You want what - when - where? (aka: This was once a vast inland sea.."

Due to Daylight Savings Time having started here, morning prayers from the many Mosques over PA systems didn’t start this morning until 5:33. A little later, my colleagues (Bill & Bruce) and I took our sedan, supplied by Osama: The King of Rental Cars in Wadi Musa, to Jordan’s roadways. The past 2-days we visited Dana and Wadi Rum (aka: Bacardi) Natural Preserves in preparation for the workshop in Amman later this month. After meetings with Preserve managers we toured parts of the areas and enjoyed some of the scenery and sights. A link to Dana: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Biosphere_Reserve

Wadi Rum was simply incredible, with granite base rock capped by 7-layers of sandstone (hence the subtitle). Another 7 that is commonly mentioned here are the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" seen from the Visitor Center, allegedly attribute to T. E. Lawrence. This s a case of Urban Legend and slick marketing overcoming fact, as Lawrence never called them anything, and called his book by that title because he was learned & knew Poverbs 9:1. I'll let some web-links do their talking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum      http://www.wadirum.jo/About_Wadi_Rum.htm

Driving back to Wadi Musa (now without a spare and two bulges on a tire) along the Desert Highway we noticed signs and off-ramp stating: “Tanks Compulsory” and it got me to thinking about the unspoken tension with the “country-to-the-west,” and I wondered re: future road trips… Meme, when you come over can you bring a tank?