The Mobius Trip

MAG and I are still here Doctor, hanging on your every post.

Thanks for the entertainment.

Q~

I went for a little walk,







Beam me down to the lighthouse mission...







The 9:30pm light wasn't the greatest, but it was nice to just walk around by myself and play photographer, rather than photodocumenter.



It's a meditative way to look at the world, my head gets in a different zone. It's a relaxing way to unwind at the end of the day.





The other two-wheeled vehicle in town:



I checked back in to the hotel,



and closed down the bar with a spot of bourbon.

Thanks, guys... can't wait to catch up on what's been going on with your adventures!

BTW, Kennecott mines turned out to be particularly photogenic, and I've got almost 600 frames to process. . I don't know how many will be keepers, but it'll be a few days 'till I'm back to writing.

I noticed an alarming bug bite on my leg, and took a picture of it, just in case I had to refer back to what it looked like before my whole leg shriveled up, turned gangrenous, and had to be amputated.



This kind of bullseye target pattern is typical for a Lyme disease tick bite, but I highly doubted there were ticks in Alaska (there aren't and Lyme disease has never been reported from AK for the record). Of course, LDF was highly concerned, and certain that was what it was. Or a bedbug bite.

It never itched, got a little bigger, then ended up fading away in a week or so, probably a spider bite or something. I'm sticking with my original theory that it was a king cobra. That just sounds cool.

(BTW, in all seriousness, if you get a funny looking bite or rash at any time, take a photo as soon as you can, ideally with a ruler or some other size reference in the frame. Two days later, it can be more difficult than you think to remember how it looked and how big it was. It'll be very helpful in making the diagnosis if it turns out to be something serious.)

Click on images below for big versions:

teaser:

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Doc, Can we just post our bug bite photos here for a diagnosis?

Since reading your thread,I've been very interested in how you've mapped out your route. Do these 3 pics basically explain how you find your trails? I can faintly make out the trail viewed through google earth,but wonder if that's as much detail that you see ,and trust that that's enough to plot it into your gps? If this is the case it must have taken you tons of hours to plot out each leg of your journey.

Excellent idea!!! And I have this wierd growth... stand by for pix.

For the sections that I routed, yep. For reference material, I use other people's ride reports, local intel (posting questions on the regional forums), maps, atlases, various digital gps maps, and most importantly GoogleEarth. The more you do it, and then correlate what you saw in 2-D with reality, the better you become at anticipating which will be the "good" roads and trails for a DS bike.

For the TAT, I just routed the line that Sam had traced on the maps he sends you. That and a little help from others who have ridden it. Lot's 'o discussion on whether to and how to transfer the info into a gps.

Once we got to the Cassiar Highway in BC, there were so few roads that routing becomes a non-issue... you can draw a detailed map of every road you need to know from mid-BC on up to the Arctic circle on the back of a napkin.

That would be a resounding "yes" for the lower-48 non-TAT sections. Hours and hours. But it's NOT a chore. It's done off-season, in bits and pieces. Over time, I imprint my brain with the general lay of the land through which we'll be traveling. Then, when we meet an obstacle on the trail, I'm able to intuitively assess the various go-around options. Additionally, while I'm formulating the route, i begin to get curious about the history of the area, as well as the flora and geology of the terrain, and generally start to get psyched to get back out on the next Mobius leg.

Trust me on this one... you do NOT want me to be your doctor.

When I worked in the Coroners Office, I told many that very same thing!

Okay, but no more pictures of your leg, please! Now LDF, on the other hand... You know.... only if she gets wounded or chafed of course.... or sunburned. Just in the name of science or accuracy of reporting.

I was talking to a paramedic friend last week and mentioned how if I crashed while riding and got hurt YOU would be the person I want with me. Oh and I guess Barry would be a close second.
Though he doesn't carry any first aid stuff, I know you do. That said if I need a doctor in the city, I do not want to see you at your job.

Rumor has it that Dr. Rock does his Ride Reports from his smart phone while in surgery. He's that good.

Q~

I lurked on this RR for three thousand seven hundred and sixty-six posts.

Astounding work to put it all together. Great, ongoing adventure. Massively entertaining. Huge thanks!

she looks to young to be retired.

Thats low! He's talking about the people BEHIND Francine.

Wow, it took me month to get through all your writing, fotos and videos, its great how much I feel to be on the trip with you thanks to your great story telling. Guess I am not the only one. If you put them all in a line you would have a caravan following you of at least 10 miles long, interesting idea though. Yours and "From Estonia with love" are deffinitly the best RR's that I have seen so far on ADVrider. Different types of adventures but both amazing. Long time reader and now my first post as a tribute to your great adventure. and now I go on planing my trip down to Ushuaia that will start in December, loads of planing to do still.
Cheers from Chile :fyyff (guess thats how you great each other)
B.

I have been off work for 2 weeks. I used that time to read this whole thing (well, up to here anyway.)

Fantabulous job.

It is amazing to me, looking at the photos, how refreshed the 2 of you look on the final day.

My bear story........

A few weeks ago, I was riding through some Wisconsin farm/lake country. I was in a little valley with a corn field on the south side of the road. A farmer was plowing and (I assume) his dog was following the plow. It's a pretty common sight in farm country to see farm dogs following their farmers while they are working fields.

Beyond the corn stubble, I could see another dog sitting on the side of the road. As I got closer, I thought, "Wow, that is a really big dog, probably a Newfoundland."

Got a bit closer. "Man, that dog is freakin HUGE."

Closer, "Huh, that's not a dog, that's a bear. Huh, wonder when it is going to run for the woods??"

and one more before I go......

Back in the day, I used to milk cows. One summer night, after chores, I decided to walk down our driveway to the road (about 1/2 mile) to enjoy the night. I got to the end of the driveway, turned at the end of the corn and darn near tripped over a bear.

Scared the living daylights out of me. I ran the whole way back to the farm and the owner and I drove back out.

Turned out the bear was pretty scared too, there was a big pile of bear poop, right where I almost bumped into it.

Thanks also for explaining how you layered your images. It certainly does explain the dynamic range.

Tom B