LIWA - New Year
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 4:07 pm
Well, around 2pm, after the the rally I left from Ras Al Khaimah…..direction LIWA.
First meeting point was Outlet Mall, on Dubai–Al Ain road, where I was suppose to meet Bu Salem and Miss D at 4pm and then drive together to Hameem.
On the way back from RAK I met Abu Jimmy and we decided to drive together to the first meeting point.
Due to traffic problems we reach late the Outlet Mall, but Bu Salem and Miss D were late than us….. :-)
Waiting for them, we spent our time having coffee, sweets and chit chat.
Finally, around 6pm Bu Salem and Miss D reached the meeting point and we started our adventure……..
On the way we met Alkhatib and Madlene as well, and the convoy, after a long drive reach Hameem …..during the way we got also two flashes …. have just to check if the subject of the pictures was Bu Salem or myself… :P
At 10.30pm finally we reach the camping point where Capri was waiting for us.
We fixed everything first, (for me very easy considering that I decided to sleep in the car), after that we had dinner, Capri and Janka prepared a very nice meal, and for the first time we had the opportunity to taste very very crunchy potatos and meat :D ….but any way very good meal, thanks a lot Silvester and wife ;-)
The night was very noisy….. the activity at Snoring Village was at 100% ….cannot believe…. :D
In the morning I woke up around 6.30 and the Snoring fighting between Bu Salem and Alkhatib was still in progress….heheh…. at the end it was decided unanimously that the winner was Alkhatib….congrats mate :P
Early morning Googloid reach the camping, and after a while we moved to the petrol station were we met the rest of the group.
The convoy moved and around 10am we reach the desert :P ……. Bu Salem did a small briefing, between the several things he said, I will remember lifetime for sure these words: “remember guys that starting from now on you are alone with yourself, no one can help you, maximum concentration every single second……”
I was put in position no. 3, after the leader Bu Salem and second leader Falcon……I was a little bit worried about that, I thought….my God, how can I follow these two Off-roader Monsters ….. but any way, this was the situation and I had to manage it … :P
When we started the drive the tension was above 100%, doing off-road you must be always 100% concentrated, but if in A53 where we are used to drive, sometimes you can relax a little bit and have the time the speak with your passenger and have a look around you, in Liwa you cannot do this, every single second is important, most of the time reaction time is less than one second, sometime you can even not think, the reaction should be on real time…….every single cm is important, be 50cm more left or right can make a big difference, believe me! … and I experienced that, I got stuck in a very bad position, and for a while I thought….”well, what can I do now, a recovery in this position is almost impossible, I had a big (very big!) ditch in front of me, a medium small behind me .... %$#@?^ .....
Rob, take a deep breath, come out of the car and check the situation…… oke, done, I called Silvester, spoke with him about what to do….we agreed that the only way was try to go back as fast as possible, climb back on top of the ditch as much as possible, and then……full speed forward….. luckly the result was excellent….thanks Silvester and thanks Hemi for all the horses you put inside the engine :P
I got stuck one time also on day 1, at that moment seemed to me to be sitting on the Shuttle ready for take off direction Mars, the only thing I could see was the blue sky……my car was parked on the middle of a big dune almost in vertical position…..thanks Googloid to rescue me :D
During both days the drive was very very good, sometime difficult, sometime more difficult, sometimes extremely difficult….
We had some stuck, the most difficult to recover was for sure when Bu Salem got stuck trying to find a way to save us, even with the winch it was not possible to move his car, finally they decided to use the RAM, Falcon took place in the cockpit (Tornado is proud to have hosted an off-roader of your caliber!) and everything was oke…..the only problem he had was that he was not able to switch gear….ahahahaha….he thought it was the radio volume instead of the gear selector….hahahaha….any way, very good job guys :-) …. We had also some popout….the most difficult happened to Caprihorse, on the bottom of a very close bowl…..we took more than half an hour to fix it ….. I got also my first popout on Sunday….and after a few minutes another one…. never had one in 6 months….and I got two in less than 5 minutes :D
I think I can write a book about this Liwa trip, and probably will be even not enough, it is very difficult to write what I feel ….. the adrenaline is still flowing in my blood….I feel like I entered in another dimension of off-road....!!!
Btw, for year end eve we had the famous and fantastic Hamdam Karak, he started to prepare it on 2011 and we drink it on 2012, all of us around a nice fire, burning raw wood and .... forniture wood .... :D
Last but not least, I would like to thank Bu Salem for his great…great…great leading, and every single participant to this wonderfull trip, all of you are fantastic, you made these days memorable, I am really proud to be part of the family, I will carry this experience in my mind and in my heart forever.
Looking to meeting you soon
First meeting point was Outlet Mall, on Dubai–Al Ain road, where I was suppose to meet Bu Salem and Miss D at 4pm and then drive together to Hameem.
On the way back from RAK I met Abu Jimmy and we decided to drive together to the first meeting point.
Due to traffic problems we reach late the Outlet Mall, but Bu Salem and Miss D were late than us….. :-)
Waiting for them, we spent our time having coffee, sweets and chit chat.
Finally, around 6pm Bu Salem and Miss D reached the meeting point and we started our adventure……..
On the way we met Alkhatib and Madlene as well, and the convoy, after a long drive reach Hameem …..during the way we got also two flashes …. have just to check if the subject of the pictures was Bu Salem or myself… :P
At 10.30pm finally we reach the camping point where Capri was waiting for us.
We fixed everything first, (for me very easy considering that I decided to sleep in the car), after that we had dinner, Capri and Janka prepared a very nice meal, and for the first time we had the opportunity to taste very very crunchy potatos and meat :D ….but any way very good meal, thanks a lot Silvester and wife ;-)
The night was very noisy….. the activity at Snoring Village was at 100% ….cannot believe…. :D
In the morning I woke up around 6.30 and the Snoring fighting between Bu Salem and Alkhatib was still in progress….heheh…. at the end it was decided unanimously that the winner was Alkhatib….congrats mate :P
Early morning Googloid reach the camping, and after a while we moved to the petrol station were we met the rest of the group.
The convoy moved and around 10am we reach the desert :P ……. Bu Salem did a small briefing, between the several things he said, I will remember lifetime for sure these words: “remember guys that starting from now on you are alone with yourself, no one can help you, maximum concentration every single second……”
I was put in position no. 3, after the leader Bu Salem and second leader Falcon……I was a little bit worried about that, I thought….my God, how can I follow these two Off-roader Monsters ….. but any way, this was the situation and I had to manage it … :P
When we started the drive the tension was above 100%, doing off-road you must be always 100% concentrated, but if in A53 where we are used to drive, sometimes you can relax a little bit and have the time the speak with your passenger and have a look around you, in Liwa you cannot do this, every single second is important, most of the time reaction time is less than one second, sometime you can even not think, the reaction should be on real time…….every single cm is important, be 50cm more left or right can make a big difference, believe me! … and I experienced that, I got stuck in a very bad position, and for a while I thought….”well, what can I do now, a recovery in this position is almost impossible, I had a big (very big!) ditch in front of me, a medium small behind me .... %$#@?^ .....
Rob, take a deep breath, come out of the car and check the situation…… oke, done, I called Silvester, spoke with him about what to do….we agreed that the only way was try to go back as fast as possible, climb back on top of the ditch as much as possible, and then……full speed forward….. luckly the result was excellent….thanks Silvester and thanks Hemi for all the horses you put inside the engine :P
I got stuck one time also on day 1, at that moment seemed to me to be sitting on the Shuttle ready for take off direction Mars, the only thing I could see was the blue sky……my car was parked on the middle of a big dune almost in vertical position…..thanks Googloid to rescue me :D
During both days the drive was very very good, sometime difficult, sometime more difficult, sometimes extremely difficult….
We had some stuck, the most difficult to recover was for sure when Bu Salem got stuck trying to find a way to save us, even with the winch it was not possible to move his car, finally they decided to use the RAM, Falcon took place in the cockpit (Tornado is proud to have hosted an off-roader of your caliber!) and everything was oke…..the only problem he had was that he was not able to switch gear….ahahahaha….he thought it was the radio volume instead of the gear selector….hahahaha….any way, very good job guys :-) …. We had also some popout….the most difficult happened to Caprihorse, on the bottom of a very close bowl…..we took more than half an hour to fix it ….. I got also my first popout on Sunday….and after a few minutes another one…. never had one in 6 months….and I got two in less than 5 minutes :D
I think I can write a book about this Liwa trip, and probably will be even not enough, it is very difficult to write what I feel ….. the adrenaline is still flowing in my blood….I feel like I entered in another dimension of off-road....!!!
Btw, for year end eve we had the famous and fantastic Hamdam Karak, he started to prepare it on 2011 and we drink it on 2012, all of us around a nice fire, burning raw wood and .... forniture wood .... :D
Last but not least, I would like to thank Bu Salem for his great…great…great leading, and every single participant to this wonderfull trip, all of you are fantastic, you made these days memorable, I am really proud to be part of the family, I will carry this experience in my mind and in my heart forever.
Looking to meeting you soon
