dine with the mayor. From Paris the truck continued to Marseille. There it was lifted aboard the freighter "Sidi Mabrouk", that sailed the cargo to Algiers. In Algiers a special crane had to be obtained to lift the truckweighing a total of sixteen tons, including the iceonto the shore. The container was drained at this point to see how much of the ice had melted. In spite of unusually hot European weather for the season, only of water had been shed. Crossing the Sahara Crossing the Sahara was considered particularly perilous at the time because of guerilla forces hiding in the mountains during the Algerian War of Independence. The medicines carried by the truck would have been valuable loot for these groups, and for the first part of the desert the expedition was accompanied by the French Foreign Legion. The instruction the men received was "No stops, drive for your lives, even if you get a flat tire." The crossing passed without violent incidents, however, and greater problems were presented by the elements. There were no roads in the desert, and the truck was heavily loaded and not especially adapted to the conditions. Several times it got stuck in the desert sand; the crew had to place steel plates underneath for traction and spend hours digging out the sand from under the wheels. This took a great toll on the men, who had a limited supply of water, in temperatures approaching 50 °C. The crew spent most nights in oases along the way, but on occasion also slept in sleeping bags in the sand. At one point the expedition met a tribe of Tuaregs and greeted them by offering their camels water from the container. According to the commentary in the documentary film, the camels had never tasted anything as delicious as the Norwegian glacier water. This was not entirely true; the water was contaminated by the glass wool and tar paper, and it was barely drinkable. The expedition arrived at the Hoggar Mountains near the Tropic of Cancer after fourteen days of travelling. A measurement at that point showed a loss of 96 litres of water. Once the Sahara was traversed, after of driving, 177 litres had melted away. On average 15 litres melted each day in the desert. Arrival and aftermath After approximately three weeks, the expedition arrived in Lambaréné and met with Albert Schweitzer. Klevan later described