Ready to go ATVing with a guide from Xtreme Clarens in South Africa.

For those of you familiar with our blog, you know that we traveled to the country of Lesotho to build a Habitat for Humanity house.  But when a coup against the government forced us to evacuate the country, we found shelter in nearby Clarens, South Africa.  Worn out with waiting, worrying, and packing so hurriedly, our whole group decided we deserved a bit of excitement.  Xtreme Clarens to the rescue with rentable ATVs! We took to the hills.

On the way, we were treated to scenes like we’d never seen before.  Good scenes — rocky terrain, heights from which we could view sites miles away, the homes and shelters of people who lived on the mountainside.  And not so good scenes of devastating fires creating environmental hazards and hardships for the people trying to breathe heavily polluted air.

Stopping to rest midway. Note the smoke in the background from the fires near Clarens.

At the halfway mark, we were still intact. Note the scenery we saw on the way.

On the way back to the rental place, we welcomed paved streets and a smoother ride. But what we really loved seeing were the people, especially the children, who stood on the side of the road, waving wildly or attempting to high-five us.

Shot with my iPhone held in one hand, we tried to capture a shot of the children who ran out of their houses to high-five us!

Kinda reminded us of a quote by Robert Frost in “Birches”:  That would be good both going and coming back. 

For more “on the way” shots, head over to this week’s WordPress Daily Post Challenge right here

Poster we saw on the way!

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