Capt Jon
Observer
A group of friends and I went to Jakku this weekend. Although the new star wars movie would have you believe that it is in a galaxy far, far away. It is in actually in the United Arab Emirates about 2 hours from Abu Dhabi in the Liwa Crescent, near a little town called Hameem. We were a large group of about 8 cars. Several of us are in the desert every weekend, but we also had a couple drivers along who had never driven in the desert. We made the drive out to the site where they filmed the movie. Set up camp, and a few of us went for a bit of dune driving and playing in the bowls for which this area is famous.
At some point after the kids went to bed, we had marshmallows dipped in single malt scotch. Blasphemy to some, but if you approach it with an open mind you might be surprised.
The wind came up that night. Strong enough to break some of those shock-corded poles on our tent. There's nothing to stake to, so tents are tied to vehicles and sandbags. One member had a brand new roof top tent. He seemed to be doing a lot better than I was as I used duct tape and a wrench to splint my tent in the hurricane. The wind only lasted for a few hours, but it was an enthusiastic sand blasting. The sand literally gets behind your eyeballs. I always have sandy tears and eye-boogers for a few days after one of these.
Our Italian friends made a fantastic breakfast the next morning to include pancakes, while the English contributed the traditional hot cross buns for the Easter weekend. As Americans we simply contributed our Hawaiian-Lebanese- Burritos.
I am neither journalist nor photographer, so please excuse the prose and the photos. If they are good, its likely that someone else took them. In full disclosure, one may even be a fake. I'll let you wonder which . . .
Deflating before entering the sand:
At some point after the kids went to bed, we had marshmallows dipped in single malt scotch. Blasphemy to some, but if you approach it with an open mind you might be surprised.
The wind came up that night. Strong enough to break some of those shock-corded poles on our tent. There's nothing to stake to, so tents are tied to vehicles and sandbags. One member had a brand new roof top tent. He seemed to be doing a lot better than I was as I used duct tape and a wrench to splint my tent in the hurricane. The wind only lasted for a few hours, but it was an enthusiastic sand blasting. The sand literally gets behind your eyeballs. I always have sandy tears and eye-boogers for a few days after one of these.
Our Italian friends made a fantastic breakfast the next morning to include pancakes, while the English contributed the traditional hot cross buns for the Easter weekend. As Americans we simply contributed our Hawaiian-Lebanese- Burritos.
I am neither journalist nor photographer, so please excuse the prose and the photos. If they are good, its likely that someone else took them. In full disclosure, one may even be a fake. I'll let you wonder which . . .
Deflating before entering the sand:
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