Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation

[purpleivan]

Double Nickel... or, keep your eyes on the road.

Well hello there Mr SMIRF, fancy a trip down to a nice warm ocean... you do... great.

The fuel was dropped into the ocean a little way along the coast from their last stop, so some of the remaining fuel could be used.

Just a few kilometres to go and plenty of fuel to get to the SMIRF with. Ok jeb... let her rip.

Always nice to get a fresh slug of fuel. Now to head North once again.

But with it being later afternoon when the SMIRF dropped into the water, it wasn't long before the sun was setting, so Jeb looked for somewhere good to stop overnight.

This shallow beach should do nicely. Bob's doing the cooking this evening, so some kind of cheese and chilli combo is on the menu.

In the morning they make a nice early start, which means that as they're currently heading ENE, that Jeb's got a facefull of sun.

Back in the rover Bill and Bob both notice a strange smell... but both do their best to ignore it, as last nights dinner may be the culprit.

To get some fresh air, Bill heads out on deck with his camera.

Bob might as well take one of the back as well.

There are quire a few islands along this part of the coast and Jeb has some fun buzzing through them.

Down to just under half a tank of fuel left and the Coastal Cruiser ha made it to 29 degrees north.

Some more islands to buzz... and what's that in the distance.

Bob gets excited, but Jeb says no, so Bob has to make do with naming the peaks.

"Just too far Mountain, next to Mean Ol' Jeb Hill and I'm Not Sulking I'm Tired Peak".

Not much later and the sun is yet again sinking into the western sky... funny how that keeps happening.

Well that's it for today, but there's still almost 500 units of fuel left for tomorrow.

Tada!.. tomorrow.

It's more blinding light for Jeb, as the boat heads due East.

I really should watch what I'm doing. I started cooking dinner and turned round to see the boat careening towards the shoreline at x4 warp.

I had to quickly cut to x1 warp and make a hard left turn... missed by this much.

Talking of making use of eyeballs, the crew has to take a look inside this bay.

Not as big as it looked on the outside, almost a disappointment really... better get back on track then.

Right... heading back along the coast once more.

Now what was I doing... cooking dinner wasn't it.

Ok, so where's the coastline. It was there just a minute ago... or five.

Dinner strikes again, as I repeat the lack of attention that almost wrecked the boat, but which this time leaves it headed  far out to sea.

That's better, get back to the coast and head on once more... almost like it never happened.

Nice, the crew has made it to 45 degrees North.

Spoke too soon, the boat rounds a headland and the journey takes a decidedly southerly direction for a little while.

The coastline does the decent thing and stops leading the boat further to the South. But with less than 100 units of fuel left it's time to make a stop and wait for a refill.

Looking at the map there's a fair chance that the boat might make it to the Arctic coast by the end of the next leg.

If not, it won't be far away.

[purpleivan]

The Big One... of, Bob's dreams come true.

When I checked the map view, I found that the Coastal Cruiser was moored a lot closer to the Woomerang base, due to the planet curvature, than I'd imagined. With that bit of information I decided to send out Staemy in a Juice Goose to refuel the boat.

It was almost nighttime for the takeoff, so it was time to turn on the lights for the first takeoff in the dark.

Fortunately the flightpath is to the West, so the further Staemy flew, the lighter it became.

Plenty of light now.

There's not been a reunion with the crew of the Coastal Cruiser for quite some time, actually not since leg 41. Since then it's been an all SMIRF operation to keep the boat refuelled.

Staemy sees the location of her target in the distance and heads for the nearest bit of flattish land.

4km away from the boat... now for some trundling.

After a few minutes Staemy is on the beach where the boat is moored.

It's the first hook up with the boat that's been made for a while, but although Staemy's a little rusty, it isn't long before the fuel is flowing. But given that it's already dusk, the journey won't continue until the next day.

In the morning the crew make a nice early start, so the lights on the boat are blazing as they head off.

The terrain's not the most interesting around her, but Bill heads out on deck with his camera again. This time he grabs a picture of an island as the boat rapidly approaches it.

They spend quite a while travelling East, rather than the much preferred North, due to a large bay getting in the way progress. At least that lake isn't part of it.

This it the bay right here.

They get near the back of the bay, then swing round to head West again and back out to sea... a bit of island buzzing to do first.

Now heading North East, the boat makes it up to 52 degrees North, so the bulk of th distance from the equator to the Arctic has been covered.

Bill looks out of the rover's window and catches sight of something unpleasant.

Looks like someone has been dumping trash on this beach... at least the pile doesn't continue below the waves.

A few minutes later and a much bigger, more exciting pile comes in to view. Along this bit of coastline and at this latitude that giant mass can only be one thing.

Mount Keverest.

Bob's been wanting to take a crack at this ever since Langarian took a high powered rover up it a couple of weeks ago. With a fresh supply of snacks courtesy of Staemy, he and Val head of inland in the rover.

It's actually the same starting point that Langerian made her 27 minute ascent to the top in, but this trip is going to be a lot longer than that.

It's a long trip from the shore to the base of the mountain, but it's not steep, so the battery last well.

Ok... it lasted up until here, so time to recharge.

Not many more, if any, of those in the day though, as the sun is just about to set.

 Langerian's rover was a lot more powerful than this little goat, so it can't make the more direct asault on the mountain that her's did. That means rolling around the South side of the mountain to find a shallower way to the top.

The sun has now set and that means they'll only get as far as the current charge in the batteries will take them.

Val takes a look up towards the peak of Keverest. That is a long way up.

And that's the end of the battery charge, nothing to do now than to sit tight and wait for sun up. Val heads out for an evening jog, preparing for tomorrows ascent. Bob meanwhile aranges the contents of a bag of marshmallows into a roughly mountain shape on the console, then eats his way to the top.

Tune in next time when the rover goes higher... a lot higher.

[purpleivan]

Klimbing Keverest... or, how many K's was that.

The morning sun meant power... and progress.

Progress towards the top of the tallest mountain on Kerbin.

Val wanted to hop out for a quick shot of her against the snowline above.

This time Bob managed to get her in focus.

With lower slopes of the mountain being smooth and not too steep, early progress was good.

2.5 k's up they reach the snowline. The going is getting steeper and progress slows as a result.

Once up on the white stuff, Bob decides he wants a picture of himself before he attacks to tougher part of he mountain climb.

He wobbles around on top of the rover, which is parked on a slope, but fortunately doesn't fall off.

Almost 3.5km up now and there's a clear path up to the base of the main outcrop at the top of the mountain.

Bob make quick progress up to the top of a small ridge, which brings the rover up over 4km.

Another 1/2km up and progress grinds to a halt. The route Bob's decided to take, which is a fairly direct assault on towards the peak, just doesn't have enough flattish spots to park on and recharge.

The route he tried to take was up through the middle of this picture, but there's nothing for it but to drive round to the left side and around the West face of the mountain to a shallower route up.

The going is a lot easier around the West face, and it provides a nice view over the ocean.

Ok... things are about to get harder again. The route up is pretty much straight up through the centre of this pic, but for the moment it's time for another recharge for the batteries, and another bag of cheesy corn puffs for Bob and Val.

Ok... this isn't going to work. They're foiled by a lack of battery charge parking spot on the route Bob's chosen. Once again he's going to have to find an easier, but longer way to the top.

So the pair head further around the West face in search of some easier slopes to climb.

FInally the get a break and make good progress up a series of short slopes towards the summit. They make it through 6km, then on to 6.3... a new record for the trip.

Val wants to get another photo, this time of her on top of the river. Bob parks under a floating rock which according to her understanding of physics she believes she can punch into orbit. Unfortunately after climbing out on the rover roof and quickly checking her helmet seal, she finds she can't quite reach it.

So no rock punch to orbit experiments for today.

Finally the rover breaks out on the small flat area on top of the mountain. The peak is nearby, just a few metres above their current position. Bob takes a moment to compose himself, then tears off towards it.

At long last they reach the highest point on Kerbin. 6.768km ASL in the little goat. Not bad for a rover that was added just to allow for short excursions from the Coastal Cruiser.

Bob feels pretty pumped at this point. He and Val are standing higher than anyone else on the planet right now.

The photo op at the top completed, the pair climb back inside the rover and head over to the North West side of the summit. The view from up here is pretty spectacular... they're not just up in the clouds, they're above them.

Bob sniffs and chokes down the lump in his throat... this is it, there are no greater mountains to conquer.

To the North is the aurora, clearly visible in daylight. That way lies the Arctic and it's time to get back to the boat, so that they can continue towards it.

The way down is a lot shorter than the ascent route, as they go down the West side instead of retracing their convoluted steps.

The route takes them to this massive scar in the side of the  mountain. Even bob doesn't think heading down into that is a good idea, so he drives past it, to the ridge on the other side.

It doesn't take long to get back down into the foothills, but once again the sun is setting, so they won't make it back to the boat until tomorrow.

That is a steep and streaky slope, good thing Bob didn't try to use that as a route down.

Well... the sun has dropped below the horizon and that means no more juice for the rover today. They'll just have to get as far as they can on 350 units of power.

After the sunless night (funny how the sun's never up then) the pair head on towards the coast, with some freshly squeezed juice in the batteries.

They're almost back to the boat, but Bob want's one more pic of the rover with Keverest behind them.

At last they make it to the Coastal Cruiser. Climbing onto the back of this thing is a lot easier than the slopes that he and Val tackled ove the last day and a half.

Next... continue on along the coast.

Headed for the Arctic.

[RealKerbal3x]

@purpleivan That's some mountain! I'm preparing an around-Kerbin trip (but in an airship, not a boat) and I think I'm going to have to have a crack at Mt Keverest too.

[Triop]

6 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

@purpleivan That's some mountain! I'm preparing an around-Kerbin trip (but in an airship, not a boat) and I think I'm going to have to have a crack at Mt Keverest too.

Check out this thread, you'll love it.

 

[RealKerbal3x]

20 minutes ago, Triop said:

Check out this thread, you'll love it.

 

Thanks for the suggestion...I use the same airship mod as that guy actually

[Triop]

1 minute ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Thanks for the suggestion...I use the same airship mod as that guy actually

I've never tried that mod, I might give it a go, looks like fun.

[KerballingSmasher]

36 minutes ago, Triop said:

I've never tried that mod, I might give it a go, looks like fun.

Ooooh that would be a cool Adventures section!

[purpleivan]

11 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Ooooh that would be a cool Adventures section!

At some point after this round Kerbin trip is done, I'm thinking of visiting some of the interesting places that aren't near the coast. Possibly using a plane that carries a boat to lakes and rivers, or a rover to climb mountains. It'll be a while, at least a few weeks, after I finish this trip though, so I get some time to do other things.

[purpleivan]

On the rocks... or, make mine a double.

Well what do we have a here... looks like a red line going all the way to the Arctic. Does that mean the crew of the Coastal Cruiser have made it all the way to the frozen north?

Let's find out.

Well for a start there's over 500 units of fuel when they head out from the beach near Mount Keverest, and that's enough to take them a fair distance.

Bob feels a certain sense of satisfaction as he looks back at the tallest mountain on Kerbin, that their little rover has conquered.

The thing is huge and it takes a long time for it to drop below the horizon, especially as the coastline takes them around it at first, instead of away.

So they get to take a look at it from some new angles.

Bill hops out on deck once again to get this shot of the mountain just after Mun rise, with a long lens. He also has to hang on the boat by a rope gripped between his teeth (to keep his fingers free for the camera), as he leans over the side, to get the shot.

Over 200 units consumed and that mountain range is still looking pretty huge.

Once Mt. Keverest has finally dropped out of sight, it's not long before something else, large and white topped comes into view.

Aha... it's the Arctic coast, so they did make it all the way to that northern chunk of ice.

With less than 70 units in the tank they'd need to be refeulled soon, but Jeb decides to take the boat up to the icewall before mooring up.

New polar ice, same as the old polar ice... except this oversized icecube is up top, instead of down below.

The crew decided that as they'd seen their fair share of ice, only a few legs earlier in the trip, they'd pass on heading out on deck to take a look.

With the quick look see at the ice out out of the way, Jeb swung the boat around and headed a little way back down the coast. He'd seen a nice spot to park the boat, that gave the option for a refuelling by plane.

By the time they make their way to the mooring spot, the tanks are pretty much dry.

Then they wait for a visitor they've not met with since before they started along the Antarctic coast.

Pretty short partial leg post this time, but then it was a pretty short distance up here from Mt. Keverest.

[purpleivan]

All Aboard... or, looks like there's a spare bunk.

With the Arctic having been reached, but the Coastal Cruiser now being out of fuel, the crew waited for the arrival of Staemy in the trust Juice Goose.

Enroute to the boat, she skirted Mt. Keverest a little after sunrise.

It wasn't much longer until the Arctic ice came into view.

After a straight forward landing, Staemy found that she boat wasn't as far away as on her last landing... getting back into the swing of this flying malarkey.

Hmmm... with the boat's tanks refilled, there's only dregs left in the Goose, certainly no enough to fly on to any airflield.

But that's not the plan, Staemy knew this was a one way trip, so she took to the air in the Goose one last time.

Then she put the nose down and plummeted it into the...

... what am I talking about, there was no plummeting. Staemy instead made a the quick hop over to ice meets grass, at the edge of the Arctic, just a few kilometres from the boat.

There it is... one fine Goose, waiting for the boat to catch up. Once it was safely moored the crew headed up onto the ice.

So what to do, what to do... coul just leave Staemy here to be picked up later or have another JG fly out with fuel for the pair to get home.

The crew discussed the situation, with Bill coming up with the obvious solution.

Staemy left the warmth of her cockpit to find what the plan was for her stricken plane.

"Well there's plenty of space in the boat, it's got accomodation for six including the rover" explains Bill.

"So... fancy tagging along?"

Staemy seems pretty excited by the idea, although Bob's in a bit of a panic as it's going to make a mess of the numbers on bridge night.

So with the decision made to make an addition to the crew, the five of them headed back to the Coastal Cruiser and headed out along the icy coast.

But what about the boat?

Well It's just a plane... we can always make more of those.

So it's yet another leg of pretty much featureless ice, with just some black streaks to break it up.

With the occasional HUGE black streak. This must be a rich vein of "not licquorice".

Back to the featureless white stuff again, this time a little island made out of the stuff.

Bill asks Staemy what she thinks of the Arctic.

"It's black and white and boring all over" she replies.

Bob spots an upcoming feature in the coastline and decided that it's worthy of a name.

He goes with "Pointy Finger Point", although Staemy suggests that "Stick Up" might be better.

Bob is now wondering if having Staemy coming onboard was a mistake.

Well the boat's down to half tanks and we're still looking at that whitish coastline. That's to be expected though, it is the Arctic after all, not going to get past that too quickly.

"Is it all like this, just a flat wall of grubby ice?" asks Staemy.

"Yup" anwwers Bob.

"So nothing interesting like ice beaches, snow kerbals, magical castles?"

"Nope... just grubby ice of exactly the same height."

"So how long until we reach the other side?"

That long.

Yup... the land on the other side of the Arctic comes into view, with about 300 units of fuel in the tanks, so enough to head away from this cold, cold place.

It was a bit of a surprise how quickly the crossing was made, with some of the crew guessing that they'd need a fill up before reaching the other side.

Having reached the comforting green coastline at the end of the wall of ice, Val turns the boat South and heads away from the Arctic.

This is more like it... hills, islands, shallow beaches, actual scenery.

But not much later the fuel is under 100 units and Val brings the boat in to shore. Now just the question of how to fuel the boat for the next leg. It's either going to be a Juice Goose or a SMIRF from the KSC.

Now where did I put that coin.

[NBDesigns]

Question for ya, do you cruise at full throttle or a specific speed? What is your most distance traveled with the 500units of LF   

[KerballingSmasher]

2 minutes ago, NBDesigns said:

Question for ya, do you cruise at full throttle or a specific speed? What is your most distance traveled with the 500units of LF   

I think earlier he said that if he could do the new boat right at about 1/3 throttle (correct me if I'm wrong, please) and he could get about 1000km on a full throttle.

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, NBDesigns said:

Question for ya, do you cruise at full throttle or a specific speed? What is your most distance traveled with the 500units of LF   

In the first few legs I ran at full throttle all the time, but then I noticed that I could reduce it a bit, but with a lower reduction proportionally in the speed. For example when nearly empty the boat will do about 67m/s at full throttle, but at 1/3 throttle it does 33. So half the speed for 1/3 the fuel consumption.

Generally I aim for 35m/s, no real data to pick that speed than any other, bu it's roughly what the boat does at full throttle when fully loaded. I tend to chase that speed, throttling down occasionally as the full load drops.

At some point (after the cruise is finished), I might do some proper tests at different speeds/loads.

Don't have any figures on the range on 500 units of fuel... if I remember I'll test that in the next leg.

Edited May 15, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

This morning (start day of some vacation time) I thought I'd take the boat out for some range testing. No need to do this in the next leg, as I can just go back to my save from the end of the last leg.

So... here's some data.

Range of the boat at 1/3 throttle on 500 units of fuel is 226km.

At full throttle the range reduced to 142km.

Based on that I get about 59% better range by travelling at 1/3 throttle than full. It's actually a bigger difference in efficiency that I thought it would be (I'd have guessed about 40%).

1/3 throttle run

I put just over 500 units of fuel in the boat (Hyperedit), brought it up to speed, then started the Persistent Trail track when the fuel hit the 500 units mark.

100 units used.

200 units.

300 units.

Due to a slight turn in the boat when follow prograde was engaged (it improves speed by about 0.5m/s) I was heading back to shore. I made a quick 90 degree turn and then headed out to sea again.

400 units.

Tanks empty... and heading back to shore once more.

Full throttle run.

This run had the same setup as the other, except for the throttle setting. However Persistent Trails was outputting updates to the distance travelled much less frequently than at the lower speed. Therefore after the first at 100 units used, I grabbed images on updates rather than every 100 units. It did update more frequently than the images I'm showing though.

100 units used. Due to the slow update, the distance travelled will actually have been higher than this.

269 units used.

418 units used.

At about 130 units used I made a 90 degree turn, just as I'd done in the 1/3 throttle run, to try to make the runs consistent with each other. Interestingly the turn of the boat under follow prograde is much slower when at full than 1/3 throttle. Possibly this could be due to the boat sitting higher in the water at higher speed.

Tanks empty.

BTW... the run at 1/3 throttle was done at x4 physics warp, but at full throttle I had to run at x2. Higher than that and the boat would sway around and I'd lose 2-3m/s even with follow prograde turned on.

In a real world test where I'm trying to follow a coastline, I wouldn't get this high a range, as the turns would reduce the efficiency. However they would only affect a small percentage of the trip, probably less than 5%, so not much of a reduction.

[purpleivan]

 

For this leg's fuel, the focus turned once again to the KSC, specifically the launch of a new vehicle, the Suborbital Re-entry SMIRF, or SR SMIRF.

Here's Señior SMIRF departing the pad.

The SRB phase completed it was time for the Terrier to take it the rest of the way towards its target.

That target being the Coastal Cruiser which was roughly North of the KSC.

At this stage in the flight, there really should be a kerbal sitting on the thing, waving a stetson.

Ok... I aways aim for a point a little beyond where I want to land to take into account the wobbling on re-entry shortening the flight a bit. However the re-entry angle was steeper than that from orbit, so there wasn't as much time spend wobbling, hence it's coming in a little beyond target.

So time to burn the Terrier for as long as it last, which is until it explodes due to overheating.

With the Terrier gone a quick burn was made of the four Twitches and to open up the cargo bays for some extra drag. But even with these measures the descent speed is still very high, resulting in some frantic Space bar mashing at about 2000m, to get the chutes deployed as soon as the it's safe.

Even at 270m, it's still travelling at 109m/s... fortunately it survives.

The following morning Val checks the position of Sr SMIRF (8.9km) before taking the boat out. It's not far, but it is to the North East, which is the wrong way as far as they are concerned.

Once they've hooked up Staemy went out on deck to check out this piece of refuelling hardware. It's not as "elegant" as her Juice Goose, but it gets the job done.

With tanks refilled the head southward along the coast. Staemy asks Bob if the remaining refuels will all be brought by Sr. SMIRF.

Bob replies "who knows... you'd think there was a propper plan, but it all seems a bit random".

The coastline takes on a more interesting and rugged appearance the further South the travel.

It also gets a bit more wrinkly, necessitating a few more diversions to check out little coves. Like this one...

... and this...

... ooo, and this one...

They start out providing a bit of an entertaining diversion for the crew, but it's not long before they get bored of them. At this stage of the trip they're really just focused on making it home.

Staemy checks out the snack lockers in the rover's ceiling, that are arrange alphabetically with Bob's favourites.

• Absolutely amazing chocolate.
• Actually quite good chocolate.
• A shame if this was left at home chocolate.
• Best I had in my pockets when we left the KSC chocolate.

The boat powered on along the coast under the afternoon sun.

Staemy wonders what would happen if the Follow Prograde button was pressed in the rover, while Val was controlling it up front. She reaches out to press the button to find out, before Bob slaps her hand away.

He's tried that before himself and it's not pretty.

That sun's getting pretty low which means one thing.

End of the day status shot.

It was an early start the following day, as Val once again pointed the boat South along the coast.

Staemy asks Bob if he feels safer going on his adventures in the rover, than on space missions.

"As long as the rover is going up... yes."

A nice sunny morning to be heading along this part of the coast, and it's some nice coast to travel along.

By the early afternoon the fuel had dropped low enough for Val to start searching for a suitable spot to park the boat. The coin had been tossed back at the KSC, so the next fill up with be courtesy of a Juice Goose, so she has to take that into account.

This should do nicely. A nice shallow beach plus some flat(ish) terrain a little inland for the Goose to land on.

Now it's time to head out to one of the chairs on deck in the sunshine, and sip something long and cold.

This trip is definitely in the home stretch now, with any luck it's only 2 more legs to end of the cruise, three at the most.

But there's going to be a short break before the next leg as i'm away from home for the next few days. Next report should be Tuesday/Wednesday next week.

[KerballingSmasher]

Closing stretch!

[TheTripleAce3]

So now that you're in the home stretch, will there be a project after this like a  Laythe Island Cruiser or Ike grand space road trip or something like that?

[KerballingSmasher]

Could this end *gasp* tomorrow?!?!?!? Oh my... home stretch!

[purpleivan]

8 hours ago, TheTripleAce3 said:

So now that you're in the home stretch, will there be a project after this like a  Laythe Island Cruiser or Ike grand space road trip or something like that?

I want to take a bit of time for other stuff like my Lost on Laythe and the Truth Can Now Be Told threads. But I want to do some other exploring on Kerbin in a similar way to this cruise.

[purpleivan]

On 5/17/2019 at 4:27 AM, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Could this end *gasp* tomorrow?!?!?!? Oh my... home stretch!

Difficult... I'm a few hundred kilometres from PC until Monday evening 

Edited May 18, 2019 by purpleivan

[KerballingSmasher]

10 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Difficult... I'm a few hundred kilometres from PC until Monday evening 

Oh... Maybe Monday then?

[purpleivan]

14 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Oh... Maybe Monday then?

I get back home Monday night, so a couple of legs over the following couple of days should have the finish on Wednesday. There is a river along the remaining coast that deserves a trip up it as well. Don't know how much time/distance that will add.

[purpleivan]

They Call Him Mr Goose... or, squeezing a little more juice.

Well it's welcome back to the continung coverage of a bunch of kerbals cruising around the coast of their home planet in a boat. While refuelling operations from the KSC were temporarily suspended due to critical staff taking vacation time, the crew of the Coastal Cruiser entertained themselves with a pie eating contest (Bill was the winner), followed by 3 days of lying in their bunks wishing they'd not had that last one.

But now that the KSC is fully staffed again, it's time to get some fuel into the air.

To give the boat improved service from their venerable Juice Goose tanker plane, the engineers did what they do best... quickly sling some extra stuff on board, give it a slick name and call it a day.

This evening Gusman Kerman sat in the More Ranger version of the tanker, named MR Goose. One of the engineers wanted to call it the Max Range Goose, as the name sounded cooler, but the other engineers reminded them that you can always slap more tanks on, and where would that leave them. The Maxer Goose, the Maxingest Goose... Max Max Goose.

So... More Range Goose it was.

With the extra 400 units of fuel onboard, Gusman hit the afterburners and thundered down the runway.

Given the extra weight, the aircraft took to the sky surprisingly quickly, without the usual "leap of death" off the end of the runway.

About 1/3 of the way out to the boat, the drop tanks were... dropped. Detachment went smoothly, with no damage to the aircraft.

Sometime later Gusman's route took him through an extensive mountain range.

Still about 4800 units of fuel left onboard. Rather than go up over the mountainous area, Gusman decided to have a little fun and buzz some peaks.

Peaks like this one, which Gusman is sure Bob would like to take a crack at one day.

Now that peaks been passed, better gain some altitued and clear that plan crushing wall ahead... then find some more scenery to dice with.

Like this... now don't get too close Gusman.

I said NOT TOO CLOSE.

Well, that was a close call... at least the plane made it through unscathed.

Up here there's plenty of cloud to fly through and Gusman finds as much of it as he can.

An excursion up this river is planned to be part of the remaining trip for the Coastal Cruiser.

Gusman gives it a quick look see, to check its navigability.

Nope, not a chance of getting to the source of this river... yet again.

Gusman's fun in the mountains has been burning time and now the sun has set. That means a landing in the dark... oh well worse things happen I suppose.

Like having part of your plane fall off.

It looks like that close encounter with one of the mountains ripped of the leftmost control surface.

I actually didn't notice until I cut my speed to come in to land and suddenly the flying characterstics of the plane became... "interesting".

But Gusman managed to get the wounded bird down in one piece a couple of kilometers from the boat, which a little trundling later came into sight.

"Hi Gusman... Jeb here, glad to see you got that Goose down safe and sound."

"Make that Mr Goose".

I've actually finished the boating for the next leg (59) but won't be posting the leg report until tomorrow (busy day at work).

But it does feel pretty good to be back at the wheel again.

Edited May 22, 2019 by purpleivan

[KerballingSmasher]

Noooo... we have to wait for the penultimate leg until tomorrow? Good job with the new Juice Goose (or are you calling them SMIRFs now too?)!