Tuesday, May 31, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
AFRICA: Will avoid known unstable countries such as Sudan, Niger and Chad
Page 8A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
physically demanding and we
didn’t want to wait until we
retired.”
Simpson and Usinger irst
met on a blind date. They
married in 2005 and spent
their honeymoon in South
Africa. In 2010, they returned
to South Africa to watch
World Cup soccer.
Along the way “we fell in
love with Africa,” Simpson
said. They decided on more
adventure there, sketching
out a highly lexible route
that starts in Johannesburg,
South Africa, and meanders
through Namibia, Botswana,
Zimbabwe,
Swaziland,
Mozambique,
Malawi,
Tanzania, Rwanda and
Kenya up to Ethiopia. They
will swing south and then
west across the continent,
before skirting the west coast
to Morocco. It’s all subject to
change.
“It’s wherever the road
takes us,” Simpson said.
They plan to travel roughly
150 miles a day, about three
out of every ive days. As
the couple developed this
multi-year journey, they
puzzled about whether to buy
a vehicle in Africa or ship
their cherished Jeep overseas.
They chose the latter. Before
Snort could leave the U.S.,
however, the Jeep would get a
makeover at Bruiser Conver-
sions in Florida to beef it up
for rough African roads.
The couple lew to Florida
in early April to retrieve the
vehicle. Snort had been trans-
formed into the Incredible
Hulk of overland/off road
vehicles. The Jeep sported
tougher axles, wheels and
tires, a diesel engine instead
of the old gasoline one, anti-
FLAG:
Had 48 stars
from 1912
until 1959
sway bar, a snorkel to replace
the previous lower air intake
and power cables hooked to
the front and rear bumpers.
Snort was taller, tougher and
rumblier.
The couple was smitten.
They drove home from
Florida to Oregon getting
reacquainted with their Jeep.
Snort will spend 35 days
inside a shipping container
after leaving Long Beach,
California, by sea in mid-June.
Simpson and Usinger will ly
to South Africa and search
for a used off-road camping
trailer. When the Jeep arrives
in Africa, they will hook up
and go.
Simpson will likely get a
chance during the trip to use
maintenance skills he learned
on his father’s Pendleton
wheat farm. While paved
highways exist there, roads
are often rocky, two-track
affairs or worse.
“Over there, even major
roads look a lot like what
we call four-wheel-drive
trails,” Simpson said. “We’re
prepared for any of those
roads.”
The couple will avoid
a handful of sometimes
unstable countries such as
Sudan, Niger, Chad and the
Central African Republic.
They scoured the internet
for information about border
crossing procedures and visas
and read blogs for insights
and ideas for safe destina-
tions.
Whether to cross the
Congo River or go around
is a question. Crossing the
2,920-mile-long Congo, the
world’s deepest river, can be
a challenge.
“Where to cross the Congo
is up in the air,” Simpson said.
“Going around is not safe —
that route goes through failed
states and areas allied with
ISIS. We will ind a way to
cross the river, either by ferry,
or across the one bridge, at
Matadi (in the Democratic
Republic of Congo).”
The best ferries are also
found in the sometimes-dan-
gerous Democratic Republic
of Congo.
“It’s the Wild West there,”
Simpson said.
The couple will stay
connected with other trav-
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house in a good market after
buying low. Without a mort-
gage and utility bills, daily
expenses will be lower than
in Portland — about $60-100
per day.
Simpson and Usinger are
itching to get started.
“We’re jumping at the
gun,” Usinger said. “It’s been
a long time coming. We are
ready.”
The couple will blog about
their adventure at www.
pioneeringspirit.com
and
the East Oregonian will do
occasional follow-up stories
on the weekend Eat, Drink &
Explore page.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
elers for destination ideas and
warnings of unsafe routes.
“We’ll keep our ear to
the ground,” Simpson said.
“There are a lot of people
traveling — we can tap into
that.”
They carry with them a
sense of urgency to see Africa
before it catches up with the
rest of the world.
“It’s one of the last truly
wild places on the planet.
It’s one of the few places left
where you can see every level
of human civilization from
hunter gathers to big modern
cities,” Simpson said. “We
want to see what Africa has to
offer while it is still Africa.”
The couple has saved
and budgeted for the trek for
several years. They sold their
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Continued from 1A
his grandmother’s lag.
Duane Storms, who led
Monday morning’s memorial
ceremony at the cemetery on
behalf of VFW Post 4750,
said when volunteers gathered
at 5 p.m. to put away the lags
he would retire the 48-star
lag. It will be folded properly
and placed in a shadow box,
where it will be displayed
in the VFW post along with
the four other 48-star lags
already retired from the
Avenue of Flags.
“They’re getting to be
brown, because they’re so
weathered, and they can’t be
replaced,” Storms said.
He said there are about 75
other lags that are starting to
get too weathered to continue
to display. The VFW plans to
publish a list of the names on
those lags in the newspaper
this year to try and return
them to family members who
wish to get them back.
The star-spangled banner
had 48 stars from 1912, when
New Mexico and Arizona
were added to the union,
until 1959, when Alaska and
Hawaii became states.
The 48-star lag on display
for the last time on the Avenue
of Flags had “Clemit Brock,
Navy Air Wing” stenciled on
the side. In a nearby section
of the cemetery a headstone
read “Clemit C. Brock 1924-
1950.”
Many of the visitors to the
Hermiston Cemetery Monday
morning were there for the
annual Memorial Day Cere-
mony hosted by Veterans of
Foreign Wars Post 4750 and
American Legion Post 37.
During the ceremony Storms
offered a prayer before
reading the names of all of the
local veterans who died in the
past year. Veterans, families
and individuals stood quietly
at attention while a bugler
played “Taps” to bring the
short ceremony to a close.
The Avenue of Flags were
scheduled to come down at 5
p.m. and Storms said he was
grateful for the volunteers
who stepped up each year
to help before heading off to
barbecues with family and
friends.
“We need all the help we
can get because our youngest
guy is 63,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
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