Best.Day.Ever...on a dune buggy

In the office this week the Canadian says to me, “How do you feel about going on a desert safari called Dune Bashing?” HAHAHAHAHA…Silly boy…

If you’re near a desert…any desert…and they have dune buggies, not Range Rovers, not Quad Runners, but dune buggies; you MUST do it! Forget about letting some tour guide do all the driving and hog all the fun. Take the wheel, give it some gas and forget there’s even a brake!

There’s no feeling that compares to zooming along the top of a 100 ft dune at 40 mph then looking WAY down and going for the drop-in over the edge.

All of a sudden you’re on 2 wheels instead of 4, your ass is in the air, and you’re thanking Allah for the 4 point harness and helmet. WOO HOO - Now that’s what I call fun!

Before I talk more about my super awesome day, I have to take a moment and thank 181. I am deeply appreciative for all the sand vs. mud tutorials, teaching me about rear steering, and all the track lessons in general because…not only did I know how to find my lines, but I always gave it WAY more gas than I wanted and made every jump. In fact, toward the end of our 2 hour tour, I had to keep reminding myself that this was NOT a track and I was NOT supposed to pass the leader!

As with all activities that require a helmet, we had a safety talk…
Rule #1: Here’s the gas pedal, here’s the brake pedal. That thing in front of you, that's the steering wheel. Use them.
Rule #2: No matter how much fun you’re having, keep your mouth shut. It’ll fill with sand as soon as you clear the first jump and you’ll be chewing rocks the rest of the day.
Rule #3: If you get stuck or hit something, wait for the support vehicle.
Rule #4: Don’t hit the camels…or the goats.

Are we all clear on the rules? Good, but don’t worry, this stuff hardly ever happens.

Here are some of the play-by-play highlights:

After about 10 minutes of warm-up driving, we hit our first big drop. As I was flying over a blind drop-off I squealed with delight…wrong move…I was in BLATANT violation of Rule #2. They were right, that sand gets in the darnedest places.

The Canadian lost his line, fishtailed for a bit, hit a couple bushes and had to be towed back onto safe ground, but he soon caught up with us so it was all good. (Rule #3, check!)

Next, we popped over a dune jump to find…you guessed it…CAMELS! There were 7 to 10 of them, right there in the middle of friggin’ nowhere and right on the path.

In fact, they took great exception to us thinking it was our path and started huffing and grunting at us. We followed them for a bit and then our leader passed the herd. I was next and made it past 4 of them with 3 to go, but then I heard a big bellow and the bull I just passed started to charge me. That’s right, I got camel blocked! So, I raced alongside him for a bit and chose another line off the path to get around them. (Rule #4, harder than I thought!)

When we all pulled back into the garage our guide paid me the highest honor he could by saying, with both thumbs up, in his cute Indian accent, “You were ROCKIN’ it out there Miss Taunya, not like a girl at all!”

So, at the end of the day here’s my advice. Dune bashing, don’t ask how much it’ll cost, how hot it’ll be, or how long the drive is, just sign up and do it. It’ll be your best day!

Note: If you’re so inclined, I highly recommend the guys at Desert Rangers for all your adventure needs. http://www.chooseyourevent.com/profile.asp?cid=1029