The desert environment presented many
challenges to a successful Empty Quarter crossing. Dangers
included dehydration, disorientation, and snake or scorpion
bites. However, my most poignant apprehensions were not
connected to the desert environment or its inhabitants.
Rather, it was the rifles sported by my Bedouin companions,
that I feared the most. As a youth, I witnessed a classmate
accidentally receive a bullet in the shoulder following
a practice with the local trap and skeet club...
