Day Fifteen

January 12, 2006

The good news is the fact that I get to start filing my report early today (it’s about 435pm local time here in Mauritania). The bad news is the fact that one of the two Citroëns just about broke in half today. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the one that we had to more or less tie back together yesterday (due to the cracked frame). Nope, this one came over a huge bump after a sand dune, smacked onto hard ground, and pretty much collapsed on itself. So not just a cracked frame, but a totally bent frame. The fine piece of French engineering looked like a duck on its belly – without any legs.

So here we are, out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with the gearheads in the group working as a finely oiled machine figuring out how to get the stricken vehicle back onto its legs. And this is the bit I like best of all. What do you do when you’re in the desert and need to check out the bottom of a vehicle? Simple! You just roll it onto its side and do the diagnosis that way. I can already imagine the workshop of the future. No hydraulic lifts, no jacks, no sunken walkways to get under cars. Just drive on in and onto her side she goes! One thing I do have to say however. Although the methodology was extremely crude, the effect is extraordinary. If you’ve ever wanted to inspect the underbelly of an automobile, this is the way to go.

Okay, so back to the damaged vehicle here. I just walked over to take a closer look and it looks like the frame is bent in sort of a very shallow ‘v’ angle. In other words, imagine a flat floor pan connecting the front and rear wheels that now looks as if a 10 ton elephant had stepped onto the middle of it. And how on earth do you fix that with the nearest workshop at least a day’s drive away? I’m going to take a little break here while I watch what happens…

All right! I’m back with good news to report. The frame is (more or less) straight and we once again have five vehicles in the fleet. And I am duly impressed with what I just witnessed. This team was truly the definition of Anglo-American cooperation – Steve & Dave from the UK & my cousin Trevor from the USA (he lives in Germany, but carries an American passport). Basically the procedure was pretty simple...

Jack up the car on both sides to raise the front end. Lower the frame/body onto a sturdy object (in this case extra wheels with a steel bar laid across them). Somehow hold down the rear. And then just jump on the front to bend it back into shape!

There really isn’t much more to add to today’s story. Once again, the pictures will say a lot more than I could with these few words.

Due to this little incident, however, we’re going to be camping early tonight. So it’s the beach tomorrow and the capital of Mauritania the next day (and I’ll bet you already knew that’s Nouakchott).

Signing off from N 19 degrees, 47.409 minutes & W 16 degrees, 11.934 minutes.