Rub al Khali

I finished "The Unknown Soldier" by Gerald Seymour last night. Decent enough but what was really interesting was that part of the book set in Saudia Arabia's Empty Quarter. Scary place and who would want to go there? There are actually tours to some parts of it for those more hardy types among us. Gee, what fun, go hang out in the desert at 140 degrees, where you can beat back unholy sand storms, watch out for scorpions and pray desperately that your guide really does know the way back to civilization. Maybe I can leave tomorrow.