The Storm

It is a 15 minute drive by gravel road to Steytlerville, a quaint little village, with a colorful main street wide enough for ox wagons to turn around. Lined on both sides by well kept Victorian cottages and interesting little shops, you can see any mode of transportation from mule drawn carts, bicycles, pick ups and luxury cars. We stopped at Weavers B&B for a friendly visit and to return a drill we had borrowed. A relentless wind was sweeping through the village. “That would be the burg wind,” David said, “There will be a change in the weather”. Gravel and dirt stung our faces, bits of tumble weed and debris blew across the flats. Red dust filtered into the house as the intense winds continued through out the afternoon. By evening we experienced a fierce thunder storm that resulted in a power outage. I regretfully thought of my decision not to purchase candles while in Steytlerville. Dinner consisted of tuna salad on a bed a lettuce with onion and tomato. We went to bed early; our sleep was interrupted by several more storms during the night. In the morning there was still no electrical power, now our telephone reception was gone as well. We had planned on preparing for our departure to Port Elizabeth tomorrow - then onto Uganda and I had a mountain of laundry to wash. So Gene filled the bath tub with water, we washed our clothes by hand and hung them out to dry. Such is life in the Karoo! The first phase of our itinerary is almost over.






Hardware Store - Gene's favorite hangout


Karen loves this little Curio shop


The Weaver bird for all our bird loving friends!