May 27th: Gobi to the Great Sea Road

We started our morning wet and cold. Covered in sand that had began to turn to mud and in a panic to get our camping gear inside the dry car as quickly as possible. We were awake 3 hours before we needed to leave so we spent an extended breakfast with Michael and his son Jakob talking about Lake Como and the origin of Greece and Italy. After our breakfast we had a rainy relaxed drive to the Daihaidao national park and a beautiful drive through it. We were lamenting spending a second night camping and considering driving straight through to Urumqi only to be met with a surprise hotel at the base of the park. Everyone walked in with a beaming smile as they realized they weren’t spending another night in the sand.