maxingout
Adventurer
[QUOTE Maxingout: I'd love to see some of your trip details from the empty quarter trips, from what I've read that's quite an area to explore. And gerat 110 btw. Do you still have it here in the states?
Cheers
Dave[/QUOTE]
The Empty Quarter is a huge sandbox that offers endless opportunities for exploration. The northern Empty Quarter is three hours south of Riyadh, and the southern Empty Quarter is 9 hours south of Riyadh. While we were there, we had total freedom of movement, but in the southern Empty Quarter you had a pretty good chance of running into the Frontier Force - Bedouin's with a Toyota Land Cruiser, a 50 caliber machine gun, and a couple of Kalisnikovs. They were looking for smugglers and on several occasions they tracked us down just to see who we were. They cruise the Southern Empty Quarter looking for fresh tire tracks, and they follow the tire tracks until catch up with you and see what you are doing. One time they tracked us for 371 kilometers and a couple of days in the sand dunes before they caught up with us. I know they followed us for 371 kilometers because they showed me their odometer; they zeroed their trip meter when they came across our tracks. They always treated expatriates well, and they were quite friendly.
My Arabian Defenders were impossible to import into the USA. The Arabian Defender has a larger radiator to meet Saudi vehicle standards. I investigated bringing one of them back to the USA, but it was impossible for the reasons that all of us know.
We thought about making a Cairo to Cape Town run with our first kitted out 110, and at that time there was too much trouble in Africa to do the overland trip. Instead, we brought a catamaran and sailed around the world. We still have two Defenders in storage (Australia and New Zealand) and when I finish up in Phoenix, I want to make the Capetown to Cairo trip. When we sailed up the Red Sea, we met two different Australians who had made the Cape Town to Cairo trip a couple of years ago in a Toyota Troopie and an old Volkswagen Combi. So the trip is dooable today.
Besides earning Freedom Chips in Phoenix, my Dad is in hospice and that has delayed moving our stuff so that we can get our photos and maps out of storage. When we finally get our stuff here, I will post some trips with photos.
Cheers
Dave[/QUOTE]
The Empty Quarter is a huge sandbox that offers endless opportunities for exploration. The northern Empty Quarter is three hours south of Riyadh, and the southern Empty Quarter is 9 hours south of Riyadh. While we were there, we had total freedom of movement, but in the southern Empty Quarter you had a pretty good chance of running into the Frontier Force - Bedouin's with a Toyota Land Cruiser, a 50 caliber machine gun, and a couple of Kalisnikovs. They were looking for smugglers and on several occasions they tracked us down just to see who we were. They cruise the Southern Empty Quarter looking for fresh tire tracks, and they follow the tire tracks until catch up with you and see what you are doing. One time they tracked us for 371 kilometers and a couple of days in the sand dunes before they caught up with us. I know they followed us for 371 kilometers because they showed me their odometer; they zeroed their trip meter when they came across our tracks. They always treated expatriates well, and they were quite friendly.
My Arabian Defenders were impossible to import into the USA. The Arabian Defender has a larger radiator to meet Saudi vehicle standards. I investigated bringing one of them back to the USA, but it was impossible for the reasons that all of us know.
We thought about making a Cairo to Cape Town run with our first kitted out 110, and at that time there was too much trouble in Africa to do the overland trip. Instead, we brought a catamaran and sailed around the world. We still have two Defenders in storage (Australia and New Zealand) and when I finish up in Phoenix, I want to make the Capetown to Cairo trip. When we sailed up the Red Sea, we met two different Australians who had made the Cape Town to Cairo trip a couple of years ago in a Toyota Troopie and an old Volkswagen Combi. So the trip is dooable today.
Besides earning Freedom Chips in Phoenix, my Dad is in hospice and that has delayed moving our stuff so that we can get our photos and maps out of storage. When we finally get our stuff here, I will post some trips with photos.
