After an interesting breakfast of mealie pap and toast, I gave the bikes a once-over while Re packed up the room. The bikes finally seem to be broken in, as no adjustments were needed. One piece of equipment we are still missing is a gas can for Re's bike. We checked in a few stores in Hermanus but came up empty handed. So as we were returning the keys at the guesthouse, I asked the receptionist if she knew where we could get one. She assured me they would have them at the Total station on the way out of town. We stopped there and I went inside to ask for a gas can, and the lady behind the counter said they didn't have such a thing and directed me to one of the guys working the pumps (all gas in South Africa is full-serve). I asked him if he knew where to get a jerrycan, and he smiled and asked if a 5 liter can would be okay. Sure, I said, how much? 5 Rand (about 66 cents), he replied. Since the last gas can I bought in South Africa cost $17 USD, here is where I became a little suspicious. I followed him around to a door on the side of the building, which he opened to reveal a storage closet. He pulled out a 5 liter plastic bottle that formerly held some kind of cleaning fluid and was ignominiously hand-lettered with the word, “toilet” on the side. Awesome, I thought. He rinsed it out with some fresh (?) water and proceeded to fill it up with Total's finest dino squeezins. I just giggled as I carried it back to Re's bike and giggled even more as I strapped the toilet bottle to the front rack on her bike.



With that, we were off. Our route today took us west along the R44, taking us back through all the pretty scenery from a couple days ago, and when the R44 turned north, we continued on it through wine country. At one point along the coast, we stopped at a scenic overlook to refuel and were surprised when a sightseeing van unloaded next to us, and there were several Americans in the crowd. Some of them were from Washington state, and we ended up chatting with them for at least a half hour. They were incredulous that we are here on these bikes. We had a good time telling them all about our trip, bikes, and gear. The ride through the wine country was scenic and became more mountainous as the afternoon wore on. We eventually made it to the small town of Citrusdal, our destination for the evening. We rode through the orange orchards on our way to The Baths, our campsite for the night. The Baths is an old resort with a range of cottages, rooms, and campsites, but the real attraction is the mineral hot springs that feed the baths. While the guidebooks and their own website describe The Baths as overlander friendly, we didn't find them friendly at all. There are a lot of riders of a certain brand in South Africa, and our reception from them has been unfailingly chilly.



We pitched our tent, cooked up a dinner of sausages and apples with oranges from the local grove for dessert. Then we grabbed our suits and headed for the baths. We soaked in the pools for a couple of hours as the sun set and the moon rose before heading back to our tent for the night. As we zipped ourselves into the tent, we were both a bit nervous since this was our first night of camping in Africa.

199 miles in about 7 hours.