Things I’m going to miss #102 – motorcycle rides

{NOTE: instead of trying to summarize all the things we’ll miss about this place – I’m just highlighting an almost random smattering of them}

Some of the reasons why riding a motorbike (or Piki in East Africa) around here are the same as why running is so enjoyable. Endless trails through the lush countryside with incredible views. However, there are a lot of places where you simply can’t get on anything but a piki around here. Roads that quickly become trails and bridges that may or may not be there to get over streams.

We’ve gone camping, and seen waterfalls, monkeys and hippo, and a LOT of near misses with goats, chickens, cows (and a few not misses…see below)

What’s funny about all of this is that I’ve never owned a motorbike before in my life. In fact, I learned to ride one since we moved here. So something that I’m learning at 40-whatever my kids are learning as teenagers or 8-year-olds.

One of the other great things about picking here is that you just hop on, pull out and start riding. The trails are all right there. And you can go pretty much as far as you want. With a little kid on a 50cc bike, we might ride the same 5km loop that we run. However, the country is small enough, and there are dirt trails and roads everywhere, so you can pretty much go as far as you want. We’ve ridden East all the way to the cliffs overlooking the Tanzanian border, north to a national park on the border, and a long way south to waterfalls and hot-springs (one of the advantages of living in the center of a small country)

Anyway – words don’t really do justice to what it’s like – so here are some photos to give a better idea:

the kids even got the 1980 Honda to run
we all went from zero to ….something – on motorcycle mechanics
dry season is a whole other game
functionality over style
rides are ALMOST always awesome
…othertimes, not. so. much.
lots of rides with friends

the views are spectacular