Memories...

On our way from Foum to Essaouira we composed this small list - while things were fresh in our mind and the rally had not reached the awesome climax of Saturday's arrival and parties...

Things we will miss:

• The excitement of spotting the red balise
• Fresh-made beignets and Moroccan pancakes for breakfast
• Bessie the world's best 4x4, who functioned just fine for us even without having her air filters checked once!
• Herds of camels
• Wild donkeys
• Incredible birds that followed us all day
• As much bottled water as we wanted when we wanted it
• Just getting into the car and driving...
• Erfoud - and our old friend the circle mountain
• Dunes at daybreak
• Lunar and Martian landscapes
• The oasis (M'Hamid and the other along the Draa River)
• The feeling of crawling into bed physically exhausted
• The excitement of the start line
• Rolling through the finish line with "I'm Too Sexy" blaring - and the roll bars turned into a new type of poll to dance from!
• Feeling like a celebrity with all the photographers, journalists and videographers everywhere
• The hilarious tales over the dinner table of everyone's misfortunes
• Meeting so many new people
• Not being a mobile phone addict (for two weeks!)
• Team 152 and their continuous need for our air compressor - we loved them!
• Speaking French all day long
• Dominique Serra's "Bonjour" at 4 am
• The feeling of getting navigation right - oh the joy in spotting a Hassi or a road within about 0.3km of the predicted distance!

Things we won't miss:

• Dust and sand everywhere!
• Checking and adjusting our tire pressure about twenty times a day
• "Donnez moi un stylo" "Donne!" "Donne!" "Donne!"
• Dominique Serra's "Bonjour" at 4 am
• Waking up at 4 am
• Putting away the Quechua tents
• Dirty and broken fingernails
• Sandstorms, halestorms, and mud
• The fear of darkness falling when lost in the desert
• Helmets! (oh our ears hurt!)
• The lack of time in the morning to comb our hair
• Checking our air filter, water, and oil levels - OOPS!
• Teams not playing by the rules - such as filling up on third party petrol in a village which is forbidden - and then going on to place EXTREMELY WELL and taking a prize - you know who you are and we completely disapprove...
• Speaking French all day long
• The Draa River bed... ghastly!