after 21 hours of flying, i'm back in america -- safe and sound -- and so much to think about and process. but only a few days to adjust and then i'm off to CA, NV and MN, for the month of july. anyways, on to day three... day three took us from nyumba ya mungu to munngano, following the pangani river valley, along the same trails of early exploration and slaves alike. each morning, wake up was 5:30 AM, with a planned departure time of 7 AM. but we had a "lie-in" this day until 6:30 AM (can't remember why). and this was the magnificent view right outside our campsite shortly before our departure.

a rocky, yet beautiful terrain, along the water welcomed the riders for a short bit. thankfully, no one fell on the rocks.

one of the break points was at this village.

when we arrived, they were making chapatis and welcomed us to eat, drink (hot tea) and dance with them. this is one of our guides helping make the chapatis.

my window view. we didn't really drive next to the riders all that much because it kicked up too much dirt. we typically travelled ahead and waited for the riders to catch up or we drove behind them.

as i already shared, everyone fell at least once -- some bumps, scrapes, wounds and injuries worse than others. megs had quite the hip gash on this fall, although it healed amazingly well by the end of the ride.

most of the ride this day was the same, barren terrain, which made for a rather long day.

we stopped at river pangani along the way, where we saw a crocodile and met many locals, from a variety of surrounding villages.

our tents, which included a foam sleeping pad, sleeping bag, pillow and light, powered by a small, portable solar panel. the small, green rectangle tent on the right was one of our toilets -- basically a hole in the ground with a wooden toilet seat on top of it (that i didn't dare sit on). you just zip yourself in and you're good to go. all was fine until almost the entire camp came down with diarrhea at the same time. more about that on another day.

these were our three showers. water flow was a trickle most of the time but getting to shower each day was amazing.

the cooks and their kitchen area. food was surprisingly really, really good!!

day's sample menu... breakfast: eggs, porridge, toast, peanut butter, jelly, nutella, cereal, (instant) coffee lunch: pasta dish, bread, fruit, nuts, chocolate dinner: soup, chicken, vegetable, rice, fruit or dessert

i loved the soup so much, i asked if i could get a couple of the recipes from the cooks.

my clothes washing buckets. i washed clothes this way in my hotel too.

and my clothes hanging on the line to dry.

katilin was always so good about stretching after her long day's ride.

at each campsite, we had a few guards from the nearby village, who made sure all remained well with our camp throughout the night. the guard / elder on this day invited us back to visit his village. everyone was so welcoming and we had so much fun, but were only able to stay for a short bit, as we had to head back to our camp before it got dark.

okay, maybe this little guy wasn't having so much fun at first.

taken in the last little bit of light, as we were leaving. 4000 ISO.

lastly, the foundation for tomorrow (TFFT) has only a few days left for their annual fund match. if they can raise $50,000 by midnight saturday, they will receive a $50,000 matching gift!! you can find their annual fund drive here. and if you don't see the amount you'd like to donate, feel free to visit my fundraising page here, to donate any amount you'd like.

here's a few of the beautiful and amazing children that TFFT is currently sponsoring. i can't even begin to tell you how special these children are!!