As dawn broke, the convoy hit the road again, and west of Ramadi, it was desert all the way.
Gao Yang could have chosen to rest well during the day at Masum's and then set off at night, but he insisted on traveling during the day.
It was the peak of the scorching summer. In the desert, the temperature could easily soar above 40 degrees soon after the sun rose. By midday, it rose to around 50 degrees, and the road surface could reach a scorching 70 to 80 degrees.
Sitting inside an air-conditioned vehicle, Gao Yang did not feel too uncomfortable, nor was he worried that the car tires would not withstand the high temperatures of the road; Polovich's meticulously prepared vehicles were not so easily damaged.
They had been driving non-stop since the early morning, with speeds varying, often having to detour onto the desert next to the unmaintained road or being forced to drive very slowly. Thus, by noon, Gao Yang and his group had only covered a bit over two hundred kilometers.