On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!
January 11, 2006
We finally made it to Kayes. We had yesterday off; we spent most of it getting back into the swing of things. When Carrie bumped into Morne, our plans changed.
He was smiling really big and wearing a new shirt. Carrie asked him what was up; he told her he was going to Kayes to see the bivouac for the Dakar Rally. He had just come from the meeting where he got tickets for the pits and an official shirt. She signed us up immediately.
We left the village around 4, arriving in Dakar around 5:30. We had to be escorted by the gendarme as there has been some trouble on that road in the last few weeks. We were quite the spectacle I’m sure as we drove into Kayes; the gendarme in front and six white Land Rovers following behind. The bivouac was at the airport outside of town.
We arrived just in time to see the American team roll in in their Hummer. We called out to them and they pulled a u-turn to come back and talk. They were the maintenance guys. The race car did an endo into camel grass the day before, lost an hour, and dropped out of the race. They were super friendly (especially to Carrie) and gave us team shirts. We all commented how nice it was to talk to Americans after being surrounded by foreigners for so long. I invited them up to the mine since their car was done, but they declined.
Once inside the gate we were awestruck. There were motorcycles, ATV’s, rally cars, maintenance trucks, racing trucks, airplanes, and helicopters as far as the eye could see. There were cars up on jacks, drivers getting massages, motorcycles being torn apart, and TV crews running here and there. Speckled in with all of this were little clumps of tents, spectators, and race officials. It was amazing.
We wandered through everything, taking pictures until it was too dark to see. We counted fourteen helicopters and at least that many airplanes and countless tired people. We had a great dinner of New York steak and potatoes while we watched highlights of the day on the big screen. It was very exciting, except I was a little bummed that I know so little about the whole thing. Last year the bivouac was at the airstrip at the mine. There is talk that it may be there again next year. Hopefully by then I will know more and can actually keep up with the conversation.
MJR
We finally made it to Kayes. We had yesterday off; we spent most of it getting back into the swing of things. When Carrie bumped into Morne, our plans changed.
He was smiling really big and wearing a new shirt. Carrie asked him what was up; he told her he was going to Kayes to see the bivouac for the Dakar Rally. He had just come from the meeting where he got tickets for the pits and an official shirt. She signed us up immediately.
We left the village around 4, arriving in Dakar around 5:30. We had to be escorted by the gendarme as there has been some trouble on that road in the last few weeks. We were quite the spectacle I’m sure as we drove into Kayes; the gendarme in front and six white Land Rovers following behind. The bivouac was at the airport outside of town.
We arrived just in time to see the American team roll in in their Hummer. We called out to them and they pulled a u-turn to come back and talk. They were the maintenance guys. The race car did an endo into camel grass the day before, lost an hour, and dropped out of the race. They were super friendly (especially to Carrie) and gave us team shirts. We all commented how nice it was to talk to Americans after being surrounded by foreigners for so long. I invited them up to the mine since their car was done, but they declined.
Once inside the gate we were awestruck. There were motorcycles, ATV’s, rally cars, maintenance trucks, racing trucks, airplanes, and helicopters as far as the eye could see. There were cars up on jacks, drivers getting massages, motorcycles being torn apart, and TV crews running here and there. Speckled in with all of this were little clumps of tents, spectators, and race officials. It was amazing.
We wandered through everything, taking pictures until it was too dark to see. We counted fourteen helicopters and at least that many airplanes and countless tired people. We had a great dinner of New York steak and potatoes while we watched highlights of the day on the big screen. It was very exciting, except I was a little bummed that I know so little about the whole thing. Last year the bivouac was at the airstrip at the mine. There is talk that it may be there again next year. Hopefully by then I will know more and can actually keep up with the conversation.MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 6:16 PM
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