He drives like my Dad--By Tim Rice

The driver that took us to Kingala Health Center reminded me of the kind of all out driving my father did on the dirt roads in Oregon.  Driving fast and fishtailing down the sandy road.  We went through deep sandy soil and  up steep sandy hills. I told our driver he would do great on the snow covered roads in America.  Once we drove around a broken down truck.  We made our own road on an area covered with thick tall grass where no one had driven before to get around the truck.

My father used to brag that he could drive anywhere someone with a four wheel drive could go.  This was true because I have been with him when he did.  But, I expect my father never was in a ditch with only 3 wheels on the ground. Today we got stuck teetering in a ditch with one wheel off the ground.  When one of your rear tires is off the ground all the power from the engine is transferred to that wheel and you go nowhere. We got unstuck quickly when the driver ground the gears to put the car in 4 wheel drive. (Humm I think this is an illustration of how the four person team made up of Katherine, Paul, Shannon and myself is working so well together.)   My dad also never drove in the back roads of Congo but I suspect he would have really enjoyed the challenge of driving in Congo bush roads.  I also suspect he would have been very good.  I’ll ask dad next time I see him.