Beyond Dabola, I’ll basically be in the bush until I get back to Kedougou.-- no more cities between here and Kedougou. This is the home stretch. It will be hot, and it will involve climbing back up and over the Futa Jallon.

I’m very excited about it. In fact, with the end of the trip in sight, I’m finding myself increasingly focused on just getting back to Dar Salaam. I’ve done so many amazing things in Guinea on this trip. It will frankly take a while to process all of it and go back through all of my pictures and journals. But at this point, I have mentally gotten to the point of having the singular goal of getting back to Dar Salaam, to spend a good 2 weeks there and then get to Dakar for my flight. It’s time.

And it feels a bit like a mission, the finally push, through what is now an absolutely patched late dry season landscape, with daily highs getting to 105 and beyond.

I’m a little hung up this morning in Dabola. For one thing sleep through my alarm. Then, I discover that my tire is flat. I start to work on patching it, before my pre coffee brain catches up— I’m in a city. I can get a new tube. Better to just do this than waste time to end up with what may or may not be a well patched tire.

Breakfast is a bowl of rice and leaf sauce. As much as I would prefer a bean sandwich, I have come to accept and embrace this as breakfast food, a milestone in my Guinean cultural assimilation.

After tracking down a tube I get on the road at 10:30 or so. The first 28 km are on a paved road heading northeast. This is the road I could have come in to Dabola on yesterday, were I not so adamant about never riding the same track twice. The road’s good, but there is a steep headwind. Feels like I go pretty slow for most of this first leg. This is the last time I will see a paved road for more than 200 very rough miles. Then I cut north onto a moto track that runs through some villages. This is a shortcut. There is a main road that goes to where I am heading, but staying on it would add a couple dozen kilometers to today's ride.

The “walking” option on Google Maps is pretty amazing in that it will route me on and along pretty obscure moto and foot trails even here in Guinea. So I’m pretty much just following the route and recommended me by Google for the ride today.

It’s a very bad moto path, and again, I don’t feel like I’m making good time. But there’s no doubt it’s faster than the main roads would have been. And it’s also quite beautiful as suddenly, I am back amongst mountains and the cliffside faces of plateaus dominate the horizon.

I ride as much as I can today. The heat does not turn out to be much of an issue. It’s definitely a bit warm, but there is a pleasant breeze all day. Somehow it feels meaningfully cooler than yesterday. What I notice is the dryness. It is very dry, and it feels like the wind saps the moisture from my nose or mouth with every breath. The effect is that, even after chugging water with breakfast, I feel thirsty almost immediately after beginning the ride. But throughout the day I pass plenty of forage pumps, where I fill up as needed, and staying hydrated is not an issue.

The road continues to be bad, while the terrain gets more mountainous and the scenery more beautiful. I don’t stop a whole lot. I want to cover ground. Maybe it’s the anticipation of being back in Dar Salaam, but I am mentally preoccupied with getting back.

At dusk I reach the Bafing river. This is one of the major tributaries of the Senegal river. These waters will eventually run north through the desert and form the border of Senegal and Mauritania. It will also provide water to Dakar. It’s cool to see the headwaters of this big river, and it’s a perfect place to camp. Bafing means "black river," but the water is beautiful and clear, and I have a nice wash before bed, something I was not anticipating tonight.