The journey to the Drakensberg.

When we arrived at Gariep the day before, we were again in need for medical care. Our Gastro patient  who we thought was ok, was again not ok and Dick had a "tennis cheek". It is nothing like a tennis elbow, but it looks like you have a tennis ball in your mouth. It had actually grown through the day and he was getting decidedly not well. We enquired about a chemist/pharmacy in the town of Gariep and low and behold, there was actually a 24 hour pharmacist in the town. We got 3 sets of directions as to how to get to him, all different, but we made it eventually.
Talk about a blast from the past. When we entered the house/place/ lodge we were instantly transferred to the days of our youth or maybe even the days of our parents youths. There were faded copies of the picture of that old man smoking a pipe. I am sure most homes had a copy of that in the 50's. There were old photos, older furniture and nothing vaguely representing the 21 st century. In a little, and I mean little "office" was the pharmacist. One sort of display unit with a few shelves, representing the front of the pharmacy and a safe with the prescription medication, or then schedule drugs not available over the counter. In true pharmacist style, he was an excellent diagnostician and knew what to administer for the condition. I had previously explained to my GP what we thought was wrong. Luckily we also have a very well qualified  nursing matron with us on the trip and she also diagnosed. Nurses are good at this, ask me, my mother is one as well. We never even got to see a doctor. Anyway, after this visit Dick was on treatment an on his way to improvement. Our other patient was less fortunate.
We left Gariep dam at 7.45 on Sunday morning, heading for the Medi clinic in Bloemfontein to try and get him sorted out. There were all sorts of plans to share driving and save time , etc. Well in the end, Dick, David, the patient and his wife stayed behind in Bloemfontein and the rest of us head off to the Drakensberg. Luckily we had shopped in Bloemfontein for food, etc, no wine, though as it was Sunday and had something to eat.
I drove our van and the other 3 followed me, all the way along the N1 to the turn off to Senekal, Bethlehem, Clarens and through the Golden Gate. This all went smoothly over mountain passes and windy roads and then we hit the roadworks and the potholes. I was "lucky",as I had a "pothole" monitor " in front of me. He virtually stopped at every pothole, of which there were many,examined the extent of it and then drove off SLOWLY.The scenery is fantastic  and the traffic was terrible. Trucks and more trucks and then more trucks and daylight dwindling and the day getting a little too long.
Just after 6 we arrived at Drakensville campsite, which is a stunning place. In no time the vans were neatly parked in a "laager", all leveled, thanks to our resident engineer, John and the fires lit for the evening braai, thanks to our resident pyromaniac, Ed. Dick arrived about an hour later with his big cheek and his patient,David and Irene. Other than travel weary, Dick was ok, David was finished and off to sleep and Irene, I think, was happy that they were safely "home".
Well, once the fires were burning, the wine was poured and we were all happily settled around the fire, life did not seem nearly as bad as it could have been.