Why am I doing this? I really don’t know. I just felt the pull of wide-open spaces and a deep need to get away into nature. It’s not about running away or trying to find myself. I don’t want to overthink it at this point in my journey. If there is a reason, I trust that it will be revealed on the road.
I’m proud of myself for leaving today, because I wasn’t ready, but I left anyway. I made that commitment, and even though I don’t know what I’m doing or why, I knew it was important to just take the first step, drive the first kilometre and start figuring it all out.
I meant to head off along the N2 and cut in towards the Klein Karoo, but for some reason my car started driving along the N1, and so that’s the route I took. It’s very busy and stressful. Lots of huge trucks on a Saturday and there is even a stretch named Kannidood with a sign telling one how many days since the last fatal accident. The number was one. I think the number is always one. I’m a careful driver but the trucks travel so close together that when you overtake you have to pass two or three trucks to get by. It’s very tricky.
I was so relieved to turn off toward Prince Albert. There were no cars on that road at all and I stopped at one point just to listen to the silence. I had originally planned to spend my first camping night in De Rust but I ran so late that when I got to Prince Albert I decided to stop there instead. There is something so liberating about just deciding to stop here. Stop now. Like puppies and kittens do. They play and play and when they’re done they just flop where they are and sleep in cute little balls of contentment. I’ve decided to be a puppy on this trip.
I had this romantic notion about Prince Albert. It’s a very quaint village North of the Cango Caves and most importantly in the Klein Karoo. I’ve been yearning to sleep beneath the open skies and see the stars from the darkness of the desert; how bright they would be and how they would fill me with joy to imagine the vastness of the universe. I didn’t experience that in Prince Albert. I had a nice enough first evening camping in what I came to realise was the party side of town. The music and laughing from the local hotel should have kept me awake but I slept soundly for the first time in months. I saw the moon but no stars. I didn’t mind. I was just so proud of myself for figuring out how to pitch my new pop-up tent and how to use Brett’s mini cooker. Camping 101 I know, but I skipped those classes, so everything is an exciting challenge for me.