Treasure Hunt
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Melfi
- Golden Member
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:47 am
For me, this will be one trip to remember, and not necessarily for the technicalities of the dunes...
I am guilty of asking the marshals, a few weeks ago, to ensure that there would be a drive this weekend, as it's my birthday on Monday, and this year I preferred to celebrate with my desert family. In exchange, I had promised to bring a cake and cool drinks for everyone. But then I heard nothing... and nothing... and nothing... and a couple of other non-related drive offers came through but there was still nothing being posted at the forum... So I thought they had forgotten. But they had not.
The surprise of the Treasure Hunt came right in queue. I LOVE mystery games and a hunting drive was probably the best idea that anyone could have had, if they had me in mind. Sorry to make it about myself, but I can't help it. I am happy and would like to share my thunder. The set-up of signing up in teams, and making it available to all levels was fun. At some point I thought that we'd only be 2 in the Hernando Cortés (HC) team (thank you Caprihorse, for the name!) but I didn't mind - btw, for those that didn't know, the other team names were James Cook and Marco Polo, all explorers/world travellers from ancient times. As Capri suggested, the less the people in a convoy, the less chances of a stuck and the faster the convoy would go. But then all the other cool drivers joined us and the event was full. (Phewwww... I was worried at some point about the amount of cake that I'd have to bring!)
The thread got closed, the PM sent (although I think some people were worried about not receiving anything, as the site experienced a bit of a technical issue on the day) and we were all due to meet at the Tawi Nazwa shops at 3pm.
In good team planning, I texted all drivers in the HC convoy to meet up over there at 2.45 so we could talk tactics before everyone else arrived. But then home disaster struck! The cake that I had been baking had come out awfully dry. I had forgotten that I normally made it like that because I would soak it with rum but because that was not an option this time, I should have made it "softer". I tried to fix it with Nutella, but it didn't make it much better than a sandwich. And risking my reputation to be in tatters, I chucked it aside and started anew, with cupcakes I mind, as I was running out of time. Now, I am not cupcake baker but I knew they would cook faster than a full cake, and yet, my lack of experience with them resulted in a bunch of overly deformed and perhaps slightly undercooked ugly chunks of soft edible matter on bits of white paper. So I chucked them in a box and rushed off to the meeting point, where I royally arrived... 40 mins late to my own-organised team meeting! So much for discussing tactics... Sorry guys!! :049:
Over there, Hussain Polo, Yoghybear Cook and Hamdan Cortés gave us the instructions of who would be leading which convoy and off we went to the deflation point. I kidnapped Jabster, who I hadn't seen in ages, to join me in my car, and I believe that Arminjune did the same with Red Scorpion, although I ignore his reasons for doing so, and I shall not ask... Shamelessly, I managed to "almost" get stuck before we even got to deflate, and the only reason of why I am admitting to this, is because if I don't, MostWanted will surely tell you... :013:
So we all got ready and then had our real "tactics" meeting: :028:
Hamdan would lead, Delta would be second, Arminjune would be the rescuer and Mazaaj would be sweeper. Club members (2) would be at the front and the rest would go wherever. I'm sure I'm missing another position so sorry if I have not mentioned your name - age is getting to me...
The drive was a pretty fast one, as we did not have a single stuck nor pop-out, and we danced around the Marco Polo team a couple of times. Ignoring how the drive path was planned amongst the convoy leaders, we had a nice mix of dune levels and the fact that we crossed one of the other teams more than once, and even saw them stuck at the top of a dune, added to the challenge. Just before the last stretch, we had a minor incident where one of our PEEPs (I shall not mention whose) overheated and we had to let it cool down for a bit, losing out precious race minutes... I shall point out that it probably would not have happened if it had been an FJ... :015:
Nevertheless we made it to the Treasure location before everyone else, passing by Caprihorse, Al Khatib, Lamboo and... Zico? (sorry, I was driving fast and didn't get to see who else was there) who were chilling at target point waiting for us.
The actual target was a GPS coordinate where the treasure was buried. Yes, BURIED! In the middle of the DESERT!!
The area was surrounding a tree and plenty of branches were scattered all over the place, not making it easier for any of us. The Hernando Cortés team furiously started digging around what we thought was the real GPS point but as it did not seem too exact, a couple of us went digging in other places a few metres away. But then shock horror! The Marco Polo team had caught up with us and swarmed the place down! Luckily OffroadRon seemed to hit something just when the Marco Polo team had jumped off their cars and there was the lets-see-who-digs-faster moment...:006:
HURRAY! The treasure had been found!! 3 large parcels came from under the ground and revealed their contents... Cool juice and other drinks! Hurray!! Just what we needed!! :048:
So then we were instructed to move our cars to the camp area, a couple of cars got stuck on their way over the dune (who shall remain nameless so that I don't get in trouble) and I braved up to bring the ugly cupcakes out of their box.
Trying to correct their image by drawing an orange triangle and scorpion "à-la" Almost4x4 logo did not do them much good (thank you Jabster for helping me out on the decoration department) so I just smiled the best way I could to distract the taker from what s/he was picking up. :022:
I finally sat down with the girls, somewhere amongst Jabster, Neha and new arrivals Nathalie (Mrs. Tonneree), Mrs. Offroad Ron and Mrs. Shawnp21 (sorry, forgot their names!) when Caprihorse called me up to the middle, wished me a happy birthday from all Almosters and in true treasure hunt style, gave me a handwritten piece of paper with the coordinates of where my gift was located! HELP!!! I have no GPS!!!
So Zico, Armin and Delta came to the rescue, armed with Garmins and shovels... After another freak out session of the thought of looking for a needle in a haystack, and at the pace of 3.1km/h, we managed to find the parcel within walking distance of camp. Hurray! Another treasure! This was a yummy smelling Elizabeth Arden pack with mosturising creams and perfume, including a little bottle for the handbag, very wisely chosen by Al Khatib. :045:[CENTER]
THANK YOU GUYS!!
:021:
[/CENTER]
[LEFT]Some people then left and the rest of us stayed for another hour or so. Just before it got dark, Armin brought out a volleyball and we started playing, first boys (3) vs. girls (6!) while the rest of the male population became cheerleaders, then after prayers it became a more balanced game.
When it was obviously far too dark to carry on playing, we packed up and drove back to the road, although Yoghy and Capri stayed behind as there was someone who needed help, but I did not quite get who nor why...
The evening ended in Al Badayer where we reflated and Armin and I drove our companions back to Nazwa to collect their cars and left... and me realising in the middle of the road that I had left without saying bye and thank you to anyone! So so sorry!!!
So officially,
[/LEFT]
[CENTER]THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL ORGANISERS
of this fantastic trip
ALL ALMOST4X4 MEMBERS FOR THE GIFT
and
ALL DRIVERS AND THEIR ENTOURAGE FOR JOINING[/CENTER]
[LEFT]
You really made it a birthday to remember... :043:
Melfi [/LEFT]
I am guilty of asking the marshals, a few weeks ago, to ensure that there would be a drive this weekend, as it's my birthday on Monday, and this year I preferred to celebrate with my desert family. In exchange, I had promised to bring a cake and cool drinks for everyone. But then I heard nothing... and nothing... and nothing... and a couple of other non-related drive offers came through but there was still nothing being posted at the forum... So I thought they had forgotten. But they had not.
The surprise of the Treasure Hunt came right in queue. I LOVE mystery games and a hunting drive was probably the best idea that anyone could have had, if they had me in mind. Sorry to make it about myself, but I can't help it. I am happy and would like to share my thunder. The set-up of signing up in teams, and making it available to all levels was fun. At some point I thought that we'd only be 2 in the Hernando Cortés (HC) team (thank you Caprihorse, for the name!) but I didn't mind - btw, for those that didn't know, the other team names were James Cook and Marco Polo, all explorers/world travellers from ancient times. As Capri suggested, the less the people in a convoy, the less chances of a stuck and the faster the convoy would go. But then all the other cool drivers joined us and the event was full. (Phewwww... I was worried at some point about the amount of cake that I'd have to bring!)
The thread got closed, the PM sent (although I think some people were worried about not receiving anything, as the site experienced a bit of a technical issue on the day) and we were all due to meet at the Tawi Nazwa shops at 3pm.
In good team planning, I texted all drivers in the HC convoy to meet up over there at 2.45 so we could talk tactics before everyone else arrived. But then home disaster struck! The cake that I had been baking had come out awfully dry. I had forgotten that I normally made it like that because I would soak it with rum but because that was not an option this time, I should have made it "softer". I tried to fix it with Nutella, but it didn't make it much better than a sandwich. And risking my reputation to be in tatters, I chucked it aside and started anew, with cupcakes I mind, as I was running out of time. Now, I am not cupcake baker but I knew they would cook faster than a full cake, and yet, my lack of experience with them resulted in a bunch of overly deformed and perhaps slightly undercooked ugly chunks of soft edible matter on bits of white paper. So I chucked them in a box and rushed off to the meeting point, where I royally arrived... 40 mins late to my own-organised team meeting! So much for discussing tactics... Sorry guys!! :049:
Over there, Hussain Polo, Yoghybear Cook and Hamdan Cortés gave us the instructions of who would be leading which convoy and off we went to the deflation point. I kidnapped Jabster, who I hadn't seen in ages, to join me in my car, and I believe that Arminjune did the same with Red Scorpion, although I ignore his reasons for doing so, and I shall not ask... Shamelessly, I managed to "almost" get stuck before we even got to deflate, and the only reason of why I am admitting to this, is because if I don't, MostWanted will surely tell you... :013:
So we all got ready and then had our real "tactics" meeting: :028:
Hamdan would lead, Delta would be second, Arminjune would be the rescuer and Mazaaj would be sweeper. Club members (2) would be at the front and the rest would go wherever. I'm sure I'm missing another position so sorry if I have not mentioned your name - age is getting to me...
The drive was a pretty fast one, as we did not have a single stuck nor pop-out, and we danced around the Marco Polo team a couple of times. Ignoring how the drive path was planned amongst the convoy leaders, we had a nice mix of dune levels and the fact that we crossed one of the other teams more than once, and even saw them stuck at the top of a dune, added to the challenge. Just before the last stretch, we had a minor incident where one of our PEEPs (I shall not mention whose) overheated and we had to let it cool down for a bit, losing out precious race minutes... I shall point out that it probably would not have happened if it had been an FJ... :015:
Nevertheless we made it to the Treasure location before everyone else, passing by Caprihorse, Al Khatib, Lamboo and... Zico? (sorry, I was driving fast and didn't get to see who else was there) who were chilling at target point waiting for us.
The actual target was a GPS coordinate where the treasure was buried. Yes, BURIED! In the middle of the DESERT!!
The area was surrounding a tree and plenty of branches were scattered all over the place, not making it easier for any of us. The Hernando Cortés team furiously started digging around what we thought was the real GPS point but as it did not seem too exact, a couple of us went digging in other places a few metres away. But then shock horror! The Marco Polo team had caught up with us and swarmed the place down! Luckily OffroadRon seemed to hit something just when the Marco Polo team had jumped off their cars and there was the lets-see-who-digs-faster moment...:006:
HURRAY! The treasure had been found!! 3 large parcels came from under the ground and revealed their contents... Cool juice and other drinks! Hurray!! Just what we needed!! :048:
So then we were instructed to move our cars to the camp area, a couple of cars got stuck on their way over the dune (who shall remain nameless so that I don't get in trouble) and I braved up to bring the ugly cupcakes out of their box.
Trying to correct their image by drawing an orange triangle and scorpion "à-la" Almost4x4 logo did not do them much good (thank you Jabster for helping me out on the decoration department) so I just smiled the best way I could to distract the taker from what s/he was picking up. :022:
I finally sat down with the girls, somewhere amongst Jabster, Neha and new arrivals Nathalie (Mrs. Tonneree), Mrs. Offroad Ron and Mrs. Shawnp21 (sorry, forgot their names!) when Caprihorse called me up to the middle, wished me a happy birthday from all Almosters and in true treasure hunt style, gave me a handwritten piece of paper with the coordinates of where my gift was located! HELP!!! I have no GPS!!!
So Zico, Armin and Delta came to the rescue, armed with Garmins and shovels... After another freak out session of the thought of looking for a needle in a haystack, and at the pace of 3.1km/h, we managed to find the parcel within walking distance of camp. Hurray! Another treasure! This was a yummy smelling Elizabeth Arden pack with mosturising creams and perfume, including a little bottle for the handbag, very wisely chosen by Al Khatib. :045:[CENTER]
THANK YOU GUYS!!
:021:
[/CENTER]
[LEFT]Some people then left and the rest of us stayed for another hour or so. Just before it got dark, Armin brought out a volleyball and we started playing, first boys (3) vs. girls (6!) while the rest of the male population became cheerleaders, then after prayers it became a more balanced game.
When it was obviously far too dark to carry on playing, we packed up and drove back to the road, although Yoghy and Capri stayed behind as there was someone who needed help, but I did not quite get who nor why...
The evening ended in Al Badayer where we reflated and Armin and I drove our companions back to Nazwa to collect their cars and left... and me realising in the middle of the road that I had left without saying bye and thank you to anyone! So so sorry!!!
So officially,
[/LEFT]
[CENTER]THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL ORGANISERS
of this fantastic trip
ALL ALMOST4X4 MEMBERS FOR THE GIFT
and
ALL DRIVERS AND THEIR ENTOURAGE FOR JOINING[/CENTER]
[LEFT]
You really made it a birthday to remember... :043:
Melfi [/LEFT]
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samjed46
- Newbie
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:57 pm
Dear Melfi,
Thanks for the detailed trip report and also for those cupcakes very deliceous and very sweet like u, we all wish you a very happy birthday in advance and look forward to see many of such birthdays together.
No doubt it was fun drive and driving with ALMOST is always fun & learning.
Thanks for the detailed trip report and also for those cupcakes very deliceous and very sweet like u, we all wish you a very happy birthday in advance and look forward to see many of such birthdays together.
No doubt it was fun drive and driving with ALMOST is always fun & learning.
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bobpavan
- Intermediate
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:04 am
Excellent trip report Melfi..was a great trip to all of us as always with almost :)
Wishing you a very Bappy Hirthday in advance :)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]777[/ATTACH]
Wishing you a very Bappy Hirthday in advance :)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]777[/ATTACH]
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Neha
- Newbie
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 4:01 pm
What a trip!! It was wonderful mix of everything...it was fast drive.......not very high but tricky n sharp dunes..very soft places. The temperature was 48-49 degrees through out the trips we were lucky though it was cloudy..
Thank you Geni for wonderful cupcakes:057:
Thank you to all the marshals and specially Yogybear. It was great team I enjoyed the company and spirit of you all. Hope to see u all again in the sand soon. till then :038:
Thank you Geni for wonderful cupcakes:057:
Thank you to all the marshals and specially Yogybear. It was great team I enjoyed the company and spirit of you all. Hope to see u all again in the sand soon. till then :038:
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Jabster
- Golden Member
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 7:44 am
Good report Geni. Want to thank you for hijacking me - was a good day and lovely to have a chance for a good chat.
Great to see everyone again after some time and to meet so many new faces. Well done to Natalie who is a pretty awesome volley ball player.
See you all soon.
Jabster. Xx
Great to see everyone again after some time and to meet so many new faces. Well done to Natalie who is a pretty awesome volley ball player.
See you all soon.
Jabster. Xx
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Red Scorpion
- Advance
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:12 am
Happy birthday Geni .. wish u many many returns of the day .. thank u for the yummy cupcakes but the candles were missing .. yallah next time the candles on me .. was one nice trip indeed and special thank you goes to Armin for letting me be his passenger after my peep decided to act funny in the last minute!! great ride and great skills bro .. i enjoyed it .. was great to meet old friends after such a long time and also nice to meet new people .. great fun from the start to the end .. good job Hernando Cortez group finding the treasure .. 'till the next time .. u guyz take care.
Salam.
Salam.
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tonneree
- Newbie
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 11:16 pm
Thank you all for being so supportive on my first real desert drive :) There were some pretty intimidating climbs for someone unfamiliar with his car (2 weeks old and never off road) and the dunes. But somehow I managed to make it to the camp and out intact ;) Thank you to the marshals and all the drivers for being encouraging and generous with tips ;)
Nathalie and I will certainly be part of future trips and will continue practicing!
PS: do i get a newbie badge now ? :P
Nathalie and I will certainly be part of future trips and will continue practicing!
PS: do i get a newbie badge now ? :P
