A friend of a friend was in town late last week for a 24 stopover on his way from Vancouver to Uganda, so he asked if we could show him around the desert a little bit. Being the gracious hosts we are we obliged, and on Thursday I took him out to Big Red, which is a series of giant Ontario-ski-slope-sized dunes about half an hour east of Dubai. There, in 44 degree desert heat we donned black motorcycle helmets and took out some quad-bikes (his idea, not mine). Big red is massive, and steep, and a helluvalot of fun to charge down in top gear. We only lasted an hour in that heat, but come cooler weather methinks I'll be spending a lot of time there.