Thursday. October 21. Day 83.

Hotel Caledon...

There are only 7 days left of the Skate for Change tour 2010 and we are all buzzing with excitement.

We woke this morning and had a lovely meal at the Caledon Hotel. These guys have gone out of their way to accommodate us. They have sponsored us all accommodation and meals for our stay here and also threw in a massage for each crew member. The service is superb and if you are ever in Caledon you are missing out if you dont spend at least one night there.

We skated into Caledon today. The road surface was pretty good but the weather was a bit fowl. Rainy and cold. We skated to the doorstep of the Hotel where we had some lunch and relaxed for a bit after hitting the road for the second session. It all started well with a sweet downhill from the hotel but took a turn for the worse as we reached the high way were the surface reminded us again of “the road to Mordor.”

Tomorrow we pack up and leave the hotel. A thank you of the highest regards to them for making our stay unforgettable.

Distance skated 23 km

Top speed 34 km/h

Average 18 km/h

Tour kilometers 1778 km

http://www.thecaledoncasino.co.za/

Wednesday. October 20. Day 82.

Just as we were getting used to the idea that no major mishaps would present itself on the trip the weirdest thing happened. We started the day thanking the Swart family for their extreme hospitality and care during our two day stay on the lovely farm just outside Riviersonderend.

On the road Puddy encountered a ridiculously rough surface which comprised mostly of uphills. What a nightmare. Puddy managed to skitch behind (hold on to a passing vehicle) a truck for about 2 k’s which helped out a little bit. After 8 k’s of torment Puddy and the crew pulled off beneath some shady trees to take a water break. All of a sudden a tractor charged from behind at a violent speed, half on the road with the other half on the dirt.Human anticipated fatality and jumped in the van to get it out of the way. Luckily he did it because if he hadn't we would have no van at this moment. The tractor vroomed by as we watched in a disgusted awe. Why couldn't it just swerve onto the road? Why wasn't it driving in the road in the first place? It really wasn’t that busy. Sadly Puddy dropped his board in the commotion and the tractor crushed the back part of his board crippling the truck (thats the axis for the non skaters reading this blog). He has a spare so the tour is not over. In case you were wondering..

Max drove out to Caledon to manage accommodation. We are staying at the Caledon Casino Hotel and they have really gone out of their way to accommodate us. A retreat all of us deserve after spending 82 days on the road.

Distance skated 25 km

Top speed 40 km/h
Average speed 19 km/h

Tour distance 1754km