7 hours, 0 minutes, 640 kilometers (400 miles)

Battery, battery, battery.

Got up and my checklist done and headed out to find my battery.

There was some giant bird in the yard digging with its giant beak.

Ryan’s dad recommended a place about 10 minutes from the guesthouse, so I headed there first. No dice, but the guy there recommended a place down the road.

One thing I noticed about people in South Africa is that they always give you real directions. I mean, “Take the W9 to 6th street, take a right, and then the next left” – like I have a clue. In the US, we just give people the name of the place and expect them to google it, right?

Anyway, I headed over to “Battery Power Zone”, expecting disappointment.

Couldn’t have gone any better. Casey hooked me up with a lithium ion battery, and they even installed it!

I coordinated the pickup and drop off via courier with Ryan and Casey to get Sha-Sha his battery back. The people in this country are all like they came from your home town. I can’t say it enough about how friendly and genuine people are here.

I hit the road around 10, it was about a 6.5 hour drive so I wanted to get rolling.

There were a lot of interesting signs on the way. I missed most of them because the camera delay takes too long when you’re hauling ass.

I saw a bunch of smaller “monkeys” on the road, but wasn’t sure they were baboons. Turns out, they were not, they were Vervet Monkeys. They would race across the road, probably picking up garbage to inspect. Oh well.

“Hauling Ass,” you don’t say!”

‘Somehow’ along the way I managed to get nailed by a speed trap on the side of the road. I hesitated to pull over after all the stories I’ve heard, but I did my quick analysis before I came to a complete stop – Clean uniforms, more than one and both wearing badges, an M5 BMW with complete markings, and the actual laser device. Ok.

Everyone smiling. Definitely the first American bike pulled over – ever. One was a pastor who said he needed to save his partner from writing too many tickets. I agree. They gave me warnings about other parts of Western Africa I should be aware of, both with theft and speeding. I had read online about the other countries, but no one mentioned South Africa.

I rode the speed limit the rest of the way to Agulhas, thankfully, as there were 3 more speed traps on the way.

Weather was clear and ranges from 70 to 50 degrees. I was actually freezing going through some areas! It’s spring after all…

Hilarious. I used to live there, well, the German one anyway.

Finally.