Blow out!!

Alan had a little adventure up to TchinTabaraden in December. It was a quick in and out of Tchinta to help the Waltons bring more of their things down to Galmi. He had a close encounter with a very unintelligent sheep which left a nice dent in the front bumper. The sheep did manage to walk away from the scene. Next, when he was on his way back, trying to hurry to make the Christmas program put on by the Galmi Day School, he had a blow out with one of the tires on the car. He was unable to pull off the road for a few kilometers to deal with it. By the time there was a window of opportunity, the tire was in terrible shape. He got the tire changed as quickly as possible, and made it to the program just as it was beginning. He did not stop at home first, and showed up in the dirtiest state I can ever remember seeing him! Now in many places it is not to hard to get a tire repaired. But replacing ours was another matter! There were no tires to be had in Niamey that were the right size for our vehicle. One of our good friends sat around for most of a day waiting for someone who promised the right size tire, only to have them show up with one that was close, but not right! We finally had an old spare sent from one of the SIM-AIR pilots flown in to us, that was close, but still not quite right. But as we needed to drive 7 hours to Niamey for the spiritual life conference, we decided that close was better than not having one at all! Thankfully, a new tire was found while we were in Niamey, and is now occupying the appropriate spot on the back of our vehicle.