Making slow progress/Roadkill #1

Eventually got moving yesterday after I posted the last blog and there he was, lying by the side of the road just a couple of hundred meters up from where Ros had parked up in the service station; Roadkill #1. Chunky little thing it was, some kind of mastiff maybe and almost certainly someone's pet but they won't have to worry about him getting out on the main road any more, will they? Unlucky for him; shame on them. Anyway, within an hour we'd ground to another halt as yet more heavy rain descended upon us. Fortunately, Ros had pulled over by the side of the road next to a Mom & Pop-run roadside eatery ahead of me which served as our shelter for the next couple of hours! Feeling a tad down by our lack of progress, and not seeing any likelihood of any in the next hour or so, I decided to cheer myself up by ordering a beer to go with my late lunch. However, they didn't have any in the ice box but the old guy was willing to cycle up the road, in the rain, to accomodate me. Well, I couldn't let him risk getting ill on my account for the sake of a bottle of cold Chang, could I? So I ordered 3 and off he went! He was back in next to no time and I chilled out on the Chang and Ros got her knitting out. It did stop raining and off I went again making pretty good progress which may or may not have had something to do with the beer. I called it quits at around half six, just inside the Nakhon Nayok city limits and Ros parked up. We wanted to put the tent up so that there would be more room and we wouldn't have to sleep in the car with all the damp washing that we still hadn't been able to dry out properly. However, it was quite a busy place and we agreed that it would be unlikely that the owners would OK us putting the tent up in another parking space so we found somewhere for dinner, cleared the car out and, despite more rain throughout the night, made the best of it. Didn't help matters when I knocked over a nigh-on full can of Chang inside the car. Gutted! Not because the mattress was wet; it was anyway! But I only bought the one can!

Friday, 12 September; Up at the usual time, and it was dry out, but I wanted to post some mail that I've been holding on to for the last week and Ros wanted to get some bits and pieces so we went in to Nakhon Nayok early doors and parked up in the grounds of what appeared to be the main temple in the city. The post office didn't open until half eight so we hung around and I got shot of that as soon as the doors opened. Checked my e-mail at probably the worst internet shop I've been in for some time; used two computers in the space of fifteen minutes and then gave up, paid-up and left! Ros got what she wanted and we went back to the car where we took some photos for the blog. The river that runs between the temple and another one on the other side was swollen with all the heavy rain and there was a very strong current that was pulling large amounts of foliage along with it. Definately not for swimming in! Back to the A33 and time to get pounding the concrete again. Overcast, with a bit of drizzle here and there, but definately better conditions than the day before and we started to get back on track. Then the inevitable happened and after a short sprint to catch up with Ros in the car, we pulled over by a fairly large convenience store come restaurant and sat it out. Tried my laptop to see if the CAT connector was picking up a signal but to no avail. Set off again when the sun reappeared and put in another 3-4 km before calling Ros in for a break at one of those yellow/orange rest stops you see at the side of the highways but seldom, if ever, use. As the sun was out, we saw an opportunityto get to grips with the damp clothing and bedding and we cleared the car out good and proper draping the car with a collection of shirts, shorts, socks, underwear, beach towels and the quilt. That done, I made myself comfortable on the mat and using both the big pillow and the comforter we brought down from Lamphun, crashed out for an hour by the side of the road. Apparently, Ros had just nodded off on one of the benches when the phone rang and Paul Crouch from the Regents School down in Pattaya informed us that they had already collected in 50% more than their total target figure for the sponsored walk which the staff and the kids did with us last Friday. Great news. Re-packed the car after the sun had done the business and off I went again. We've stopped about 18 km short of Saraburi, which means about 4 hours on the road for me tomorrow morning if the weather's kind to us. Looking forward to the trip to Korat tomorrow afternoon for the charity night at The George & Dragon after Dave Kearns up there told me that everything was set and our accomodation for the night booked. A bed. A real bed. Not a car or a tent. A bed. It'll be great. Anyone reading this up in or around Korat is more than welcome to join us for what we hope will be an enjoyable evening.