Valley of Lemuel Trek

With a few days left before Christmas and adventure in our blood we loaded the family in the car for a long car trip up north. We had been attempting to make this little trip a couple of times previously, but as time has repeatedly shown, traveling in Saudi Arabia is not like traveling in the USA. You don’t necessarily just jump in your car for a spontaneous road trip. We were wanting to go deep in the desert this time, in search of the Valley of Lemuel. I know there are several who read this blog who may not know what the Valley of Lemuel is so I will briefly explain. In the days when Zedekiah was king of Judah and Jeremiah was one of the prophets we read about in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and Jeremiah, we believe that one of those ‘other prophets’ mentioned was a man named Lehi. When Zedekiah refused to repent and was warned that Jerusalem would be destroyed, the prophets left Jerusalem, including Lehi who took his family down through Arabia, across the southern Arabian coast and sailed to what is now South America. It is the record of this group of people that we have as The Book of Mormon. Lemuel was one of the sons of Lehi. I also made mention of this prophet in our visit to Al Ula and Mada’in Saleh last March. We were excited to visit the area where this first family of the Book of Mormon had some of their beginning travels.

We drove ten hours up to the town of Tabuk. That is a long drive in the states. In the open desert, it’s a reallllly long drive. There was only a little grumbling and I think we were asked only eight times, “When are we going to be there?” The next morning we met a guide, prearranged by a colleague of Dano’s. His name was Abu Naif (pronounced ‘knife’) which means Father of Naif. It is very common in the Arab culture for fathers to take on the name of their son. So here Dano would be known as Abu Ethan.

I knew it was going to be an interesting experience as he spoke no English. He and a translator met Dano in the hotel lobby so Dano could show them the coordinates of the locations we wanted to visit. He knew the desert area very well but it took a little persuasion on Dano’s part to convince him to take us where we wanted to go. He was coming along mostly for our safety. We drove two hours west of Tabuk. It was an incredible drive. The landscape was so interesting. One might think we were driving through southern Utah though this is the area shown as Midian on Old Testament maps. Dano did make mention, though, that he could see how it would be punishment for the children of Israel to have to wander this area for forty years. Unfortunately these pictures don't capture the vibrant colors of the rock.
Abu Naif pointed out some more Nebataen tombs similar to the ones we saw in Mada’in Saleh. He also pointed out what is believed to be the well of Jethro where Moses met his wife. We drove on up the coast of the Red Sea. Along the way (it had been a two hour drive thus far) Abby needed to use the potty. I know, I know….here comes another potty story. We stopped at a gas station that also housed several stores. We thought one of the doors might lead to a bathroom. Mind you, we were really out in the desert now where there is virtually no English and we were a real spectacle. We pulled out our Arabic dictionary and Dano went from “shop” to shop asking about a toilet. He came back with no luck. He tromped through some dirty area as some local workers carefully watched and then gave us the thumbs up. He had found their local bathroom. I got Abby out of the car and she, Kennedy, and I ventured off to find relief. She had not-to-date had any success using a “squatty potty.” They are very common here. They are just holes in the floor that you squat over (and hope you hit it and not your shoes!). These bathrooms were the worst smelling bathrooms we have ever encountered…anywhere. We opened a stall and just stared for a moment at the hole in the floor and the, uhh, excrement around it. (sorry, no pictures.) Abby looked at it, turned around and RAN out crying, “I don’t need to go anymore!”

We got back in the car and headed on up the coast toward the town of Maqnah. We reached an area where Abu Naif went to speak with the coast guard to get approval for us to continue. At this point Abby could hold it no longer. We drove the car up a hill where there was a large rock we could go behind. I decided I was just going to have to teach her the outdoor way. As we got out Kennedy heard a hissing sound…no, not a snake (thank goodness!)…a deflating tire. Dano quickly backed the car down the hill in hopes our guide would be able to find us. Abby took some persuading but eventually was successful. She ran down the rocky mountain with her arms pumping in the air calling, “Daddy! I did it! I did it!”

Dano, Abu Naif and Kennedy got the tire changed with some supervision from a couple coast guard officers and we were back on our way. We entered the valley at the end where it opens up to the Red Sea. It was a very impressive valley with extremely tall granite walls. We could clearly see why they would be described as “”firm and steadfast, and immovable.”We also saw what could be the river Lehi compared Laman, another son, to; water that runs through this desert valley even through the driest, rainless seasons…”continually running.”
Our family enjoyed climbing around inside this beautiful valley area.
It was here that our guide decided he’d done enough and asked for his payment. We still had not gone to the entrance of the valley but decided we could make a go of it without him. We backtracked to the town of Al Bada. We had received GPS coordinates from my dad and his friend who had made this trip a few years ago. We were able to plug these in and follow them out into the empty desert to find the entrance to the valley. (I did recall Dano saying at one point one should not be in the desert alone.) We drove about five more miles and then left the dirt road.

Our Yukon should have been able to take it, but a quarter of a mile after leaving the path I heard another fizzling sound. Surely this couldn’t happen twice, and yet… Dano carefully backed it up onto the dirt road and we hoped someone would come by. We only needed to wait a few minutes and some bedouins drove by. We did our best to ask in Arabic about tire…Al Bada… He repeated and drove off. Guess he didn’t understand. The wait began. I would have taken a picture of our situation but I didn’t think Dano was in the mood yet. He was feeling badly that we were stuck alone in the desert miles from a tiny town and the sun would be setting soon. (This is the view west from our car.)
Fortunately our kids are great kids. Kennedy, Ethan, and Erin enjoyed climbing the rocks. (Those two little dots on the top are our kids.)Abby enjoyed running around and picking up rocks and Emily was just peacefully content. We were also blessed to have brought lots of water and snacks. After a couple of hours of no one driving by, Dano decided he ought to just start walking to town with the tire. He took his cell phone and left us the satellite phone and GPS coordinates. About twenty minutes later a truck drove up with him in the back. These two Bedouin men had driven by and picked him up. They took our tire to town to get it fixed, refusing to let Dano come, telling us he should stay with his family…at least that’s what I think their hand gestures and Arabic meant.

We watched the sun set and the full moon rise. It was a beautiful, clear night in the desert. We enjoyed looking at stars, picking out constellations, and watching satellites. We waited two and a half hours for them to come back. As Dano worked on the tire, they were quite pleased with the little Arabic our kids spoke to them. I couldn’t tell if they were amused or frustrated with my little Arabic dictionary as I was trying to figure out how to say, “Come. Follow. Town. ATM. We pay you for tire.” Unfortunately our guide had taken all of our cash earlier that day before he deserted us.

It was while I was trying to talk to one of the men that Abby excitedly declared nature was calling again. I told her to wait just a minute and I’d take her over behind the rock we’d designated as the bathroom. I kept trying to get the man to understand what I meant by “cash.” Then here comes Abby waddling between us with her pants down around her ankles. Normally I would laugh (I am right now), but in a country where women have to cover from head to toe I wasn’t sure what these very nice Bedouin men would think of this so I quickly scooped her up and ran to our “rock potty” where she was all too eager to “go” again. She had apparently kicked her fear of going in the desert. When finished she ran out again pumping her fists, “I did it again, Daddy!”

Dano, Kennedy, and Ethan finished the tire and we all repeatedly and graciously thanked these two wonderful men. Again we asked them to follow and hoped they understood. We loaded in the car to head out of our four hour desert stay. Nnnrrrrr. Nnnnrrrrr. How do you replicate the sound of a dead car? Hmmm. How could we be so lucky, you ask? I have no idea!! We literally sat there in disbelief. We had done nothing that would have drained the engine. Nothing. Did I mention it was a beautiful starry night? Seriously, again we were very blessed that these two nice men had not just taken off and were still there. From what I could see, they weren’t even rolling their eyes at us. This was a rental car and had no jumper cables, nor had we brought any. They didn’t have any either. They motioned to wait and they’d come back. We waited…what else could we do? Dano did recall something a family friend taught him to push-start a car with an automatic transmission. Seeing it was on a very slight decline we decided it was worth a try. He and I rocked the car back and forth, back and forth with Kennedy at the wheel. She did a great job until she drove us into the bank. We couldn’t just leave it there. I could just imagine the looks of bewilderment on the Bedouin men’s faces of “How did these crazy Americans get the car over there into the bank?” We now needed another pusher and a different driver. We put Ethan at the wheel and Kennedy was relegated to pushing. We stood at the hood of the car and rocked it back and forth, back and forth until it was somewhat back on the dirt road. Dano told Ethan to pull hard to the right and we pushed from behind. After a few pushes we got it rolling and Dano ran and jumped in to put it in ‘drive.’ Well, cars aren’t made the same these days and the push-starting idea didn’t work. Now we would just have confused Bedouin men wondering how our car got a couple hundred yards from where they had left us.

They returned after an hour with some light gauge electrical wire they held with their hands onto the battery posts. They had to gun the engine of their truck a few times just to get enough juice going through the wires. I think Dano thought they were very brave. I think he wanted to get out of the desert. I think he didn’t want to second-guess a man with a large jambiya (Arab knife). Hallelujah! It worked. These men led us back to the town of Al Bada. They refused payment and even offered for us to come to their house to sleep. We so very graciously thanked them again, and after five hours our prayers were answered and we were on our way. They were our angels. They never left us and we are so grateful. They do have Dano’s cell phone number so I hope our paths cross again someday so we can somehow repay their kindness. It was a good lesson to us to be charitable and watchful of those in need. (by the way, we don’t have a picture with them because, if I haven’t mentioned it before, taking pictures of Arabs is a sensitive thing; they don’t all like having their picture taken and I didn’t want to risk offending them)