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By about 10:00am I was finally beginning to relax and take in the scenery. I felt better that we'd stopped a few times briefly, at least long enough that Tanguy could eat something and get a sip of water. Thierry and Roger continued to radio each other: "Aujourd'hui la moto (Tanguy) est content." They were starting to ease up seeing that we were making good time. Laetitia was also in good cheer, though no more cognizant of where she was than before. At one point when I pulled our map, she glanced over my shoulder and said, "On est où? C'est la Sahara, non?"

It was 3:00pm when Nouakchott was finally in view. We had one last tricky section to get over and the Nissan was getting stuck. After rolling 9 hours almost non-stop since morning, Tanguy was no doubt exhausted, but he sailed up and over the bit of deep sand and onto the paved road to the city.

We were dropped off at Auberge La Rose where Gregg, Tanguy and I would be staying. We looked forward to having a space where we could spread out all our things and not go anywhere for a few days. I was relieved to know that our ride was staying elsewhere. I thanked Thierry and Roger, saying in French something like "thanks a million". Thierry replied jokingly, "Only a million?" I didn't laugh.