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March 2006 Newsletter
Howdy again folks...
Warm weather is nigh and the camels and I are sure looking forward to spring.
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In February I worked for 10 days in Arizona with VisionQuest (www.vq.com). Putting in time with this 30-year old program for troubled kids is always rewarding, but this trip, instead of heading into the desert with camels, we made for the streets of Tucson for the Tucson Rodeo Parade, the largest, non-motorized parade in the US.
VQ entered its Wagon Train, a group of kids/staff on horseback and four camels, for a total of almost 30 individuals in our entry. It sure looked sharp as it rolled down the streets of the Old Pueblo! The good news: Tucson’s Mayor Walkup is ok. The better news: It wasn’t the camels or any part of VQ that ran into him! A local TV crew had a horse-drawn wagon and their team spooked. They bolted for 6 blocks, but the savvy driver steered the team into the back of another wagon (proper procedure for something like this) and disaster was diverted. Considering the tens of thousands of folks standing 4 and 5 deep and lining the streets, the outcome was most fortunate. Given the fact that there were over 1,000 animals on the street that day, it’s amazing there weren’t anymore mishaps. Welcome to the Wild West!
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On February 25th, camels Richard and Cinco and I were just outside Kerrville, Texas for a one-day film shoot. "Baghdad, Texas" details the fictional exploits of a post-Gulf War Saddam Hussein (or was it one of his doubles?) who flees Iraq, only to have his plane go down on the Texas/Mexico border. He finds himself caught up with a group of illegal aliens and gains work on an exotic animal ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before...
The screenplay didn’t really call for anything too demanding: Bambi (the camel’s name in the movie) stands in field; Bambi stands in field while Carmen feeds her a tortilla; Bambi bathes in moonlight; Brando (" Saddam") rides Bambi in the moonlight. Richard dutifully performed the part of Bambi, maybe because I didn’t tell him he was playing a girl camel. Cinco’s big screen moment was the riding scene, shot at the end of the night, with yours truly doubling for Brando. Now, if Brando was really a double for Saddam and I was doubling for him, does that mean I was quadrupling? I don’t know, but I did have to shave my beard for this deal. First time in 8 years I’ve seen my own chin.
Good friends Steven Evans and Gil T. Hernandez were on hand to wrangle camels and generally keep my nerves from fraying. Movie work can be a real tummy-turner with all the waiting around, dealing with animals that don’t learn their lines, etc. Big thanks to these two fine gentlemen.
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March typically signals the onset of Texas trekking and the 7th and 8th of this month will see us in Monahans Sandhills State Park with the Smith family of Sherman, Texas. I’ll probably take along the stalwart Gobi and Richard and may put one of the two younger camels, 6-year old Virgie or 3-year old Ibrahim, to work.
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I’ll be back in Arizona with VQ from the 15th to the 24th and will be spending a day on the campus of the University of Arizona, Tucson on the 22nd, with the Hillel Foundation. This organization will be parading a camel around to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. It was at this same event 3 years ago that I met a future Sinai trekker, Lynn K. The folks at the U of A are lots of fun and I look forward to being back in this wonderful city.
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The 26th and 27th I’ll be trekking again in Monahans with Nathan and Nicholas B. on a father/son outing. This is a trip that got put on hold from last year, when the two were simply too pooped to trek after a vacation to China! I’m really looking forward to meeting these guys. Nicholas is a major "Lawrence of Arabia" fan and I expect we’ll trade lines from the movie the whole time! "Aqaba is over there..."
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The 29th and 30th I’ll be playing host to features writer Pam LeBlanc of the Austin American-Statesman. Pam has been on this email list for some time and has been most persistent with her editors to allow her to take one of my treks. Finally relenting, the publication has seen fit to send her to our farm here in Valley Mills, Texas where we’ll be spending a night out in the pasture. Veteran Gobi and the young, up-and- coming Ibrahim will probably serve as our pack animals. Happy birthday wishes go out to Ibrahim; he turned 3 years old yesterday, February 28.
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On the 31st and April 1st, I’ll haul 2 camels and a donkey down to Uvalde, Texas for Living History Days at Ft. Inge. Reenacting the US Army’s use of camels in 19th century Texas is actually what got me started down this twisted path. I don’t get to do this near as often as I’d like, so being at this event should really be a great time. Good friend Gil T. Hernandez (mentioned above in the film story) will hopefully get to stop by. Gil traces his family back to one of the civilian camel drivers at Camp Verde, Texas, where the Army headquartered the camels from 1856-1866 and is a wealth of knowledge on frontier life. If you’re anywhere near South Texas or the Hill Country that weekend, this is worth taking in.
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It’s not Oprah’s Book Club, but it occurred to me that many of you might be captivated by desert-related tales and that tends to be about all I read. It is with great excitement that I inaugurate this new feature I like to call: "What I’ve Been Reading Lately".
I just finished Ben Macintyre’s "The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan". This account of a 19th century Pennsylvania Quaker who seeks global adventure after being jilted by a woman is the real life adventure that inspired Rudyard Kipling’s short story of the same name. Josiah Harlan set off for colonial India, really in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, with whom he closely identified. Before his 20-plus years in the area were ended, Harlan had managed to pass himself off as a doctor, gain the position of military advisor to more than a couple of local war lords (switching sides along the way), cheat death a number of times and utterly befuddle the British powers in the region. Granted kingship over one Afghan region, a title conferred upon him and his heirs "for all perpetuity" by Dost Mohammed Khan, then King of Afghanistan, Harlan ultimately returned to the States and even had a passing association with the mid-19th century US Army Camel Corps. The research done by the author is first rate and his own experiences as a reporter in modern-day Afghanistan help to highlight the centuries-old struggle for this part of the world to stand on its own.
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I’ve already begun planning next year’s Egypt/Sinai trip and have just been in discussions with some folks who are interested in taking this trip in March, 2007. For those of you who have talked about joining up next year, I’d like to know if that’s a workable time frame. Please get back in touch with me. Do know that I can run these trips any time of year, on-demand more or less, as long as I have a minimum of 4 participants.
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Finally, I do have air times for the History Channel’s "Secrets of the Qur’an", which I provided camels for last November. Looks like tomorrow, March 2 at 8 p.m. Central Time and next Thursday, the 9th,at the same time for the second half. Of course, check the History Channel’s website (www.historychannel.com) for local listings. When I first met with producer Alexandra Dawson before production started, I remember asking her how they intended to chronicle the origins of Islam without showing Mohammed. This is, of course, forbidden by Islam and is an issue we’ve all recently been made aware of due to the publication of Danish news caricatures. She said that prior to shooting, the production company had assembled a team of Islamic scholars to guide them in what would be appropriate and, to my recollection, the scenes I was involved in only show the "shadow" of the Prophet. In an email two days ago, I asked if the recent flap had affected the content or spurred any disclaimers and Alexandra said, "Our Muslim consultants have assured us that we are okay and that our program is not offensive in the least. That being said, I'm still a little nervous for the show to air. I'm looking forward to having it over with."
I hope you can all catch the program and look forward to hearing from you after both halves air.
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Until next time, thanks as always for your interest in my camels. I hope this email finds you happy and healthy.
Doug
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