shot with VLUU L77 / L77 Digital Camera at 2007-08-13



Day 2 we head off towards Springbok, stopping to inspect Pierres idea of a real 4x4!  We are however following a real GPS ..mine...it appears that the Zumo has stopped showing the route and is now just a lekker big ipod... hmmm and he is in IT!



Just after Sishen we are hit by a very very strong wind, buffeting us around,  riding leaning over.  On my ipod David Kramer pops on singing Matchbox full of Diamonds....I curse but smile as I hear the words.. "daar is a wind wat jou can mal maak, en a wind wat die rien can bring,  I'm as heppy as a hotel in the springtime when the flowers bloom agen!" 
&^%$# this wind made me mal.  Simon does the last 100km's at 80kmh ..thanks
goodness for the GSA's tank. Then its the Augrabies hotel for a lazy lunch!

After lunch we head out to pofadder.... I rocket ahead .... simon does the last 50 at
80kmh... the pofadder hotel is calling us for a doppie.  Looks like we should have had
a burger here....and another real 4x4 for Pierre!




We hit a packed Springbok...David Kramer was right.... the hotels in springtown are packed
.  Time for a springbok in springbok and a delightful local waitress who's answer to Simons
request for coffee is "meneer dis nie nou tyd vir coffee dis wyntyd" !


Day 3 and flower time... The Zumo GPS is now replaced by a R 50 map... Pierre is still using the headphones and its pissing down..but hey we head off in the rain..


down perdeklip pass.  We meet a fancy new 4x4, who asks Pierre.  Will you make it in that, pointing to the bike.....Pierre gives the de la rey look and says....boetie you may not make it in that... the rain has lifted the sun is out, its freezing but the flowers and the ride is lovely!




This old prison has a wonderful story of the warder who hung himself when he found out
his wife was having an affair with a prisoner....now that beats maidnaai!




Aah and the flowers are lovely, so lovely that as i round a corner I am so busy looking at
the flowers that I see the deep sand too late.  I try a pathetic little attempt at standing
and accelerating but too late.  bang and we are down...Sue looking very confused.  She
of course trusting soul did not leap off the bike like I did, so she went down with it. 
The sand was soft tho......

More and more flowers...




Then we blast whipping at fairly illegals speeds thru the twisties down the highway via
Garies, flowers and flowers to Calvinia.  Calvinia you ask!  Calvinia!  theres no flowers in
Calivinia! Yes trust me theres no flowers or anything else...the pub did not even have
Kappies and the only jol there was skilpad se braai "min vleis en baaie dop" and
skaapnaai...  yes at least in the prison the warders wife was willing!  But like David
kramer sed...the hotels, the lodges and the b&b;s are full in springtime.  The Garies
manager told Pierre...Meneer is jy MAL! Dis n lang naweek en dis blom tyd!  Almal is vol. 
GEEZ say that again.... so it was Calvinia! Nuff sed!





Day 4 and we head off to Loeriesfontein in the rain.  It is pissing down, the road is muddy and its 6 degrees.  Time for coffee!  Lovely flowers, the worlds second biggest
windpompe collection but no coffee!





Now we head off to brandvlei!  What a change, from flowers to karroo desert in 5 km's! 
stark dry and beautiful.  The road streches out, white dusty and straight.  We open up
the GS's.  Up to about 120kmh.  This is what they are made for....Alice Cooper and
Poison are doing that thing with my throttle.  A 4x4 apears ahead, Alice Cooper says
wind it up.  We overtake, over some sandy middlemanetjie, well maybe a middleman..
the rear does a little snakey thing.  Igive it some gas.... then boom we go into a dip
suspension flat and wheee fly out over a bump....two wheels off the ground!  Oh shit
this is a flying Piano remember, it takes off well but shit how does it land.  What was it the instructor said again. Boom, dust, teeth rattle and without a jiggle we are booming off
down the road....





Brandvlei for lunch..what a great pub... every burger is named after a windpomp..die
windgat, Climax (a make of windpomp) and net a windpomp burger.  Even Wynand
Windpomps new CD.  Someone has even written on the wall " I is the beste pomp in
die dorp" I reckon die windgat was named after him!  Then more white sandy roads,
more windmills, more dust, a few more flying pianos...Van Rynsvlei to Vosburg, 



Someone has to do something about the dors, helping out a few water starved vygies!



at Vosburg Simon is bitching about the dirt... its cool say Pierre its tar from here.....bang
we hit dirt for another 70k's..I get the giggles, Simon curses and Pierre bombs down the
dirt at 130 in case Simon catches him. 



Britstown for supper!  We look like white ghosts, 500 odd km's of dirt across the Karroo
and lots of flying Pianos.





Day 5 the home trip... De Aar....  then koffiefontein for Koffie.    David Kramer sang about
this too..i'm sure we won this one..can't remember tho... Our hearts lift, its been freezing
and as we enter town there is a huge kettle.  A sign... Koffie time.  We ride around and
around and around koffiefontein... a process that takes 3.23 minutes.  *&^%$ no
*&&^^&* koffie in koffiefontein!


Off we head... petrusberg then dirt to boshof.... Simon is now bitching about the dirt
again....  The Zumo has got us lost and finally Pierre agrees to follow my working GPS
and its attempts at routing us on main roads....



we now blast off past little unkown towns ...hoopstad (no hope), Bothaville (baie baie
mielies) to Parys... 700kms odd from Britstown time for a late lunch and
head for home.

Pierre is ignoring the Zumo and the headset and heads down the highway ..gets to the
tollgate and his credit card won't work!!!!  No Zumo, no headset, no credit card... he
curses technology and guns it through.... at least the flying piano won't let him down!

Four and a half days, 3029 km's... yes I did think about going around the block to get
3030 but my butt was sore!







 
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