7 years in AD has come to an end due to my ill health Gillian and I return to UK next week so that I can undergo prolonged health care.
In 2006, we joined this wonderful club and On my first trip i was driving a Land Rover Disco on a trip led by Abu Omar assisted by DiVeR who dragged the old Disco out of my first ever stuck.....lots since then!
A young Iguana came to see us all off on this trip from the ADNOC at the rear of UNB on Salam Street, funny what you remember.
I got stuck, the car broke down, but we were bitten by the AD 4x4 bug.
So many trips since then, so many memories where to begin. Night drive double roll overs in Musaffah. A huge 10 day trip through Oman to Salalah and back up the Oman coast to Turtle Beach in the Hummer. ANIT,s, accidents in the desert, my daughter burning her feet on hot BBQ coals and Iguana carrying her at the Hospital and up to our apartment...he was much younger then
Iguana teaching me how to drive up a big dune. Khaiwi just teaching me how to drive in the sand.
Looking back over my cars. Wrangler x2, my beloved Hummer H3. 2 Disco,s, Jeep Cherokee, it is never the car but the driver that gets you through.
The old BBQ spots in Al Khatim . The 1st Abu Dhabi Adventure fun when people got stuck out in Liwa and had to sleep in the cars until daylight as it was too dangerous to continue. The air bags blowing up on the Hummer as it nearly rolled over in Liwa....remove the correct fuse!
Old friends who many of you will never have met, but who were the pioneers of this club and boy did we have fun exploring what are your now your playgrounds.
Camping on beaches in Musandam and Fujairah with frogs keeping us awake all night.
Snakes slipping under our dear old friend, now sadly deceased Halwa tent in Liwa.
Fights on the forum, fights in the sand, oh you have no idea of the early days!
I simply cannot mention everyone here who has helped me and Gillian over these past years the list would be too long, you know who you are and hopefully we share the same memories. I will never forget the memories or any of you.
It has been my honour to be a member of AD 4x4, a true honour to be a Marshal and a privilege to be a member of the SC.
One word of advice from an old hand........stop the infighting, enjoy the desert,encourage new members, and please support the SC and the Marshals who give so much of their time to make this club the success that it has become.
