7am was our target departure time for our 14-hour drive back "home". However, once Lili woke up at 1am the night before with diarrhea and vomiting, I had an inkling we might leave a tad later! 3 more nighttime interruptions led to a hefty load of laundry by hand at 6am, breakfast for Ben and Yan, packing up the cooler (cream for Yan, 2 bars of real butter (a treat!), veggies for the road, and 1 kg of cheese!) and we were off at 7:17am! Not bad!
Yan and Lili were tucked nicely into their car seats with me in the back. Ben rode up front with our taxi driver's whose mother tongue was Arabic, though he spoke some broken French as well.
As we were leaving the city, he stopped at a bakery and came back with the most AMAZING pastries! OH my goodness! I had no idea this bakery was there! It is the best in town! So we had breakfast (again!!!) with pain au chocolate, pain au raisin and (Lili's favorite!) croissants.
Poor Lili was sick on and off during the first 6 hour leg of the journey. But, she was a good sport and enjoyed listening to music and being read to, as she loves. We drove through large sanddunes as we let the capital and watched hundreds of camels making their way to the city, never to leave again (a.k.a. they were to be someone's dinner!)!
We arrived in a middle-sized down, marking our half-way mark and took at 30 minute stretch break. We had meat and fries at a local restaurant, though at this point, Ben was the only one (pause to kill tarantula. Ok. Resume) who seemed to have much of an appetite. At this point the temperature reached it's peak - 47 degrees C (116F).
We piled back in the car with fresh cold water bottles and off we went. About 60 seconds down the road, our driver, who had told us he had driven this route multiple times asked Ben which way to go. As it turns out, it was all a blague and he had never been passed "the last town on the paved road" where we had just stopped.
The next 7 hours were bumpy and hot. About 5 hours into our drive we heard a loud noise, pulled over only to find that the fuel tank had fallen, and was hanging a few centimeters off the ground! I quickly got myself and the kids far away from the car, while Ben and the driver assessed the situation. It was amazing that the tank didn't fall completely and, obviously, explode!
Lili and Yan explored "the middle of nowhere" as we sat in the sun for a hour while Ben tied up the gas tank with his 6 meter turban. Since no rope was to be found, this was the next best thing.
Lili was feeling quite poorly by this point, but took it all in stride and enjoyed the smiles and cuddles of her little brother, which brought her some cheer.
The reason Ben was so determined for us to continue with turban-held gas tank, was that security-wise, we were in quite a vulnerable position being in the middle of nowhere alone, and night was coming.
After another hour of extremely slow off-road driving, we were rescued by our project 4x4 vehicle and were brought safely home. Our team met us with cold drinks and a lovely dinner, which we were too tired to eat!
All of us slept well that night except for Ben who had to awake for a hour and a half to try to get water (which is another story for another time!).
Thank God for his mercy! What an adventure life can be sometimes!
