6 hours, 30 minutes, 500 kilometers (300 miles)

Potholes, potholes, and more potholes.

I quickly realized that it’s just as important to dodge the people dodging the potholes as dodging the potholes yourself. Cars and trucks make some drastic decisions to avoid the craters. I can’t even count the number of times someone was coming directly at me flashing their lights like I was the one in the wrong lane. Some guy at the border who was checking out my bike said that Angolans love and respect motorcycles – apparently not when potholes are involved! They either expect you to run off to the shoulder or slow down enough so they can get past.

Daily Diary

Heading Out on The Highway

First, I needed to get gas.

With cash in my pocket, I put in my destination and then chose what looked like a respectable gas station on the way.

Turns out, that one was out of gas, so I headed back to the one I passed earlier because I saw someone filling up and there was no line.

Then, I needed to get out of the city.

The traffic is rather insane. It reminded me of La Paz, where bikes are racing in between cars and no one cares about the lanes… myself included.

Don’t Get Swallowed Up

That one would take a truck out!

Some of the roads had deep ridges carved into them from being prepped for paving, but for about 50 miles it was not fun.

Charcoal Production

There were fires all around me for a hundred miles as the locals cut down all the trees and make charcoal and sell it on the side of the road.