09 February 2003 - Taking it to the beach

It's a little sad, in a way, that so much of these updated are now featuring our days off here in Qatar. For better or worse, there isn't a lot of news that we are covering here in Doha. Our main purpose here is to cover the US Central Command forward headquarters in the event of a war with Iraq. No war, no news, not much to do. Waiting, waiting, waiting, then a day off, then more waiting. So on to this weeks day off, since the waiting part is too damn boring to write about.

This week we once again failed to do any real planning. We didn't want to fall into a faux historical tourist endeavor. We were seeking pure thills. And we were desperate for them! About a half hour outside of Doha is the Sealine Resort. It's pretty small. But it is pretty, if you ignore the massive oil refinery that is a little ways down the beach. Our goal: quad bikes. For our American readers, a quad bike is better known as an ATV, four-wheeler, or Polaris. Unfortunately, what was available at the resort left quite a lot to desire. They only had 4 large bikes with 120cc engines. The rest of us wound up on little 80cc runabouts. That's the kind of bike the kid down the road from us at the farm has.

We saddled up and headed out for the sand dunes. Kick up the trottle and run up the dune. Or, at least that was the plan untill the bike sunk into the sand. Kick down the gear, and the bike magically turns into a hole digging machine. Turns out none of the bikes have 4 wheel drive, or even a limited-slip differential in the rear. So much for my dream of bounding across the dunes, living out a brief modern vision of "Rat Patrol."

Move along to firmer ground. We get off our bikes, drag them around to point downhill, and roll to the beach. We drive along the beach for a few miles, stopping along the way to hunt for seashells and wade in the warm Gulf waters. Well, some of waded. In a race down the beach, I decide to pass Susan on the ocean side of the beach. Somehow - I blame it on wet sand - my wheels veer towards the gulf. Before I know it, I'm up to my waist in the sea. But the bike is still running! I drop down to first gear, but the beat up bike with a too-low idle misses a beat and stalls out. So this is what the Gulf tastes like!

05 March 2003 - Back to the Skies!

Well, it's my birthday today. And for my birthday today I'm getting a free trip to Kuwait. I'll leave you with a few more pictures from Qatar and the bottom of this page.

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Steve and Ben on the beach	Ben, more hard-headed than usual	chunk of a shipwreck on shore, the refinery in the distance	Steve Centanni Rides Again!
Ben, in his best "Mad Max" pose
Ben at the biggest shopping cart ever	Susan and Mike stand in awe of the size of this trolley	Producers Maya Zumwalt and Yolanda Maggi