So this is when I had an epiphany about sandals. I never pieced together that they were called that because they are perfect for wearing in the sand. And I mean like, literally, they are about the only thing you can wear when trying to walk in the dunes. The little holes in your jogging shoes, that are so perfect for ventilation and dissipating heat from your sweaty foot while on a neighborhood run, suddenly act as sieves, and let the sand flow right into your shoe. This happens almost immediately.

I desperately wanted the quintessential shot of people riding on a train of camels through the Sahara desert, from afar, at dusk. It's cheesy and overdone, I know, but I wanted it nonetheless. And I figured that since I had ridden several camels both in Egypt, and at a petting zoo in Dallas as a child, I now knew everything there was to know about both camels, and the desert.

Which is how I ended up barefoot in the Sahara on foot, sunken up to my knees in sand, watching the camel that was saddled with my backpack and all my belongings, disappear over the horizon. I had tried to shoot while running through the dunes, but my tennis shoes filled up with sand so quickly and so completely, that there was no longer any room left for my feet, and I eventually just took them off and wore them tied around my neck like a vagabond, so I could keep on shooting.

Camels are much faster than you might think, and when I finally looked back up, I was stranded about a mile away with no camel.

Damn you, Childhood Petting Zoo! We never covered any of this!

SANDals. Duh, the sand sifts right through. I never knew they had an actual purpose or function. In Dallas, sandals just solve laziness.

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Want another sweet helping of desert? Come with me to the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan HERE!