The Expedition: Out of the Desert...cont'd

Hans checks the straps one last time before the trucks go into action and
the White Tdi Land Rover is righted.

Once it was clear that there were no life-threatening injuries, we needed to figure out if we could even turn the truck over - and then find out if the truck was in shape to be towed back to Agadez.

We unloaded and unhitched the trailer (with the assistance of some local nomads) and then, Paul and Hans planned how to turn the truck. The three remaining vehicles (Bido had already gone ahead with the Blue J, the fifth Land Rover, early in the morning), were driven into position and long blue straps (the same ones that less than 24 hours previously were used to load thousand-pound jackets) were hooked on. With Gabrielle and Dave guiding, Hans slowly backed the Green Land Rover (hitched to the underside of the White Tdi), while Paul and Rudd's trucks eased the truck down. Slowly Hans pulled and Paul and Rudd inched forward. A long minute passed, as the white truck lurched and then turned to land with a thud, right side up. It worked.

Jack picks up debris from the wreck after the White Tdi is righted. Both Jack and Greg were able to climb out of the truck relatively unharmed.

Within minutes, Doctor Tim, Didier and Greg headed back in one truck to Agadez for an x-ray at the hospital. Meanwhile, Paul and Hans towed the White back to Mohammed in Agadez. The rest of the team, including our new friend Timou, who was riding with us to Niamey, camped out at the side of the road with the displaced cargo, fully prepared to spend the night.

Under the care of Dr. Tim just moments after the accident, Greg holds an
icepack to his rapidly swelling shoulder.

By 5:00pm we were back on the road. Greg had been diagnosed with a separation between his clavicle and shoulder blade, the White had been left in the capable hands of Mohammed, and we reloaded the trailer, rehitched the trucks to their respective trailers and water tank, Dino was put back in his kennel (to his surprise and dismay), and we were off, shaken, but on the road again.

After a much-deserved meal of rice and sauce in the truck-stop town of Abalak, we pulled into an open yard across from the local police station, searching strapped bags and tarped trailers to pull out sleeping bags and cots.

By Birnin Koni we had suffered four flat tires, but were determined to reach Niamey - and we did, at 2:30 in the morning. We fell asleep so fast that we didn't even register what the rooms at the Grand Hotel looked like. (Dino, for the record, prefers sleeping on a bed in an air-conditioned room to sleeping outside with the mosquitoes.)

A car accident and four flat tires later, the team reached Birnin Koni, a town on the border of Nigeria and famed for its blackmarket fuel. Glad to be out of the car, Dino waits in the shade of the Green Tdi Land Rover while the team searches for lunch (and a tire repair place).

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