Huff, puff, huff, puff. Clara, stop for a minute and give me a chance to catch up!

What? Oh, sorry, Eliot. Sometimes I forget you’re not a camel.

Me? A camel?! How could you mistake me for a camel?

Well, it’s pretty unusual to have an elephant here in the desert. We camels are known as “ships of the desert” and once we get going – we travel fast. I just want to see what is over this ridge here.

See anything?

Looks like an oasis in the distance. We just have to follow the path between these rocky ridges.

When you say . . . in the distance, can you give me an idea of just how far that is in elephant steps?

Well come up here and see for yourself.

Okay, okay. I’m coming. What are all these rocks doing in the desert anyways? Shouldn’t there only be sand in the desert?

Eliot, all this sand came from ancient rocks – rocks from a long, long, time ago. During all those years the wind and rain would slowly grind down the rocks into smaller and smaller particles – until, the end result that is everywhere around us . . . SAND.

So how come these rocks are still here?

Well, these rocks may have been buried for a long time – now they are exposed to the wind and rain. Someday, far into the future, they will also end up ground down into sand.

Wow! How come you know so much about rocks?

Geology was my major at Camel University. Our motto was, “Cameli Sit Educatus.”

What does that mean?

All camels must be educated. Regardless of race – Bactrian or Dromedary – free education for all!