The Long Trip to Bloemfontein

Our trip to Bloemfontein took a lot longer than we had imagined and at the end of the day was fairly tiring.  With me only having a couple of hours sleep before we left, I thought I would be nodding off once on our way but surprisingly that didn't happen. 

Up as usual we fed the brood and cleaned up the morning mess before Mariana and Bryan arrived to take over for thr next 9 days.  I had left notes for everything but the birds and promised to email those before the next morning.  A quick overview of everything took place before we hit the road, leaving a very confused pack of doggies and Rolo AWOL.

Our route was decided, again to skip all the tolls, and we set off along the R101, moving onto the M1 and through Johannesburg and finally finding our way to the N1.  I had arranged with Simon and Elize to stop over in Parys as it had been ages since we last saw them.  My philosophy always, is to take every opportunity available to see family and friends,if time prevails, so going past Parys on our way was definitely one of those times not to miss out on seeing my big brother.

Travelling the toll road, would have been a 2 hour trip as we have done it before, but going the R101 route we weren't sure until we had actually driven it...  In the end it took us 3 hours, after ending up in a road block and witnessing the tail end of an accident.

Seeing Simon, Elize and Samantha was great and we saw some of the changes they have made to their home.  The entertainment area outside is lovely and I enjoyed the little bits and pieces they have put together to make it look so comfy and relaxing.  We stayed for a quick and easy chicken and salad and then set off for the second leg of our trip.  The sides of the road were pretty with the last of the Cosmos flowering in all their glory...the different hues together make a gorgeous sight and try as I may to snap some photos whilst we were driving, I couldn't get any worth saving.  The fields were full of crops of sunflower, sorghum and beans, one after the other, row after row...  A week later the sunflower plants looked dried...all waiting to be harvested.  Another 3 hours or so on the road and it was early evening when we finally arrived in Maselspoort where Bakkies and Daleen live...close to the river and just 27 km before Bloemfontein city centre....