“Sorry for screaming at you, girls, but you have to drink and eat. You have to trust me, when the going is tough.”

When I get scared, I scream and yell. Dana is exactly the same. She screams. And there was a fair amount of screaming yesterday from both of us.

“ I am sorry to”, Dana said and smiled.

Eva just looked at us with dignity. She was going through a very demanding day, because of her period which completely drains here, but she is such a trooper she never complains about that. We were sitting in a road drum under the busy main road to Swakopmund. We had just left the heavily corrugated dirt road following a pipe line going all the way day to this German looking town. An hour earlier we had said goodbye to Sofie who was heading back to the airport flying home to Denmark after being with us for 5 days. Caleb picked her up and when they left us they both looked very concerned.

We had left Goanikontes way too late, but it was Sofie’s last day of filming and we need her great shooting. The heat was already on and for some reason I decided to take a route which would not be a short cut as I thought, but actually would make our journey 30 kms longer. The last wee k had been a circus, everything happening so fast, so we actually left the campsite with too little water, hardly any snacks and, all due to the fact that I hadn’t done my home work properly.

Not the first time. We started off with a really hot, sandy uphill through a spectacular desert. Eva was tired and told me her period was bad. Sofie and Caleb had to leave by 12. So just when we reached the top of the climb, I realised that we were heading the wrong way, too late. So we put the bikes on the pickup and drove 12 km to the main road. Sofie and Caleb had to leave. We had 45 kms to Swakopmund and the girls where void of energy.

“Girls, you have to eat what I give and drink what I give you.”

They wanted to do it their way. Not drinking or eating. But we had to get out of the sun and wind, there was no shelter to be seen. Main road was too busy, so we sat of down a dirt road following the pipeline and the I saw the road drum. We steered over there, into the shade, a immediately cooked lunch made up of Real Turmat dried frozen packets I had at backup. And an hour later we were laughing, joking and feeling happy together. Eva said:

“ Wow, we have learned a lot of life lessons today!”

I have to say my daughters are fantastic. This break over 2 hours hardened them again. They even said they liked the challenge and we felt closer than ever. I had seen it so many times before. They always recharge and regain power. But we still had 45 kms to do. At 4 it had cooled down considerably and we decided to try the busy road with asphalt. Traffic is merciless and the driving some of the worst I have ever encountered, but we stuck together and dealt with all perfectly. We arrived in Swakopmund just before sunset.

The girls were so happy, felt really proud and we immediately went to the SPAR Supermarket and bought everything we wanted. Ice cream, sweets and so on. And we had been offered to rent a whole house next to the beach and it is spectacular!

The joy we had last night after doing this together is one of the finest of my memories. And we had done so many times before.

Two days of well earned rest and finally we get a proper time to prepare for the next leg of the journey.

PS. For those of you who worry, don’t, we have all the kit like earphones, a big road with traffic and money togged help if needed. DS