Icy Cold winter weather and the chills on a bike

From underneath my nails a sharp sensation runs up along my wrists, my arm into my shoulders and neck. Its cold. Its as if the icy wind finds his way through any possible opening. Only Dante’s nose and ears are sticking out. Its in the smallest of ever moments when I realize that just by being grateful makes a huge difference. I can feel the wind blowing against my nose, freezing but I can feel it. Its difficult to take my mind away from the fact that this can be a rather shitty place to be. The thoughts of sitting inside and staring into the fire in a fireplace with something hot to drink, taking a hot bath and climbing into a hot bed. But this here, the beauty of riding with the wind, talking to the trees and seeing the cattle turning their hind sides to the wind is exillarating and I am ecstatic to be alive. So often have I wished to be somewhere else rather than here where I am. Always wanting something else than what I already am experiencing. Its been 6 years of blunt exposed experiences. Revelations that left me numb in my senses, excited to the point of ecstasy and numbed with sadness. The “reality of life” as I was brought up and exposed to was now mere broken mirrors in which I see myself and my part in the play was bringing this sad sensation that left me wanting to change. Change the world, Save the animals, save the environment, save the people who I dearly love. With the sting of the icy wind I realize that everything is all well its me who I need to save. Its me who I need to look into and find out where and why the water is what it is. Or is it what I see it to be? I can still remember very vividly that first meeting with the beautiful people of Compassion in World Farming who invited us to an informational evening regarding the truth about what exactly is happening to the chickens, sheep and cattle that ends up on the racks in shopping centres for us to eat. I was taken over by my emotions and wondered how can I have been so blind to what is really happening. How could I have been so ignorant and self centred. Self centred. It was when Liani gave a shrill yell that echoed through the humming of the environment while we canoeed the Vaalriver after her paddle came out the water with toiletpaper and human excretion – I almost want to get right down to the nitty details and say shit! – hanging from it that my heart sank to my stomach. Its not a quest to save the planet or the communities or even the animals, its about loving yourself enough to know that you don’t want to drink or eat this water. Its about telling the story about how I came to reach this point of connectedness. Connectedness with God part of me, God in every single being. Its about realising how we all fit together and how we all are part and partial of this rather small yet expanded universe. Meanwhile I am still riding past corn fields in the Free state that shows the leftovers after harvest season. The birds and other small animals eating freely at the seeds that got left behind. Harmony. Dante moves in his basket and hop this way and that way making it more of a challenge to keep the bike right up. I see that Liani and Katryn are also in for a stop and for good stretch of legs. We have 3 main goals for this trip through SA during the Soccer World Cup. Its mainly because we want to join in on the tangible positive energy that blinds the people for the normal negative energy we get from seeing the colour and culture differences. Getting Liani back on the road with the physical and mental challenges after the accident she had.And to raise the awareness around loving the water we are via more media and amongst more communities. Our route takes us from Johannesburg to Durban through the Freestate and then to Cape Town via the Transkei.