Up at 6am, rather lame breakfast, saw King D.'s team off, then got moving at about 7:30am towards the border with Liberia. Riding to the border was 47 km of pretty bad dirt road. Somehow I got out in front with Patrick and Jackie (riding pillion on a Blue Ténéré World Raid 700) right behind me. We got to the border about a half hour before any others and a good 2 hrs before the support vehicles arrived. Frankly I was amazed they got there on that road. I saw lots of semi-domesticated animals, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, and baby pigs that looked like animated American Footballs. Super cute. At the border, I talked with several people including one guy who wanted to come to America to become a professional motorcycle rider.
We left sometime around 7:30am and reached the border at 9:00. The other bikes were there about 9:20 and the chase vehicles arrived at 11:25am. We got through at 12:48pm for a total of 3.5 hrs (2h14m regrouping and leaving Côte d'Ivoire, then 1h11m to enter Liberia). Then (someone?) in a white Land Cruiser with flashing lights and sirens escorted us the remaining 335 km to Monrovia.
Some of the towns in Liberia had fantastic traffic and crowds in the streets. Also, the vendors at the gas stations were more friendly than anywhere so far.
Day 3, Man to Monrovia
| Time | Minutes | km | kph avg | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:11am | 0.6 | map | ||
| 7:11am | 0.2 | 0 km | 5 | |
| 7:12am | 19.4 | Pre-ride pictures | ||
| 7:31am | 47.0 | 70 km | 89 | Leaving Hôtel Amoitrin Man |
| 8:18am | 5.2 | map | ||
| 8:23am | 11.8 | 10 km | 49 | |
| 8:35am | 2.2 | regrouping on dirt road TAH7 | ||
| 8:37am | 22.4 | 17 km | 44 | |
| 9:00am | 1.9 | pause on dirt road TAH7 | ||
| 9:02am | 10.5 | 7 km | 43 | |
| 9:12am | 134.0 | border Frontière, Côte d’Ivoire side (2h15m) | ||
| 11:26am | 0.7 | 0 km | 22 | |
| 11:27am | 81.2 | border Frontière, Liberia side (1h21m) | ||
| 12:48pm | 67.5 | 86 km | 77 | |
| 1:56pm | 19.0 | Ganta | ||
| 2:15pm | 2.3 | 2 km | 42 | |
| 2:17pm | 10.5 | fuel stop | ||
| 2:28pm | 126.2 | 214 km | 101 | |
| 4:34pm | 11.5 | stop for snacks and water | ||
| 4:46pm | 26.4 | 31 km | 71 | |
| 5:12pm | 1.9 | Unbelievable traffic in Wood Camp | ||
| 5:14pm | 5.5 | 4 km | 46 | |
| 5:20pm | 18.4 | fuel stop | ||
| 5:38pm | 3.4 | 1 km | 23 | |
| 5:39pm | Arrive A La Lagune Hotel, Monrovia | |||
| 10h31m | 5h25m moving | 443 km | 81.8 kph | 51% moving, 306 minutes of breaks |