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2003-12-14 - Varanasi - Satna (Day 241)

Some days are just perfect, a slice of heaven...and some just tease you that way. I started out of Varanasi and things could not have been better. Except for lying on the ocean floor watching the waves roll above my head, there is nothing I like more then sunshine, the wind in my hair and a flat wonderful road. Today started out as a slice of heaven with the road all that I could have asked for, no trucks and just an amazing ride across the plains that were bathed in sunshine. The farmers were working their fields, I have returned to a part of India where people smile and wave as I pass which I have not seen since Nepal - Assam, Calcutta and Bihar being decidedly unfriendly places - and everything seems right with the world. A few times lines from Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" even start popping into my head.

But of course, things never are that easy in India and by 4:00pm the road has metamorphed into one of the worst I have yet been on with Enfield swallowing potholes, sand, and dust that has my tail constantly sliding around when it is not bouncing up and down. Of course its at that point I remember the words of advice form some other travelers in Pokhara who told me about their tour from Rajasthan to Varanasi - on the same road I was on. They told me to avoid it at all costs, as it was the road from hell! These two had bought an Enfield on a whim, and decided to ride it across India - in the monsoon. Looking at these potholes and the several inches deep dust I can only imagine what this would have been like in the monsoon - if nothing else I had to take my hat off to them for having the gumption to make it through! The Gods must really take care of people who have no idea what they are getting themselves into!

By the time I finally make it to the hotel, the iron support for one of my horns has broken from all the nocks and bumps, and I am shaken and stirred. However, there is HBO on the TV and of all the most beloved of things - hot running water so I settle back and try to remember the sunshine from the morning.

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