The beach at Agnes Water, where Ajay and Nancy surfed and surfed.

Journal and photos by Nancy Olson

I woke up with Ajay and Gabbi's dog, Sera, sleeping outside of my tent. Ajay had tried to coax her to follow him when he went to move the goats from one pasture to the next, but she wanted to stay with me...how sweeeet... Ajay has five goats, including two babies whom he and Gabbi had to raise by hand when the mother died in labor. One of them is named Boof, and he wasn't feeling too well today. Boof's sister is PJ (I think...I get the goats confused). They have another bigger goat, an Afghan goat with beautiful, soft, white hair, who likes to shake his head and make funny noises at people. His name is Weasel. I forget
the oldest goat's name, but he is stubborn and rules over the other goats like a dictator. Ajay's male dog, Sheba, the pride-and-joy of Gabbi and Ajay, had to help move the stubborn goat out of one pen and into another by barking and nipping at his heels. A couple of times, I thought for sure he would get a big head-butt.

After we moved the goats, I went on a walking tour of the ranch with Ajay. He pointed out the dams and water sources, the big old primary trees, the old cattle dip (where the ranchers used to dip the cattle in insecticide), and an old shed full of junk and treasures. The cement cattle dip was etched with the date 1047...I can't imagine the history some of those giant fig trees have witnessed. They are the only living things that have been around for the entire history of the cattle property.

After the tour, I worked on the Internet all morning, and we finally decided to head to the beach at about 1400. All three of us headed out to Agnes Water, and Ajay and I rented long boards for surfing. The waves were inconsistent as could be, and the wind made them choppy. At times, they were huge and powerful and scary, and at times they were teensy.

After about an hour of catching short little mediocre waves, I finally caught a real beaut and rode it all the way in to the shore. It was awesome. I felt like Gidget! Unfortunately, the guy who rented me the board was there on the shore motioning for Ajay and me to return our boards. It was time to close up shop. We got half of our money back, so we ended up paying just $5 for an hour and a half of surfing! After paddling around on the board on my belly for so long with no rash guard and only my bikini-clad bare skin as protection against the deck of the surf board, my stomache was sore, red, and raw from the friction. Ah, but it was worth it!

Gabbi had been collecting shells and rocks and walking the beach, and we all met up at about 1730 to head home. A club next to the parking lot was having $10 dinner specials, though, and we decided to hook into some cheap grub. We ate and listened to locals jam on the guitar, and then we headed home. At home, we had a desert of pumpkin soup! It was so good that I'm afraid I'm going to crave it for the rest of my days. It had coconut milk in it. Anything and everything that contains coconut milk is El Numero Uno in my book. This "Thai Pumpkin Soup" will go down as one of my all-time favorite meals. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

I really need to get on the road, so I'll leave tomorrow.

Mileage: 0
Weather: Beautimous
Final Location: Baffle Creek

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