Tag Archives: sand

Out of This World Off Roading

November 24, 2008 – 7:01 am

Even though some of the toughest and most stressful segments of our expedition have revolved around the conditions of roads we have traversed, traveling down those difficult sections of roads can also lead you to some amazing places. Places that are hidden and inaccessible to someone without a 4×4 and in some cases a large set of balls. In a lot of the countries we have been through, we did not have a choice of whether we wanted to go off road or not. Going off road in many places is simply the only option to get from point A to point B.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Argentina, Environment, Interesting, Observations, Road Conditions, Sickness, Trip Prep, Trip Thoughts | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Welcome To The Middle Of Nowhere

March 24, 2008 – 10:37 am

“Welcome to the middle of nowhere!” This was the friendly response we got from several people as we pulled into the remote and dusty town of Timbuktu. For us here at The World by Road, Timbuktu is an important stopover on our way around the world. I can now say that I have literally driven my car, complete with Colorado license plates, to Timbuktu and back. O.K., I still have a long way to go before I actually make it back, but you get the idea.

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Getting to Timbuktu was no small feat. The last 200 kilometers of road leading up to the town now holds the far from fabulous distinction of being the worst road we have driven on during the course of the expedition. Conversation stopping corrugation, blowing dust, sand storms and car swallowing sand pits ensured that it would take nearly five hours drive this particular stretch of road. I think I can now somewhat relate to what the early traders felt like when they made their trek across the desert and finally arrived in the somewhat less inhospitable confines of Timbuktu… it was still well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit when we arrived at 5 in the afternoon. Fortunately for us, we were able to track down some cold beer to celebrate which was also nice considering we arrived on St. Patrick’s Day. (There is one for the “I Never” game… I have never downed a beer in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in Timbuktu)

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Mark investigates one of the “sand traps”

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If the road does not get you, the dust devils will…

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The scenery on the road to the middle of nowhere was quite nice

Having finally arrived in Timbuktu, the conversation switched from the possibilities of future boasting about the achievement, to how Timbuktu actually got so famous and became such a well recognized name. How is it that the name of an African town established by Tuareg desert nomads can be so easily recognized in America and the rest of the world by such a broad spectrum of society? The answer? We do not know.

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Bouey and Mark get the lowdown on Timbuktu from a local Tuareg

Timbuktu is a dusty place, constantly on the verge of being swallowed by the surrounding desert and is a far cry today from is glamorous status as a trade center for hundreds of years. Timbuktu does hold a high degree of significance in the Muslim world, but that still does not explain why a fifth grader from Missouri would recognize the name. The image of Timbuktu being a mysterious and mythical place, synonymous with being at the end of the world or symbolizing the middle of nowhere still holds strong today throughout most of the world, and none us us really know why. Whatever the case may be, and for whatever reason, people know and will continue to recognize the name Timbuktu, and the fact that we actually drove there in our own cars might seem even more mythical to some than the place itself.

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In front of one of the mosques made entirely of mud in Timbuktu

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Bouey gets a close shave while Tuareg children cringe at the sight of the straightedge

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The sun sets on a game of soccer in Timbuktu

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By Steve Bouey | Posted in Mali, Observations, Road Conditions, Trip Thoughts | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Sand, Sand, And More Sand

March 8, 2008 – 6:32 am

What else would you expect when you are in the middle of the Sahara Desert? All of us knew that we would encounter lots of sand as we drove through the western part of the Sahara on our way across Mauritania, but I do not think any of us would realize just how much sand we would come into contact with… literally. Thanks to our friend Paul (AKA - Soloride) TWBR is now equipped with a GPS device. The GPS unit helped Paul navigate his way around the perimeter of the United States and we were confident that it would help us navigate our way through a 250 kilometer stretch of the Sahara Desert… all off-road. After a 24 hour cram session on how to use the GPS, we plotted our way points and headed off into the sand.

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There is actually supposed to be a town here?

When we actually did stop at what the GPS unit told us was the turnoff for the “beach run,” I could not believe that I was actually about to drive off a nice sealed road and head out into blowing Sahara sand. The situation was even more logic defying given that we had talked to numerous people about the run through this part of the desert and getting stuck in the sand not once, but multiple times seemed a near absolute certainty. It did not take long for those words to prove true. In fact, it only took about twenty minutes.

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Round one…

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Round two…

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The power of the Thundra actually made our lives a lot easier in the desert

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Finding some firmer terrain is always a treat

Digging your car out of the sand is hard work in any conditions, but doing it in the mid-afternoon Sahara sun with temperatures well above 40 degrees (100 degrees F) makes the task even more challenging. Luckily, we had decided to purchase some eight foot sections of wood to use as “sand planks.” When you are driving off-road in the desert, sand planks are an absolute necessity and we soon found out the benefit of spending $25 for some makeshift planks in Nouadhibou. By the time the planks had helped us out of the sand twice over the span of about two hours, I realized that it was probably the best $25 I have ever spent in my life.

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Hopefully the last of the digging… collecting Sahara sand for souvenirs

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Thundra “Money Shot”

During the next three days, we probably ended up digging the trucks out of the sand at least seven times, and even though the sand planks make the job exponentially easier, I think that by the seventh time, all of us had enough experience getting unstuck to last a lifetime. Even though navigating our way through massive dunes and deceptively soft stretches of sand was a lot of work, it was well worth it. The Sahara Desert has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Perfectly sculpted sand dunes stretch as far as the eye can see… real Laurence of Arabia type stuff. It is not too often that you can peer out over an endless stretch of sand and say that you actually drove your truck through it. We also managed to find some dunes to play on and although though the surfing has been fairly flat down most of the North African coast, we at least got to put the boogie boards to good use.

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Not many people can claim they drove through terrain like this

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Bouey catches some air off dune number 5783

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While Shoppman demonstrates how easy it is to knock the wind out of your body


By Steve Bouey | Posted in Mauritania, Road Conditions, Trucks, Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments (1)