Trip Report Al Khatim Surprise

jc · Post by jc » Fri May 23, 2008 10:13 pm

Surprise trip it was indeed firstly The logistics of co-ordinating three groups the third group was my fault because I am probably better finding my way in the Desert than finding my way around Abu Dhabi.

We all meet at our respective meeting points and then converged on the deflation point where we had to wait for some people to arrive we finally hit the sand at 3:30 with 20 odd vehicles it was a struggle so we decided to break into 2 groups with Mood leading the Intermediate group while I had all the newbies, with three new Landrovers and 1 Liberty and wranglers, unfortunately we lost 1 of the Landrovers with a engine problem. The route at times was easy but there were some interesting technical bit that tested the ability of all drivers, the sand was very soft in places but to everybodies credit they handled their vehicle very well, we meet up with Moods group at the end point were some went and played while others just relaxed . Khalid did a very good job of driving a Jeep

.

Some people had to leave early to attend other functions while the rest of us decided to move to Khatim Adnoc cross country which in the end turned into a very good night drive come stuck fest, thank you to Marshals Saeed, Desert Ghost, Khalid, Mike, Halwa and most important of all our first Lady Marshal JAX for attending this trip and Mood for stepping up and Leading the Night Drive hope you all had a good time see you in the sand soon ISA

Desert Ghost · Post by **Desert Ghost** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:34 pm

Good job JC and thanx Mood for the lead.

Good trip but it was HOT. well until next time you guys take care.

mike0967 · Post by **mike0967** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:48 pm

Thank you JC for organizing this lovely afternoon trip we enjoyed it very much.

Thank you Mood for leading the intermediate group I was joining, you did very well my friend, it was a pleasure to follow your route. It was nice to see some of the new members I had as first timers on Newbie trips now joining the intermediates already, well done today all of you.

JC, Mood, keep up the good work guys and I trust we will see you beginning of next season in a different role 8)

Some more notes, no, just look at the pics

Thank you all

Katharina & Mike

Desert Ghost · Post by **Desert Ghost** » Fri May 23, 2008 11:27 pm

thanx for all those who took the nice picx.

Jax · Post by **Jax** » Fri May 23, 2008 11:55 pm

Thanks for a great afternoon out in the dunes, jc (& for letting me join at short notice

)

Always good to see old and new friends out in the sand having fun in the hot sun! :veryhot:
Congratulations Mark & Kath on your new olllllllo - cool!
... and Khalid - I'm glad you enjoyed driving 'The TANK' now you know what a REAL 4x4 feels like on the sand!

Mood - thanks for leading out in the 2nd half, and Dutchy :bravo:

See you all soon in the doones,
Jax
8)

divewithyou · Post by **divewithyou** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:00 am

Great thanks to Mood, JC, and Mike, excellent rout and excellent support.
And special thanks to Banna, and Khaled, for helping me to reach the deflation points.
By the way who push me to the slop of the sand dunes, I think one these guys Nissan riders

and spacial big thanks for our photographer Katrina. :thankyou:

Viking · Post by **Viking** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:44 am

Yeah it was well worth stressing home from Nice and get a couple of hours sleep before hitting the dunes. JC - as usual a well done job and I really enjoy your trips. I got the honour of sweeping the Newbies group together with Yehia and that was a new and funny experience. Once again my recovery strap got used

A special thanks also to Yehia who accompanied me to Al Khatim ADNOC and helping me with the translation with the police as my rear bumper got damaged trying to get up a dune that probably was a bit too steep. Never mind - Toys are made to have fun with and broken parts can be replaced and repaired.

I also would like to say thanks to JC who pulled me out of the stuck. I know you are proud of pulling a Patrol with your jeep. I was surprised you didnt mentioned it yourself but now it is done. You are my hero JC 8)

And Yes I agree it was hot but these afternoon trips are OK and I look forward to more trips in the near future.

jc · Post by jc » Sat May 24, 2008 12:54 am

Viking wrote:Yeah it was well worth stressing home from Nice and get a couple of hours sleep before hitting the dunes. JC - as usual a well done job and I really enjoy your trips. I got the honour of sweeping the Newbies group together with Yehia and that was a new and funny experience. Once again my recovery strap got used

A special thanks also to Yehia who accompanied me to Al Khatim ADNOC and helping me with the translation with the police as my rear bumper got damaged trying to get up a dune that probably was a bit too steep. Never mind - Toys are made to have fun with and broken parts can be replaced and repaired.

I also would like to say thanks to JC who pulled me out of the stuck. I know you are proud of pulling a Patrol with your jeep. I was surprised you didnt mentioned it yourself but now it is done. You are my hero JC 8)

And Yes I agree it was hot but these afternoon trips are OK and I look forward to more trips in the near future.

Eric you are

me thank you man the reason I didn't mention the stuck is I did not want to embarass Khalid because you know how obsessive he is about Nissan

Viking · Post by **Viking** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:32 am

jc wrote:
Viking wrote: I also would like to say thanks to JC who pulled me out of the stuck. I know you are proud of pulling a Patrol with your jeep. I was surprised you didnt mentioned it yourself but now it is done. You are my hero JC 8)
Eric you are me thank you man the reason I didn't mention the stuck is I did not want to embarass Khalid because you know how obsessive he is about Nissan

I remember being around 15 years old (yes it is around ten years from now) and trying to impress all the girls (especially) around me. You wanted everything to be perfect and anything that turned out wrong made you embarrased. You were really concerned with what friends you should hang out with to look good etc etc.

Now that I am 25 (15 + 10 makes 25 right?) it is not as important anymore what others think of you. I choose my friends and situations in order to enjoy my life instead of worrying about what others think.

Saying this I really mean that you should have all the credit for pulling my Patrol. Even the sun has its spots they say and this club is all about helping eachother and have fun. Actually it was my first stuck that I had to be pulled out of so you are more than special

I mean next time it might be so that one of the jeeps break down and I can bring it back in the back of my Patrol instead of towing it. "All for one and one for all"

Viking · Post by **Viking** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:33 am

Maybe I should mention that this October I will be celebrating my 20th anniversary of my 25th birthday

MooD · Post by **MooD** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:09 pm

What A day we spent in the Desert.......................
I was in the desert from 6:00 am.............
My Rout was not Easy specially the night drive ..............
See All Soon

hernan1304 · Post by **hernan1304** » Sat May 24, 2008 7:02 pm

Thanks everyone for the help and sorry to ruin the beginning of the trip! Our Land Rover ended up leaving us stranded on the side of the Al Ain-Abu Dhabi road with smoke coming from under the bonnet. The problem appears to have been a stuck thermostat valve (resulting in no coolant flow and a punctured pipe next to the thermostat, which meant all the coolant drained). Fingers crossed that there wasn't significant damage done to the engine!! Dealer is still diagnosing.

The loss of power was due to the LR protecting itself against damage because of the high temperature, so I'm definitely glad we decided not to go ahead with the offroad trip. Thank you Jax for the assistance! Once the demons are exorcised I'm hoping we'll be able to join your next trip. The Land Rover really is an excellent offroad car... (when it works)!

The guy from the recovery service told us that with their Land Cruisers they just take off the thermostats and throw them away as soon as they get them... sorely tempted to do the same!!

I've now had this happen to me on a Mini Cooper (twice), a Volkswagen AND a Land Rover!!

iguana · Post by **iguana** » Sat May 24, 2008 7:05 pm

hernan1304 wrote:I've now had this happen to me on a Mini Cooper (twice), a Volkswagen AND a Land Rover!!

I think you need to change the driver here hernan not the car

jc · Post by jc » Sat May 24, 2008 7:18 pm

hernan1304 wrote:Thanks everyone for the help and sorry to ruin the beginning of the trip! Our Land Rover ended up leaving us stranded on the side of the Al Ain-Abu Dhabi road with smoke coming from under the bonnet. The problem appears to have been a stuck thermostat valve (resulting in no coolant flow and a punctured pipe next to the thermostat, which meant all the coolant drained). Fingers crossed that there wasn't significant damage done to the engine!! Dealer is still diagnosing.

The loss of power was due to the LR protecting itself against damage because of the high temperature, so I'm definitely glad we decided not to go ahead with the offroad trip. Thank you Jax for the assistance! Once the demons are exorcised I'm hoping we'll be able to join your next trip. The Land Rover really is an excellent offroad car... (when it works)!

The guy from the recovery service told us that with their Land Cruisers they just take off the thermostats and throw them away as soon as they get them... sorely tempted to do the same!! I've now had this happen to me on a Mini Cooper (twice), a Volkswagen AND a Land Rover!!

Glad to hear you are ok hernan I agree the Landrover is good off road for comfort but only in winter too heavy too much electrical stuff airbag suspension all computer controlled too much to go wrong the good thing is the engine management which derates enginr to protect it.
If you truly want to offroad and save your new Landrover think hard about another vehicle I will not tell you to buy a jeep or anything else this is up to you but if you want to experience different vehicles give me a call we will work something out see you soon in the sand ISA

Viking · Post by **Viking** » Sat May 24, 2008 9:10 pm

Do not pay too much attention to the Jeepers Hernan as there are people in this club that also wants to have a comfortable ride to and from the desert and if you only have one car (as I have) it also needs to fulfill more demands than playing around with. I am pretty sure your LR will do well when it is fixed again. I am very aware of that the Jeeps are funny and very tough toys in the sand but sometimes they do appreciate a Monster truck around when something heavy is to be pulled out.

I know JC will pick on me directly now saying "I pulled your Patrol out with my Jeep" and I admit - he did