On a hot desert highway Bull Run in the air…

Pulled over next to a tarred back road is a dilapidated Isuzu bakkie with two men signalling you to stop, while another is passed out on a mattress under a tree. Gerrie van Eeden reckons that outside Van Wyksvlei – at the end of the Bull Run – is the only place one would encounter such a sight.

I‘m in a Mercedes-Benz 280E that has a hole in the exhaust and a dubious clutch. The Merc sounds like a sports car, but the speedometer stopped working ages ago and the temperature gauge oscillates up and down. So I drive on feeling, sound and grace – and do my best to change gears as little as possible. At least it’s still going.

After a week attending the Bull Run, I’m looking forward to getting home, but the guys with the Isuzu next to the road need our help. Following me are Thys and Daniel de Jager in a Hilux and an old Merc (which was also once a 280E, but now has a Ford 351 engine). We are, like the guys with the Isuzu, on our way home after the Bull Run. But this particular road is less travelled, which explains why they are so happy to see us.

“We’ve probably been here for an hour now,” says Marno van der Merwe. Their bakkie gave up the ghost a short distance before, and they pushed it to here next to the tree. Pieter, the Van der Merwes’ patriarch, indicates that Tiaan, his other son, is the one lying under a tree next to the farm dam, sleeping on a camping mattress. “He’s fragile after last night…”

I gaze full of longing at the farm dam. “In this heat he should have jumped in the dam,” I say. Pieter agrees, a little louder so that Tiaan can hear, but the words that come from under that tree aren’t suitable to print in a family-friendly magazine.

“We suggested long ago he should.”

“But where is the other guy – there were four of you?” I ask.

“Oh, Xander (Steyn) donned his takkies and is jogging to Carnarvon to get help.”

In this heat that is already close to smouldering just after 10 in the morning, I’m happy I’m not Xander and that I didn’t bring any takkies.

“We did give him water and he has a cellphone so he can call someone once he gets a signal.”

ONE SATURDAY AFTERNOON

around a braai fire, these guys decided to sign up for the Bull Run. A Mercedes-Benz 280E, the weapon of choice for the Bull Run, was soon acquired and entered. The Merc needed some love and Mohammed, a mechanic in the Cape where the Van der Merwes are from, was given the task of getting the car back to running condition. Marno says that he simply made a list on the car’s bonnet with a felt-tip pen of what needed to be done, and that Mohammed could simply tick each item off once done. Extra character for the Bull Run, see…

They placed a lot of trust in the Merc and in Mohammed’s work, and on the Thursday morning they left the Cape with a camping trailer behind the Merc… and no support vehicle.

Just before the town of Ceres, the first stirrings of trouble started. First, it was the engine overheating. After waiting a while for it to cool down, they moved on. After Ceres, the gearbox decided it wanted to join the revolution and also overheated. Another 50 km later and it was the engine’s turn again and finally, 40 km before Laingsburg, the engine decided its main bearing had had enough. At Laingsburg they were close to giving up, but what epic

tale has ever had its heroes surrender the quest after a few minor setbacks?

THE ISUZU THEY WERE DRIVING

when we find them next to the road has an interesting story with a long twist. In the streets of Laingsburg, Marno and Xander walked around in despair, looking for another Bull Run candidate as a last resort. And there they found it on the side of the road – a 1980 Isuzu KB single-cab bakkie. The transaction was concluded for R13 000 and they immediately welded a towbar to the vehicle.

With Marno and Pieter in the relative comfort of the cabin, Tiaan and Xander on top of the luggage in the back, and the trailer behind them, they hit the road to resume the adventure.

The Isuzu’s radiator no longer had a cap, because there is a hole in the engine block filled with putty. As pressure builds in the system, the engine spits out the putty and all the water flows out. Every 40 km or so they had to stop to top up the radiator and check the oil. The starter is also on its last legs and the two guys in the back have to push start it every time.

Despite all the setbacks, the team arrived at Van Wyksvlei on the Friday morning, after spending the night in Fraserburg. They participated in the whole Bull Run programme and then decided to tackle the road home with it as well. Someone from the Cape came up with a Hilux and waited for them in Williston. This was to be their first destination. Luckily their trailer got another ride home. During the Bull Run weekend, they sold the bakkie, twice, (At this point I stopped asking questions) and the plan was to leave the Isuzu in Williston where the new owner would come and get it while they get taken back home in the Hilux.

AFTER HITCHING

the stricken Isuzu to the back of Thys’ Merc, we start looking for a safe place along the way where we can leave it – and we’re also on the lookout for Xander who is presumably still jogging to Carnarvon. I turn in at the first farm with signs of life, to ask if they’d mind if we left the bakkie here. Coincidentally, the farmers also attended the Bull Run festivities the previous night, and agreed to help. “It’s past breakfast, but there is cold beer,” offers Gert Delport.

“You didn’t perhaps see anyone jogging past your farm?” we ask when a safe spot is found for the Isuzu. But there has been no sign of Xander. Daniel takes the Hilux to go and look for him. About a quarter of an hour later he returns with a very relieved Xander in the bakkie.

“I had to answer nature’s call while I was jogging,” says Xander, “and I found a bush some distance from the road exactly as your convoy passed by”. Xander couldn’t manage to get our attention in time and was having visions of being left behind. His voice is hoarse after a number of days suffering on the back of the Isuzu in the dust of Van Wyksvlei, and so he couldn’t even shout.

On the way to Williston, Marno joins me in the Merc. We have to shout a bit to hear each other above the noisy exhaust system, but Marno is already busy planning for next year’s Bull Run. He says their Merc 280E will get there… he just needs to add a few more items to the to-do list on the bonnet.

In this heat that is already close to smouldering just after 10 in the morning, I’m happy I’m not Xander and that I didn’t bring any takkies