NorthCape-SouthCape: 060116 Convoy! Today we drove from Safaga to Aswan, a distance of 460 km, temperatures between 6 and 20 degrees. This morning at six o’clock we gathered at the police station in Safaga, all foreigners who wanted to go to Luxor. A nice morning with a moon and a sunrise, but nobody knew what was to be expected. There are times in life when I wish I was better prepared for unexpected situations. Today was one example. The convoy was at least 100 vehicles, almost all coaches. The reason for lumping all tourists together twice a day was to guarantee their safety. Safety? Knowing the result, the safest would have been to ride on our own. There are no terrorists in the world that are more of a threat than the convoy today. I remember about 15 years ago, when a friend was instructed by his girl-friend, who had just born their first child to go buy a washing machine. He became money from the tin can with the household money and was instructed to negotiate for the best price. On the way there he passed the local bike shop and there was a traded-in Kawasaki KX 500. He probably needed it. You know how the brain’s want-centre works, busy with just one object. Three hours later he was the happy owner of a green motocross bike. When he came home and got the question what make washing machine he had bought, he remembered the original mission. The situation was tricky and it was too late to correct his mistake. He was punished, heavily, and he probably had the same thoughts as I did after today’s convoy. The light dictator Mubarak sorts his men thoroughly. Fighter pilots are screened for all qualities needed by a fighter pilot. This is what all political leaders with ambitions do, Mubarek one step more than Göran Persson and Tony Blair. The Egyptian leader finds talents in all walks of life and everybody seems to be an expert in something, a light humanistic and leninistic touch in that. The bus drivers on this stretch are picked with the same thoroughness. The criteria are the following: Total lack of empathy, talent for risk taking, ignoring traffic regulations and calculation of distances. High marks in aggression are needed, brutality and the talent for converting a 50-seat bus into a 10 ton missile when it comes to finding space in the convoy. And the willingness to be number one in the line, strong as a Jägermeister. The 220 km long trip was more like a championship final in snowmobile motocross with rules according to rugby and judges with the same vision as blind Willie Johnson after his step-mother poured acid in his eyes. /PG /PG << Previous All chronicles Next >> High Performance Riding www.pgdakar.com Per-Gunnar Lundmark Fjällbonäs 15 933 91 Arvidsjaur Per-Gunnar Lundmark Eva.PG.Lundmark@swipnet.se Updated 2006-01-19