23 May — the report from Day 6.
We arrived last night — or rather at four in the morning — and slept like the dead for a very short while.
Today is the day we finally rejoin the convoy. Holding down the impatience, we loaded up properly,
and this morning I made a point of eating a full hotel breakfast.
Whatever happens, we want to reach the convoy’s campsite before dark.
Unusually we took no photographs and no video; we simply drove.
Dusk — though the nights here stay light.
After more than six hours the hot air coming into the car brings desert sand with it.
Nearly there. The heat and the sand all turn into gladness.
About ten hours after setting off, I got hold of the Chinese support staff and met them at the last petrol station before the desert.
The same staff who had stayed with us from the start all the way to the workshop.
The little Chinese I had studied; all the things we had talked about while the car was in pieces.
They greeted us with high fives and told us the convoy’s campsite was one hour away.
Do watch the video of that reunion.
The reunion we drove ourselves into the ground for (video)
With the route book back in my hands for the first time in days, we followed the tulip diagrams to the campsite.
Many crews were already there, beer in hand and deep in conversation — but a crowd of them spotted us and the car and came running. “You made it back!” “We were waiting for you!” Those voices went straight through me.
Before dark we pitched the tent we had brought from Japan.
The triangular tents you could hire cost about ¥60,000. Our budget was down to nothing, so ours was a small Mont-bell bought second-hand on Mercari.
And the landscape I had wanted to see was spread out right there.
The road from the start to today had been hard enough to break me.
Should we abandon the car in China and go home?
I cannot face going back to Japan. I want to disappear here.
Even those conversations of the last few days
turned into things to laugh at, along with the sun going down minute by minute over that enormous desert.
There was no cold beer, but beer was being sold from a large truck.
There has never been a day when warm beer tasted that good.
The desert sun dropped to the horizon in no time and everything went black.
In the dark of the tent we lit what light we had and pored over tomorrow’s route book. Tired as I was, I was too excited to sleep.
A new adventure starts tomorrow. We are finally standing on the start line of the 37 days.
Continued in Day 7.