Day 24 - Lusaka and the flat wheel AGAIN. (Denis)

A LONG day. The second day that we were ready to leave by 9. Also the second day that the SAME tire was flat. The 450km road from Livingstone to Lusaka is good, with the notable exception of an abominable stretch of about 30km, just outside of Livingstone, where the potholes reduce speed to about 30km/h.

You may recall my thoughts on Bridgestone Dueler AT tires (the replacements for the old Yokohamas). Nou-ja, Dueler does not imply winning does it? Rather just taking part in the battle (and losing, mostly). It seems the repair to the tubeless (this technology still seems dumb) was not up to a few tar potholes, so there we were again. Noah will supply the pics sometime. Warren will be pleased to know that the entire operation was completed in about 15 mins (teamwork, and we just chucked the spare down from the roof, and manhandled the yet-again flat Dueler to the roof).

Additional excitement was added today when we learnt that Zambia simply does not do LRP fuel (LRP is old style petrol with lead, which bigfdoot thirstily consumes), only UNLEADED. 10 garages for confirmation later, and a QUICK 'PHONE A FRIEND' (thanks again George!) established that we should simply use the unleaded for now, and possibly have the timing adjusted (also some additives help for possible valve 'burn'). So we put the long range tank to the test and drove all the way to Lusaka (last fill - Katima). 680km later, and we still have fuel, but will drop in a Toyota tomorrow for some tuning/additives before pointing the bonnet to Malawi.

We're culling a few more Prokard points in a nice Protea hotel in Lusaka, enjoyed some Italian food and spent the evening using our FREE ACCESS! Everyone is online.