Today, the road won. A few adjectives come to mind when considering the highway: fantastic, spectacular, dangerous, scary, marvelous, and beautiful.
For 80k, the Pan Am hugs the cliffs high above the ocean. The road is cut out of the steep mountains that rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean—a feat of engineering. My acrophobia won out. Since the highway had very few guard rails and the drop to the ocean or beach was straight down 500m, or so, I spent most of the day hugging the center yellow line. After lunch, the wind picked up and had enough strength to push me about. Twice, I was passed by a semi and had to move over where there was no guardrail or shoulder. The combined velocity of the wind and draft from the truck’s wake pushed me sideways. That’s when I said enough and gave in to my phobia.
After three weeks in the desert, I need someone called Moses.
Any thoughts I had of riding in North Africa or the countries around the Persian Gulf have disappeared.