Re: Chase the Sunset III
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:14 pm
On Friday I finished my last meeting in Dammam at 12 pm and finally it felt like a weekend, although I yet had to fly back to Dubai, get home, pack my camping stuff, make some shopping and finally hit the road. I arrived to the camp 20 past midnight, but still some last of the Mohicans were sitting around the fire and grilling some meat. I did some chit chat but since I woke up at 4 pm, and knowing the drive in Liwa is a day-long exhausting trip, I rushed soon to find a quiet place to sleep.
This time I didn't bring my tent, instead I was going to test sleeping on a camping bed that [mention]Phoenix[/mention] bought for me at ACE (thanks buddy - I still owe you some cash I know). I was rewarded by a breathtaking view on the starry skies, which made me keep my glasses on my nose till I nearly fell asleep. Some observation of the differences from sleeping in a tent:
- the bed is softer than sleeping on the sand with self-inflatable mattress. It is more comfortable.
- next time I will not mount on the poles on the car roof - the wind flattered the flags and the noise was a bit disturbing.
- although it was pleasantly warm when I was going to bed, the drop of the temperature in combination with wind made me to get up and bring a warmer sleeping bag. The one rated till 15 deg C was not enough. I remember first time in Liwa in last December, the temperature went down to 8 deg and even my thicker bag wouldn't be enough in winter, a thing to keep in mind for next trips there.
In the morning we met for breakfast and at 8 we already lined up our convoy under [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] amsi leadership. We drove an expedition style - not very technical, relatively easy dunes with long and fast segments of sabkha, and interesting steep drops from high dunes, with aim to get to the famous big drop.
Our plans were altered by the army who helped us to get to a safer distance from the border. We ended up in a place with a high drop, but this was the last dune Bu Salem's FJ could climb, as his engine developed some problems. We drove down the slope ans stayed a while to play climbing it back up. Then We said goodbye to our founder and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] rfall took us back to sand to extend our stay before finishing the day. Suddenly the experience changed - the driving became more technical and challenging and people started to struggle as the combination of a long drive, soft sand and short sleeps came to charge the tax. I had to make a second try, some people got stuck and some made wrong decisions when the convoy had to stop, putting them in a dangerous situations. Daggerfall called us then for a short briefing to reinforce the discipline. He stressed that Liwa is a dangerous place - there is no one to rescue us and we can easily spend another night around should something unexpected happen. Then we drove again for a while but soon he realized it is better to wrap up the day safe considering our fatigue and made the right decision to end the day.
We are all grateful to [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and the the whole support team [mention]Booy[/mention], [mention]Daggerfall[/mention], [mention]giorgio[/mention], [mention]Issa[/mention] to be able to see lovely Liwa again!
This time I didn't bring my tent, instead I was going to test sleeping on a camping bed that [mention]Phoenix[/mention] bought for me at ACE (thanks buddy - I still owe you some cash I know). I was rewarded by a breathtaking view on the starry skies, which made me keep my glasses on my nose till I nearly fell asleep. Some observation of the differences from sleeping in a tent:
- the bed is softer than sleeping on the sand with self-inflatable mattress. It is more comfortable.
- next time I will not mount on the poles on the car roof - the wind flattered the flags and the noise was a bit disturbing.
- although it was pleasantly warm when I was going to bed, the drop of the temperature in combination with wind made me to get up and bring a warmer sleeping bag. The one rated till 15 deg C was not enough. I remember first time in Liwa in last December, the temperature went down to 8 deg and even my thicker bag wouldn't be enough in winter, a thing to keep in mind for next trips there.
In the morning we met for breakfast and at 8 we already lined up our convoy under [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] amsi leadership. We drove an expedition style - not very technical, relatively easy dunes with long and fast segments of sabkha, and interesting steep drops from high dunes, with aim to get to the famous big drop.
Our plans were altered by the army who helped us to get to a safer distance from the border. We ended up in a place with a high drop, but this was the last dune Bu Salem's FJ could climb, as his engine developed some problems. We drove down the slope ans stayed a while to play climbing it back up. Then We said goodbye to our founder and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] rfall took us back to sand to extend our stay before finishing the day. Suddenly the experience changed - the driving became more technical and challenging and people started to struggle as the combination of a long drive, soft sand and short sleeps came to charge the tax. I had to make a second try, some people got stuck and some made wrong decisions when the convoy had to stop, putting them in a dangerous situations. Daggerfall called us then for a short briefing to reinforce the discipline. He stressed that Liwa is a dangerous place - there is no one to rescue us and we can easily spend another night around should something unexpected happen. Then we drove again for a while but soon he realized it is better to wrap up the day safe considering our fatigue and made the right decision to end the day.
We are all grateful to [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and the the whole support team [mention]Booy[/mention], [mention]Daggerfall[/mention], [mention]giorgio[/mention], [mention]Issa[/mention] to be able to see lovely Liwa again!