Otse to Francistown

  Francistown, Botswana
Monday, December 1, 1997

December 1 - Otse to Francistown

1st day on the road. The valiant little Chico, how far will she take us? We are full to the gills with tents, sleeping bags, giant gas cooker, spare wheel, food.

We were all very excited about going north of Gaborone, as none of us had been before. No hills, but aside from that, much the same. Varying amounts of scrubby trees and slightly differently coloured soils. The driving is a lot like that at home, but the roads are narrower. I'm getting better at manual shift - by the end of the holiday should be proficient.

M and I took the car to my place to pack last night, and it took me ages to get out of J's driveway. Then I remembered neutral rested under 3rd, not 1st. O. We were very ruthless (Ruth, Ruth, where are you?) and have only a 25 litre backpack between us. Not bad. We will be very bored of our clothes at the end of the odyssey!

Tree growing through rock - near Francistown

I saw my first snake last night on my drive. I stepped over a twig, and then realised what it was. I decided saying 'Fuck!' very loudly over and over was a good course of action. I then got the shovel and maimed it, as it was right beside a wall, so I couldn't get a clean shot. (Also, I hate killing things, even cockroaches) M held the light. She said later she was amazed at how calm she was. Yeah, right. She was 10 feet away, waving the torch in my general direction. We looked it up, but still don't know what it was. I think it wasn't poisonous, so feel guilty. But, can't be too careful, right?

The sky is so big.