Following on from yesterday's Land Rover shadow shot is today's shot of our playing follow the leader as we race the setting sun on our way back to camp.
Although in the summer if would get really hot, our vehicles were not air conditioned. While an air conditioner was an option, we didn't buy them. They were something else to go wrong and incur additional time and expense repairing for no business value.
I found the relatively hotter dry heat of the desert much more manageable than the relatively lower humid heat of the jungle. The problem, of course, is that your sweat evaporates instantly in the desert. You can easily become dehydrated and not be aware you've sweated away pounds of body weight which is why frequency and color of urination become key health indicators.
On my first stint in Libya I recall one observer commenting on the lack of vehicle air conditioning. The mechanics removed the top half of his doors and instructed him to keep moving to generate a draft! But that was when we had 109s. In the 110s that wasn't an option, at least not once land rover had run out of 109 doors – we used to specify the 109 doors on the early 110s because the 109 door latches were more robust.
Our option in the 110 was to open the flaps below the windshield and keep the windows open. For this comfort reason, leaving aside the mechanical implications, it never paid to follow the leader in his dust cloud.
When driving in the dunes we were advised to keep the windows closed. Apparently, in a slow roll it's a natural tendency to put your hand out to break your fall. Problem is, if you do that as you're vehicle is rolling over, sod's law dictates that you're going to get your arm pinned under the vehicle and you end up trapped. The closed window prevents that so you can find a way to exit the vehicle once it comes to a rest. You're still marooned in the middle of nowhere but at least you don't have a ton-and-a-half of metal pinning you to the floor.
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