An excursion was planned and executed on my behalf... "Dune Bashing." Just something you do if you live here. Sort of like taking lemons and making lemonade- if you're surrounded by desert, and you own a 4x4, you deflate your tires a bit, take it out into the sand and just drive over everything... great fun... pornography for people who love driving offroad, or in the snow, because it's a lot like that. Except the snow never melts. And it's all over the place. In mountainous drifts. Pretty khaki/orange/copper color. Soft as silk. No need to wear shoes outside- just going to get your feet covered in it. Not hot enough yet to bother you. Actually kind of cool to the touch... must've rained a bit out here (just like everywhere else I've been) because you can dig your feet down maybe just a few inches and it's damp.
Quite a bit of greenery growning on the dunes that I guess usually isn't there- little sprouts of green grass; small flowers; green viney things; these things that looked like lemons but are probably poisonous; sort of like that year it rained in Death Valley, and plants grew ravenously as a result. Not quite that spectacular, but definitely unique. Ran across a herd of camels grazing on it. Very camera friendly.
So Dan and folks got out their GPS devices and we plotted a course across the open desert (maybe 5 miles tops) to a different point in the sand they often visit, and off we went... Had to dig our friend's car out a couple times (condolences to owners of the Mercury SUV everywhere, a fine American automobile I'm sure, but not quite built to handle the tasks and hazards of the high dune seas- too low); Dan's Nissan Patrol drives like a dream. The Land Rover Discovery does a fine job as well. Bashed dunes and rode roughshod over nascent foliage (and quite a bit of trash-sadly) all day long; saw the sun set on the desert; and the full moon rise over the mountains; then the party headed back to town, had an excellent barbeque at the home of Dan's good friends and neighbors, Neel and Chi. Thanks again, Neel and Chi. And everyone else present. Great end to a very unique and exciting day.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment