Stuck!

 About 80 k’s before our last destination, Steven & Richardt in Potchefstroom, we see our right rear wheel overtaking us. Luckily the Hilux has enough speed, and Bram keeps a clear enough head, to drive, rather drag, the car almost to the side of the road.

We all get out, shaky & white, wondering what happened. That wheel is driving on direction Potch, Henk-i starts running after it. As far as we laypersons can see, the rear axel seems broken, and dragging the body over the road might have done a lot of damage. Later on we learn the side shaft broke, and the dragging ruined the breaks.

We decide to phone Richardt & Steven, to tell them we are delayed, and ask them to find us a Potchefstroom rescue service to bring the Hilux and us to our destination. Meanwhile it’s getting close to sundown, and a thunderstorm is getting closer and closer. And we are in South Africa, where people are unlikely to stop to offer help. And Maud really doesn’t wanna be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark.

Luckily there is a farmhouse quite nearby; she can walk over with our valuables if help doesn’t come before dark. In our experience SA farmers are really great if you are a tourist asking for help. What do you now – first the voorman drives by, stops, asks what happened, if we are okay, if help is coming. Once again it’s good we speak Afrikaans. Half an hour later the farmer drives by, stops, asks the same questions, keeps us company for a while, and gives us his cell number, in case the rescue doesn’t work out and we need him. By now a sandstorm is coming up.

Everyone who ever has a breakdown in the Potchefstroom area: try to get Niko from the Potch tow service to rescue you! We got him by chance; he was the only tow-guy who wasn’t on X-mess leave yet. So when Steven was trying every number in the Potch phonebook to find someone to rescue us, he got us Niko. Niko didn’t only do a perfectly smooth job rescuing our Hilux; he also first drove to Richardt & Steven so we could offload all our stuff, then took car & Bram to a garage, then brought Bram back to our temporary home again. And he allowed Maud to sit in the Hilux on top of the truck while driving to Potch – even though the accident was a real setback, she had an interesting new experience.