Pilanesburg 9/13

The big day has arrived. We are off to Pilanesburg game reserve to hopefully see lots of animals. After a breakfast of 2 eggs, over medium or hard, bacon and toast, white or wheat, we finally drove off around 8. We had to stop off at an ATM so everyone had enough rand (SA money) to get in the gate. So we pulled into a shady looking shop and Robin, Jason and Liz piled out to get money. Tyson was laying in his car seat in the back of the van baking in the sun along with Jori. We thought three adults in the middle would be a more enjoyable way to spend the day. So everyone gets their rand and we get back in the POS. Darin turns the key and it does nothing. So he tries again. Still nothing, except now the door locks are all going up and down on their own. The guys get out to look under the hood. Not sure what they were hoping to see, but that's what guys do. Then the girls pile out. We leave the bedraggled children in the van. After we get out, we decide to push the van to try to jump start it. The POS had no jumper cables, and the only car around also didn't have them. So Liz, the only girl who can drive stick, got in the driver seat while the rest of us pushed. Robin and I were not much help because we couldn't stop laughing. We kind of drifted away to the side, and soon after, we noticed a bunch of chickens stacked in cages in front of the store. This strikes us as super funny. So we make a video, which I am supposed to be narrating, but I can't because I am laughing uncontrollably and am about to pee my pants. (The video should end up on Facebook soon and she's going to tag me so those of you who are hooked up with the big FB will get to enjoy that little treat, along with several others.) The video is super funny. There are chickens, Darin, Jason and a random African man pushing the van, another guy almost getting hit by the van, the van almost running into the brick wall, and then more chicken footage. All funny. It starts up, but doesn't keep going. So then Darin sees a car on the other side of the wall and asks if they have jumper cables. They do, but the guy is really hesitant to come over. We then realize that the hoards of people we have seen walking past are all headed to a funeral. Not funny, but just par for the course. The guy does end up helping and the POS is back in business. Somewhere in all the chaos I see a sign that reads “Toilets” with an arrow pointing to an area off to the side of the building. So Robin cheerfully agrees to check it out with me. The toilets turn out to be the sketchiest thing I've seen yet. No toilet paper (thankfully Robin was prepared), no seats on the toilet, no locks on the door, no light, no glass in the window except for jagged shards. It was great. Robin took a picture of me peeking through the “window”. Super fun. So now that I know I won't pee my pants, we head back outside to make more videos. This is all within the first 15 minutes of leaving Leisure Farms. We haven't even made it to Pilanesburg! I'll have to fill you in on that craziness later. Everyone just got home with dinner (I'm writing this on Monday night) and Tyson and Jori are both ready for bed, and it is not even 5:30. So I better go help do something.