Well into the emirate of Abu Dhabi, and I still hadn't found a camel.
So I got off Zayed Road and ventured down a side road. Now, when you travel here you hear all sortsd of things about how you shouldn't wander away, you should be careful about taking pictures of places and people, you shouldn't act so much like a careless American. You shouldn't randomly drive down unmarked side roads that are off the main roads, especially without a map. You could end up wandering on the side of the highway, trapped and thirsty, destined for an unmarked fate and a dusty grave.
For the most part, I have paid very close attention to this advice and then utterly ignored it.
So I drove up and down a road that featured nothing but sand on my left. Sand, and fences, and vague shacks in the distance.
And camel crossing signs, of course, which you have already seen.
It was bleak down this road. I snapped some shots, stopped on the side of the road and stared into the distance, but saw few signs of human life. Or unfortunately, camel life.
It was so bright and hot down this road that even signs of Sheikh Zayed were faded by the power of the sun. Feel free to quote Ozymandias yourself here.
By the way, I am carefully not showing the tree farm that was on the right side of the road the whole way. It would totally blow this sere vibe I'm trying to produce. Endless desert, people! Sand and tarmac and sweat on your brow! Nothing else, except for tree farms and unmanned gates and clearly marked signs.
Anyway, the point is I couldn't find a camel. And I had to bring the car back to the hotel, for my co-worker who was going to drive into City Center for some Dim Sum. I know it's not Lawrence assaulting Aqaba, but commentators claim it's a debased age we live in.
I turned the POS around and went back to the modern superhighway of named for the man on the faded sign above. I cran ked the radio, and sipped water, and wondered why lots of other folks on this trip have seen camels, but not me. Was it some kind of camel curse? A Dromedary Doom? My shoulders twitched, feeling the rising hump. The rounded hairy hump of failure.
And then, inn the distance, nothing at all like an oasis, I saw some hairy creatures. I merged across three lanes of traffic and onto the side of the road like an Illinois State Tropper chasing someone down on the Dan Ryan.
I got out of the car. And started taking pictures of camels. I had to walk back at them, and the older (mother?) camel kept nudging the little one further and further away fomr me. But a cheap zoom lens and some persistence got these tan, tan photos below.
So that's how I got pictures of camels. As I headed back to the hotel around 9:15, a live Pearl Jam cover of "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" came on the radio. I cranked it up over 140KPH, turned up the radio to drown out the sound of the chimes telling me I was speeding, and headed back to the Marriott.
Here's what you really need to know, though: if I had just gone out on Zayed Road, turned around at the first major exit, and headed back on the Road, I would have had camel pictures in about 15 minutes from the point I left my hotel room.
Ah, adventure!