Lillya Caitlin: March 2009

First Camp

OOOOOOOooooooooooo, our first night out in the peacefulness of the Sahara.

This is Tembian area.

We were here last fall and then took a direct route to the Sand Roses with Phil and Jannick.
This year the sand is so hard Mami and Papi are checking out possible routes that are normally not able to be done (with reasonable risk) without another truck. They are even going to see if it makes sense to “find” some new routes for future use.

Compared to Fall 2008: http://lillya-caitlin.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-free-camp.html

Lunch Break

Mami and Papi laughed when they saw this ‘building’ we used as a break place last fall…it has not changed at all since then...lucky for us we could enjoy this shady place without any visitors and after all we are in Africa!!!

Ready Set Go

We got a good night sleep in our roof tent for the first time with my “loft”. Mami and Papi sure do like it because I have my own space and don’t hog up all of theirs!!! Now we are all packed and ready to head off into the Sahara for a week+. You can see that Mami and Papi already let out a bunch of air in the tires so my ride is groovier and so we have a wider footprint in the sand; like a camel.

I am still asleep in my “dayroom” (tent in the background) so Mami and Papi had to wait for another 30 minutes or so until I woke up. Then Mami put me in my Maxi-Cosy, Papi put on his motorcycle clothes and we hit the sand.

Packing Excellence

Not only do the locals in Africa know how to pack (and of course my Mami and Papi), but check out this….a fellow European (German) packed not only 1 but 2 motorcycles in his VW Mini-Van!!!!

Babysitter

We meet some other travelers from Slovenia. Some were in Libya and the others just arrived here in Tunisia. They will leave tomorrow too. But in the meantime, Nika sure did enjoy babysitting me; and I enjoyed her too!!!

Coolie-Girl

I am just the coolest…
and loving being back in Africa with my Bumbo again…

Navigation Prep

I was so loud sometimes I even disturbed Papi’s concentration when he was preparing our navigation laptop with the right maps and routes database.

Snacking

“WOW”, Mami gave me some snacks and did I ever enjoy eating them (not so quietly) in the shade.

Under Water

Just think, Mami took these shots of the campground AFTER it had more than ½ day of sunny warmer weather to dry up!!!

Unpacked

Well now we are unpacked, my room is set up and we have eaten our lunch. The rest of the day will be spent enjoying ourselves, taking with Abdellah and Brahim as well as others that are visiting the campground.

I am sure Phil and Jannick recognize this little Swiss sticker in the photo above!!!

Arrival in Douz

We arrived in Douz at 01:00 on Monday morning and I was totally enjoying counting sheep in my little cubby-hole cuddled up in my Maxi Cosi car seat.

Mami and Papi waited a few minutes in front of the gate of the camping area, but after seeing the campground being underwater and it was still raining; Mami and Papi decided to go to a hotel for the night.

We slept a few hours, got up early, ate breakfast in the hotel and then drove over to the Douz campground to start our unloading and re-packing activities as you can see here...

This is my little cubby-hole between the refrigerator and alu boxes behind the two front seats.

Papi washed some of my clothes on the ferry and had to make "Red" into a temporary clothes line for my clothes to dry.

Here is how "Red" is packed for the transfer travels and Papi is removing the KTM rack.

Spring Africa '09

We are at the “Portal to the Sahara” once again; but only after Mami drove 400 kilometers from our garage to Genoa, Italy… then our Ferry took us to Tunis, Tunisia in 20/21 hours and then on the last leg of the southern travel she drove another 510 kilometers to Douz, Tunisia.
Let the sandy adventure of our Africa ’09 Spring trip begin!

Water! Sand?

The ferry trip was ‘status-quo’ and we all enjoyed one last shower before hitting the Sahara. We arrived in Tunis a little later than planned and decided to fill up Mami’s Landcruiser “Red” and hit the road with the goal of getting to Douz the same night (that is of course only if I slept peacefully enough).

Although I didn’t really witness any of this...Mami said our travels from Tunis to Douz were with wind and torrential rain causing huge puddles to build. Mami told me she had a really hard time seeing the puddles on the road in the dark and there were even a few times that Mami and Papi got nervous because when Mami drove through these huge puddles there was no chance to see anything anymore!!! Yikes this is not a good thing if you know how drivers are in Tunisia!!!

Then for a good 20-30 minutes Mami could only drive about 15-25 km per hour because there was such heavy rain that it seemed like there were no drops, just a solid wall of water pouring down from the dark night sky.

I am glad I missed out on much of this water stuff...after all I am here to have fun in the SAND!

Ships-A-Hoy

Although Mami did not take any pictures, here is a little bit of info while at the harbor....Mami, Papi and I did the ceremonial toast in the Genoa, Italy harbor launching our vacation. We had cold weather in Genoa and the forecast for Tunis was not better. None-the-less we are happy to be on our way again.

When the Carthage Ferry arrived Mami immediately saw Sandra and Luc who were returning from a 2 week trip. Unfortunately the Italian Police did not let Mami and I give Sandra a hug and talk to Luc; but we will plan on meeting them when we get back.
…Ships-A-Hoy

Pre-Africa

Mami bought me this little Lion "Camping Equipment" Chair for my second trip to Africa. Here I am trying it out as a Pre-Africa test. The size is good, but I am tired and not really in the mood to pose for a cute picture.

And if I dare mention it…Mami is running around again with this huge checklist saying she is preparing for Africa. I do not know what the big deal is (neither does Papi) we travel to Africa at least once a year…I think the preparation should be routine by now. Mami’s excuse is me…she says with me now on the travelers list it makes the preparation efforts a bit different than usual; at least until I eat the same stuff as Mami and Papi and don’t wear diapers anymore.

Bam-Bam Bat

The sunlight from the kitchen windows are casting cool shadows over me while I peacefully play with my bat… but be warned, I normally play with the bat more like Bam-Bam in the Flinstones and bang everything in sight with it!!!

Drawers too

… I can even let go of what ever I used to pull myself up with and play with what ever I happen to find, like these plastic bags in the drawer…

Balanced

Just three days after I first started kneeling I am doing it with much more balance, see how proud I am of myself…

New Things

Today I learned three new things! I started saying “Uut-Ooooh”, clapping my hands together and pulling myself up into a kneeling position.

My Bed

Now a day I use my entire bed for sleeping. One day Mami and Papi can find me at the foot of the bed and the next at the head or in the middle. Today I was playing at the foot, but as soon as Mami came in I started to put on a show and pout so she would get me out of here…