My Crazy Adventure

Below are some pictures from my trip in Tunisia so far with some explanations of the pictures. I am also working on a slide show to add with all of my pictures from here. Hope to have that done later today.

These two 747's belonged to Saddam Hussein. During the frist gulf war he flew them to Tunisia and then did not pay the Tunisian government the taxes he owed so they would not let the planes leave. They have been parked in the same places on the airport tarmack for almost 20 years.

This is the great salt lake. Normally dry. The previous 3 days of rain made it look like an ocean. This bus has been stuck there for many years. There is normally water right below the surface of the sand so people think they can drive on it but find a different story once they try it. Many have been stuck, but I hear it is fun to ride ATV's on it.

This is about 100 meters from our hotel. Douz is the town we are staying in and translalted means "door to the desert". This is the beginning of the Sahara desert. To the right is Algeria and to the left Nigeria.

Of course we are friends with the bartender!! This is Rihad. Also called Zazoo. On his head is a Chica or water pipe. We all took our turn smoking the sweet apple tobacco inside of it. I did not inhale, but smoked it like a cigar. It was a very sweet smoke. Only two of us on the trip so far are non-smokers so for 5 minutes one night I fit in with the rest of the group when I smoked the Chica!!

We finished setting up for the meeting early so we were able to do an amazing ride in the Sahara. We rode for one hour, stopped and had a BBQ in the middle of the desert, then rode home for one hour. The dunes were amazing. Jumps and drops, it was a little scary, but you learn how to read the dunes. Caution is key. I am a little sore today and have some blisters on my hands from the twists and turns of the ride, but it was a great experience.

This was the biggest dune we rode up today. This is me. I guess when we go deeper into the desert later this week we will have dunes 3-4 times bigger than this one. This one was about a 6o foot dune. It was so much fun!!

Here is the tour group we work with making us lunch. We had lamb, some wonderful salads, French Bread and mint tea. It was a very cool and relaxing experience. We were in the middle of nowhere!! The amazing thing is that our guide had no map, GPS or way to tell direction, yet drove right to the exact spot where his brothers were waiting for us. Pretty amazing. Along the ride we saw nomads with their donkeys and camels wandering through the desert.

Those are just a taste of the pictures and stories I have encountered so far. I hope to get the slide show done soon. But for now, hope you are enjoying the stories. There will be many more to come. The dealers arrive tonight so it will be work for the next couple days attending meetings and helping with the demo rides. Thanks for checking in.

Love you all.

The World Around Me...

As I am living this life away from my own, I am thinking about how it might change me. On our drive through Tunisia and as I stay here and see the people and this place, I am beginning to see a change in me. It is a positive change, as one would hope for with a growth opportunity like the one I have been presented. As we were driving and I saw the school children walking on the side of the road to their homes, I realized how lucky we are. Their homes were maybe 7 feet high, and 12 feet by 12 feet buildings. I can only imagine the condition inside, but if the outside was any indication, then it could not be good. The streets are lined with vendors selling fruit and meat. There are countless old mopeds whizzing by us as we wind our way through the bumpy, water filled streets. It had rained for 3 days, which is rare in this area. The women are covered as this is a Muslim country and I am thanking the powers that be for the freedom I have back home.

As we drive I see amazing things which I wrote about yesterday. The salt lake, camels, the desert. All very beautiful and I cannot wait to see more as we ride through the desert later today and again later this week.

The last bit of wisdom I gained happened the first night we arrived and were setting up at the hotel. I was staring up at the stars and recognized one of my favorite constellations, Orion. It was amazing to me though, that the familiar belt was facing a completely different direction and it hit me that no matter where I am in the world, things are the same in the universe, but it is my perspective of those things that changes. I am hoping to see the world differently and remember to look at it with new eyes whenever I have the chance. I think this is how I will grow on this trip and beyond.

Well I am off to work for a little while then we are taking a 2 hour ATV ride into the desert for a BBQ lunch in the middle of the Sahara….. well I am guessing it won’t be the middle, but you know what I mean.

Hope to have pictures to share soon. Check back for more from Tunisia, I ma here for 5 more days.

Au revoir.

Tunisia... Yep, it's in Africa!

I almost died!! I had to go a day and a half without internet!! Don't expect too many blogs from here as the internet is hit and miss. I hope I can make it through this one!

No pictures to add today, but wanted to let everyone know I made it safely. The country was amazing, very poor and dirty. We saw an amazing salt lake on our drive yesterday. It had rained for three days straight so there was water as far as the eye could see. It will be dry very soon. Later that night I was in the Sahara desert and saw sand as far as my eye could see. It was truly an amazing day.

Today we set up for the dealer meeting. Worked a lot and now it is close to 8:30pm and we are getting ready for dinner. I am doing well, almost caught up on sleep and so far so good with the homesickness. Work is keeping me busy and I am learning a lot about working for a subsidiary. Oh, and I am learning a little French as well!! I learned some key swear words today. It's a start. I am also helping the staff with their English so it is a good tradeoff.

Check backl alter for more updates from Tunisia.
Love and miss you.