i would raise my bottles to the desert sky

There are no lessons for the world, no disclosures to shock peoples. It is filled with trivial things, partly that no one mistake for history the bones from which some day a man may make history
T E

I was ecstatic ~ true, it had been a supreme stupidity getting stuck, but I had come out of it on my own, without rescue. I had done it by keeping my head when others would have lost theirs, and life suddenly seemed fantastic. I would put on the air conditioner, connect my iPod, blast music and ~ luxury of luxuries ~ raise my bottles to the desert sky and empty litres down my parched throat. Thank God I didn't. After half a bottle of celebratory drink and 35km of driving towards the military camp, two of my deflated tires blew. It was half an hour before midnight, and I was now 15km from a junction with a water tank, in turn 26km from the camp. The T-junction had a bit of an uninhabited reed shack and a sign that pointed towards a gas company somewhere in the third direction. It would obviously see traffic, unlike my current road that seemed like you could while away your life in anticipation. All I had to do was walk 15km this night, and then hitch a ride on a passing truck to the camp. That's a long hike, but I had done similar distances earlier over mountains, and this was a level road in the cool of the winter desert night, perhaps 16 degrees or so. I took out the jerry cans of petrol so they wouldn't explode in the heat of the day inside the car, and loosened their caps so pressure wouldn't build up. I poured the melted ice in the empty bottles I had, and drank whatever didn't fit in. I had my backpack full of food, water, clothes, books, even papers from geologists, plus my camera equipment ~ a huge load, but nothing that I hadn't done in the past. Other larger gear I left in the car ~ shovel, tripod, icebox.

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