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Published: June 12th 2017
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Geo: 30.5322, 35.561
Our plan from this point had been to drive the King's Highway from Karak, south to another Crusader castle at Shobak, and then further along the highway into the town of Wadi Musa, where Petra is located. I'd made this drive many times before, yet I placed too much trust in our GPS, which was a little unfortunate. There are two roads which run north-south in Jordan, between the port city of Aqaba on the Red Sea, and Amman. The King's Highway is ancient -- it's the road along which Moses and the Israelites traveled from the Sinai more than 5,000 years ago -- and snakes its way up and down deep gorges dipping down to the Jordan Valley. The Desert Highway is the primary artery for the entire country; a modern four-lane highway running through the desolation of Jordan's eastern desert -- with very few towns and zero cultivation. It is an ugly road, but serves its purpose for time and commerce. Literally every single good entering or leaving Jordan is transported by truck along this road, to and from the port in Aqaba. There are no trains and there are no other ports. Plus, with the trade
routes through Syria now closed, additional commerce has been directed through this route. There was a brand-new highway outside of Karak, which did not appear on the GPS, and this, coupled with the GPS's desire to always plot the fastest route, we found ourselves directed to drive far east, linking up to the Desert Highway, and then driving south more than a 100km, before cutting back westward to Shobak. The route between Karak and Shobak runs straight north-south on the King's Highway, but takes more time than this much longer (mileage wise) route east, south, and then west. It was, however, too late to turn around, so we resigned ourselves to the dreary drive, with nothing to see save for errant herds of goats and camels dotting the desert. The flow of trucks is incessant, and as they universally remain in the right lane, that lane of the highway is pockmarked and rough throughout it's length. We remained in the left lane, which was in far better shape, but despite conditions, we never did travel too fast, as the speed limit is strictly controlled and there were police speed checks at regular intervals along the highway. At multiple times during
the trip, policemen would stand in the middle of road, wave a sign at us, and direct us to pull over. I watched my speed closely, as I remember the checks. Without exception, though, each time we were pulled over, I'd roll down the window, say "hello" in Arabic, and then they'd ask from where we came; I'd answer "the United States," and they would reply "you are welcome," and wave us on.
At one point along this route, we crested a hill and encountered a herd of camels. Four or five of them were directly along the right side of the road, and there was no shepherd in sight. A lone camel, however, had made its way to the median of the highway. I slowed down considerably, fearing the camel might turn into the highway and in front of me. I looked in my mirror as I passed and, sure enough, the camel turned in front of the car behind me. The car was passing a truck and had nowhere to go. The camel reared up on its hind legs (I would not have thought this possible), and bolted left. It narrowly avoided being hit, and the driver of
the car behind me was extremely fortunate (I believe) to be alive.
With that excitement behind us, we found our turnoff and headed eastward again. The vegetation and springtime grasses returned, and we started climbing again, toward the town of Shobak. The Crusader castle here is located away from town, alone on a wide vista. We made our way to the outside, snapped some pictures, but did not go inside. We had a date in Petra, were tired, and decided to move on. Lucky for us we did.
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