Sunday, February 11.  Note: Tomorrow we travel to the Sahara.  Though our tents will have bathrooms and power, there will be no Wifi.  Barbarians.  Expect nothing more before Wednesday.

Departed Fez for a nine+ hour drive south.  Hit the Atlas Mountains and snow.  And traffic. (BTW, the road’s center line is clearly an optional-use demarkation.)  Ben predicted that the combination of Sunday and snow in the mountains would be a real draw, and he was not wrong.  We were stopped for about fifteen minutes at one point only because illegal parking had turned the road into one long one way.  The snow was beautiful.  Everyone was having a great time with it.

Monkeys along the road.  Stray dogs looking for handouts.  A stop at a convenience store crowded with Japanese.  Old cemeteries with a unmarked stones at the head and feet. A very large dam. (Morocco gets 20% of their power through water.)  Ben gave us a briefing on the Western Sahara issue.  It’s not a controversy: It’s Moroccan, period.  Algeria begs to differ.  Ben also told us the story of meeting his wife.  It was all to keep us alert during the drive, but it was also very informative.

Stopped for a snack at roadside lamb restaurant.  The pre-extension folks had already done it, but the others had not.  Wonderful again.  A man was selling pretty bats which turned out to be meant to fend off carjackers.  Everyone should have one under their seat.

The snow rapidly ended, though the mountain view stayed with us for over half the drive.  We entered red rock territory. Not unlike Arizona, though there were no mesa or buttes.  Our hotel is again marvelous.  Large room, large shower.  We had a buffet which was a nice departure from a set menu.  (Lunch was great soup, river trout, and tasty apple pie, the town’s signature item.)  We’re about 30 miles from the Sahara.

This is the halfway point for my three week adventure.  No exercise today owing to the long drive.