OFF-ROAD EXPEDITIONS

Sometimes…

(Things we’ve done around Mooinooi, North-West, during the past year, 2019 – 2020)

Sometimes a pestilence comes and ruins your whole day… sometimes the whole month!  Sometimes it breaks your spirit, but sometimes it just paints your soul in all sorts of funny colours.  Sometimes small-town quaintness makes you want to pack your things and head back to the city lights and all of its shiny distractions, but every time you witness that kaleidoscopic sunset over the mountain you are glad that you stayed.

We live in a little town called Mooinooi (literally translated to pretty-girl).  It’s a mining town in the North West province with only the bare necessities.  I mean – we don’t even have a KFC?!?  So, for entertainment we find small things, heavy things, wet things, rocky things and, almost always, fascinating folks.

If ever you are in the neighbourhood, take a twirl off the pothole-beaten track.  Stop at a shebeen.  It’s not where shebeen but whereshegoin that matters.  Greet the old guy selling naartjies.  At your own risk, ask for directions even if you’re not lost.  Sometimes you’ll be peasantly slurprised!

Sometimes you take a road that’s not even on a map.  Sometimes the road ends in an open field with flowers, sometimes it takes you to another road leading somewhere else, sometimes it takes you to where the sky is bluer.

Sometimes you find beasts in unexpected places.  Sometimes they run away with fear at the sound of a four-stroking-horse.  Sometimes the mystical masticators inquisitively inspect the smell of half eaten blueberry muffins, obligingly surrendered as a quick peace offering.  Sometimes they knibble on your knee-guard… you just never know.

Sometimes you override your fiery fear-alarm by adding more adrenaline to the throttle and thereby drumming out that irritating*ting-ting-ting* noise.  Sometimes this might even impress innocent onlookers, but their headshaking is most probably not admiration.  Sometimes you find your own admiration reflecting back at you from the side of a beer bottle.

Breedts Nek

Sometimes the uphill struggle gets you to the best views.  Sometimes your gut insists, “Nope…”  and you might have to roll back a meter or two and take a deep breath.  But sometimes just a little run-up is all the momentum you need.  Some days that gradient is trickier to climb but it’s worth it every time.  A pat on the back is such a small gesture, but sometimes a little encouragement makes you dare more and, automatically, win more.

Sometimes the bump in the road is the most exciting thing you see all day.  Sometimes you land flat on your face.  Sometimes you learn to fly!

Jericho’s Rock

Sometimes the view at the top is indescribable, but the friendship at the bottom is undeniable.

Sometimes the water is deeper than you think.  Always give more gas, otherwise you might drown.  Don’t drown!  Bikes are heavy when they are wet…

Sometimes the friends are old, sometimes the friends are new, sometimes the friends are fleeting.  Sometimes you enjoy the company, but never deny youself a lovely lonely moment.

Sometimes you must just grit your teeth and sometimes you should invest in a worthy washing machine.  Because as impossible as it may seem, anything can be done…  Even if you don’t quite look the same at the end.

Granite Mines

Sometimes TRESPASS is an invitation – I mean, it openly incorporates the word ‘pass’.  Normally, the bigger and more literal the road “blocks”, the more rewarding the final secret site.

Sometimes, you have to build a bridge…  Our minds are constantly occupied with thoughts of what we should have done, or should be doing.  Build it!  Build it strong!

Old Quarry

Sometimes you have to be deeply grateful – given the amount of unjust suffering and woe in this world – for all the misery you’ve been spared.  Especially when you have a friend that tips the fairness scale stylishly in your favour.

Sometimes all you can do is say, “Wow!”

Bosveld Pub

Sometimes the fun lies in two little two strokes, riding two kilometers to a bar where the people are too friendly to blame for not having Dog on the menu.  Too often the bikes don’t make it so you make new mates along the way too.  Those times are when too many memories are made.  Partly because sometimes, we drink a little too much and remember even less.

Maretlwane Dam

Sometimes you see something shiny out of the corner of your eye.  Sometimes it’s the light reflecting off the tinfoil of leftovers you just devoured.  Sometimes it’s a dam, with kingfishers, and fisheagles, and rinninking white horses and the last of your stockpile ciders.  Sometimes it’s worth the second glance at that something shiny…

Sometimes you keep ploughing on even if you foresee an imminent catastrophy.  You might survive this or not, but either way, moving forward will kill the suspense.

Sometimes we don’t even know what we are looking for.  We usually have but a few seconds to decide whether we chase that dream or leave it wandering in our minds for eternity.  Sometimes we have so many memories, so many stories to tell – each left their skidmarks on our lives, painted their parts on our souls.  There is a long list of places to visit, a sky full of future smiles, and so many paths that remain.  Someday, we will find things we haven’t even realized we’ve lost.