Running for the border

Finally the car was done - and there was time to do the test run. Per got behind the wheel and set off. We where all happy. Till he come back in a cloud of smoke and the agonizing sounds of clutch-torture. Apparently fifth gear did a bad job as a double for first gear.

Time went by and gear-lever-rods where shortened and made longer and finally we had all gears. Even fifth - top gear. It was late, and dark and we got presented with the bill. What we had extremely loosely agreed upon and what we got presented was not even in the same ballpark. It was expensive even for Europe. Rather close to what one could expect to pay in Norway. Oh well. Ripped off again. Skinned alive and hung out to dry.

We had a border crossing to catch. We just did not know when it closed. So we ran from Agadir like bats out of hell. Well past midnight. Driving trough the night was rather uneventful. And at the light of day we where in the desert - rushing past all the small cities - deserted and not. It was quite uneventful too - just the straight road trough the desert - for miles and miles. That and checkpoints. Some where nice. Some asked for gifts. Some where highway robbery in a uniform. Pretty much as expected.

We where happy to go fast trough the desert. Keeping a high pace was all important. And we where happy with the car even if some stuff had stopped working while the it had been fixed. Like the windscreen whipers. Nobody needs windscreen whipers in the Sahara now do they? Well. We did. Our little part of the Sahara was hit by the mother of all rainstorms. We did not fix the whipers (it was raining too much for it to be pleasant to do anything in the engine compartment) till the rain was over.

We had 18hours straight of driving - covering over 1700km - and we failed - we hit the Mauritanian border at 18:30 - and the border closed at 18-sharp. So. We got to place the car as first in the line for tomorrows crossing at 9:00. All ready to hunt for the next border crossing to Senegal - which also closes at 18. If we make that border crossing we are able catch up with the rally in Dakar and there will be much rejoicing.

As I write this I am laying on the extra bed (which is really a flimsy matures on the floor) of our hotel room. We drew for who got to sleep on the floor and I won. We could have gotten two rooms - they where only 20euro each, but after being ripped off so many times in Morocco I decided that we had to save some money. I am so smart. Once I was laying on the floor I started thinking about all the small creeps that I will share this floor with tonight. Oh well, it is all a part of the rally spirit. And I am all stacked up on spirit.