You know, in Alaska, the natives have many names for different varieties of snow. And in the mountains of Pakistan they have many names for the different kinds of rocks. Here, they need many names for the nuances of potholes.
· Cliff holes: These potholes exhibit an abrupt drop off into the crevasse… unlike
· Slider holes: a gentle pothole where the edges are sloping and you can jounce in and out with little difficulty.
· Canyons: When approaching these potholes you see the end of the pavement… but no bottom… no bottom. EEEK NO BOTTOM! ABORT! ABORT!
· Fishponds: These are canyons with water. (This is a very small one.)
· The Moat: For some reason we see horizontal canyons maybe a foot to 18” wide that stretch two-thirds of the way across the road.
· Craters: We don’t have land mines here. I repeat, we do not have land mines here. Any huge irregular hole in the pavement covering more than 15 sq feet is merely a quirk of nature. Notice the position of the cars; which side of the road is mine?
· Elephant tracks: a series of small round potholes
· Bushwackers: Insidious looking holes that catch you unawares and make off with a tire
· Asphalt depressions: where you’ve lost one layer of asphalt and so sink down to the previous layer. This happens only occasionally as few places have more than one layer.
· Dome holes: these were potholes in a previous life but have been overfilled with cement-like clay and now are stand-alone speed bumps.
· Swiss Alp holes (in honor of Susan): canyon holes filled with sharp rocks wedged in clay to make sure the worst points are face up and usually several inches below road level.
The unwary might also be fooled into unnecessary braking by faux potholes.
· Shadow non-holes
· Oil slick non-holes
· Sugarcane shreds. These mashed, tattered canes imitate the dirt of a pothole.
The road from Kisumu to Kakamega and on to Webuye is a 20km per hour road that improves to a 30km/hr road. It is continuous potholes. If there is no oncoming traffic you can slalom around some but you are required to experience others. Occasional off-roading is permitted in some areas. It gets our vote for the longest stretch of misery and therefore the worst of the worst.
The Kitali to Eldoret road, however is on par for its shear variety. It goes from the patch-on-patch bumping to the gyrations of a hopscotch of pavement and potholes with a high percentage of bushwackers. You can be lulled into joy by a kilometer of beautiful road only to be faced with nearly no road at all. But the pis de resistance is the incredible variety of off-road options. (Note, the "paved" road is actually the high ridge to the far right.)
At times you can have up to 4 choices—the road, the near off-road, and two other snaking tracks that may at times be over 50 feet from the road. 
And that’s just if you want to stay on your side of the road! So of course, you actually have 7 choices!
The road from Eldoret to Kisumu has been improved, but there is still Tom’s favorite part where the pavement simply ends and you have several hundred yards of humped dirt, swales, and mudholes. The direction of on oncoming traffic often determines one’s course.
Still, the redeeming feature of the whole travel is the stunning, magnificent scenery. It’s just breathtaking. Vistas of greenery, leafy eucalyptus trees, arching umbrella acacia trees, lush tea fields or rich green sugar canes. Plains of fields give way to mountains where maze grows among stacked granite boulders. 
You climb up to distant views, then snake back into the shelter of tall forests. If you can see the line across the mountains-- that's the road we came down.
My favorites are the billowing clouds spread against the green of hills or trees.
As in life, you can focus on the potholes, or you can appreciate that there is a road to take you through this mass of beauty. The driver has to focus on the road...or lack thereof. I get to see the view!
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