A Recent Cycling Adventure

A lack of playtime keeps you from taking in information effectively and seeing the totality of a situation. Lack of play has a negative impact on your reflex time, general resilience, and ability to ward off infection. Recreation deprivation also makes you cranky.

"When did you have your last vacation?" Almost always, the answer is some variation of, "Well, I don't really do vacations that are about relaxing and rejuvenating. There's just too much to get done."

The bitter irony is that the vacation-deprived usually think they're doing everybody a favor by continuing to work themselves to the brink of exhaustion. But the reality is that they're costing everyone -- and themselves. Work addiction is an insidious thing. Like other addictions, you usually have to bottom out before you can summon the courage to change."

Written by Barbara Reinhold, Monster contributing writer.

Taken from the Missionary Travel Service website.

Indeed, my recent hike at Mt. Longonot, my personal retreat at Manzoni, and now... my cycling adventure this week were all little mini-vacations for me.


Kim and I recently cycled 30 kilometers (20 miles) in the Ngong Hills area. We had an absolutely exhilarating day! It was cloudy and cold, but we didn't let that deter us in any way!

We stopped here for a soda and some biscuits.
And a rest.

Our destination was Denys Finch-Hattan's grave. If you've read the book or seen the movie of "Out of Africa", you'll likely recognize that name. His grave is very obscure and none of the local Kenyans seem to be familiar with it. I had to do a bit of research (asked lots of people lots of questions) to find out where it was located. In fact, we were prepared to NOT find it on this day.

I was so excited to see this dilapidated sign hanging on a tree. WE'D ACTUALLY FOUND THE PLACE!

Here we are at the grave site. This blue sign is the marker on the obelisk. It contains the dates of his birth and death (1887-1931) and a line from one of his favorite poems. The poem is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and is titled, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

"He prayeth well, who loveth well both man and bird and beast"

The grave is located on private property; we paid $7.00 for both of us to enter. The entry fee helps to support the poor family that owns the land.