Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation

[purpleivan]

Dead end... or, surely there's a way through there.

Not a hugely exciting leg 17, but it's the only leg 17, so it has that going for it. Actually this leg was one of minor frustration for the crew.

It started out well enough, with full tanks and calm water (well... what's new).

Mun was back in view.

More of the shallow sandy shoreline was to be seen.

Bob sat as usual in the rover, but with Jeb for company, while Val drove the boat.

Bob and Jeb started naming things they passed to pass the time.

"So what shall we call those hills... the Three Sisters?"

"Nah... they'll get confused with the other Three Sisters"

"The Three Siblings?"

"Nah... not specific enough"

"The three hills with something like symmetry from this angle and distance?"

"Errr... guess that'll do".

More rocky coastline, but without the blurry mineral deposits seen yesterday.

"So Jeb."

"Yeah."

"When do you think we'll go to the Mun next."

"Well Bob, let's take a look at the map of our progress here... er... hmmm."

"What is it."

"You don't wanna know."

Something peaking over the coastline hills.

Bob's started jibbering.

"Sorry Bob... those are way too far for a joyride."

Having taken a look at the map, it looks like the land to the right might be a big island, with a narrow passage to go through, making for a nice shortcut.

So let's take a closer look at that passage.

Hmmm.. less a passage and more a bar of sand that annoyingly makes that island coastline to be driven around.

Val passes through the entry to the bay, maybe she could just turn around now and call it a day.

Nah... that coastline dead ahead is definitely not visible, so we need to press on.

Ok... the end of the bay is in sight now, time to swing this boat around and head back out to sea.

Don't forget Val, turn right down there.

With the newly named "Nope it ain't a passage... Bay" done with, they head South again.

"Hey Jeb, do you think we should moar up at that island and call in Andin to land his Goose there... you know, just for laughs.

"Maybe not... I mean I could stick that landing, but KSC might not be happy with us righting off a plane just for giggles."

As the sun closed in on the horizon, Val took a look at the map for a place to pull over for the night.

The terrain is pretty choppy around here, so she makes for the headland, as there's some flatter ground a little way around it.

The tip of the headland is just ahead, but it's getting pretty dark, better put on those lights.

Shame we didn't think to put any on the front of the boat.

FInally Val brings it in to a nice shallow beach, with what is hopefully reasonable landing terrain nearby.

Edited March 9, 2019 by purpleivan

[FleshJeb]

4 minutes ago, purpleivan said:

"The three hills with something like symmetry from this angle and distance?"

Eccentrica Gallumbits

[purpleivan]

Fear and Boating... or, what on Kerbin is that.

This leg started out with Andin Kerman doing what he'd been itching to do all night... hit the afterburners and scorch up a hill.

Then it was a fairly short trip to take to the S.S.W to the boat.

Talking of the boat, that would be it dead ahead.

Well good morning to you all.

I think you can turn off those lights now.

Refuelled the Coastal Cruiser said so long to Andin in JG1 and headed out to sea once more.

Sure looks like a lovely morning. Incredible how consistently good the weather has been so far, maybe it'll last all trip.

Well... spoke too soon, beacause that sky does not look good.

Jeb had to agree that the sky ahead was about the nastiest looking he'd ever seen... and he's been to Eve.

The Bob came and joined Jeb up front to take a look.

"You remember that time an aircraft carrier appeared out of nowhere... you remember, it was just of the coast of the old runway island".

"Uh huh."

"Well... I think the sky kinda looked like that."

To take their minds off the possibility that the Kraken was devouring the planet, Jeb pulled the boat into the cove which was blocked by the sand bar that prevented their shortcut the day before,

Looks a bit bigger when you get up close to it.

Bob took to the roof of the rover to get a better look at the strange phenomenon.

"Maybe it's an eclipse Jeb"

"You know those are a myth right... and I thought you were the scientist."

Bob's curious to find out how much sand prevented their shortcut, so heads to the top of it to take a look.

10 metres high in the middle. Bob tried jumping up and down on it to see if he can reduced its height, but makes little impact.

The scientific exporation complete, the crew head off out to sea once more.

Things seem to be clearing up now, less impending doom to worry about.

Yep.. looks like a nice day for a cruise.

Back in the rover cabin once more, Bob returns to naming things.

"Three pond park"

"Tripple splash"

"The ponds formarly known as lakes"

The coasline has been fairly flat for a while, but it's starting to get more rugged now.

Bill's admiring the rockside from inside the cabin, but wonders if Jeb shouldn't be steering a bit further from them.

Jeb takes Bill concerns into account and moves a little further offshore.

Well, the tanks are running low, down to about 150 units at this point, so better put in and wait for a tanker.

Jeb pulls into some shallow water to park up.

That'll do it, now we just need Andin to come along so we can get moving again.

Edited March 9, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

What are you doing here?.. or, some shortcuts are longer than others.

An evening landing for Andin Kerman, which the crew plans to use as much of before darkness falls.

Enough fuel to fill the boat, and about 700 spare. That might be a bit tight for getting back to the Dessert Airfield.

Ouch... did I leave my sunglasses back at base.

So long, safe trip back home.

With the sun not far off setting, the crew head out to get as far as the can while they have light.

Bet Andin's glad he's not landing on those hills.

Ok everyone... sun's about to set, so get looking for a place to put in.

Just around that headland looks like a good spt.

Still plenty fuel left for tomorrow.

With sunrise comes another day on the water.

 

Right... that's half tanks now, maybe we can make it into another ocean.

The plan is to cut between the mainland at the bottom left and the large island in the top right, then out through that opening near the center top. That should save some mileage on the boat.

Jeb swing the boat to the East and started on the "shortcut".

Hmmm... where's the mainland gone, remember we've got to keep in sight of it.

Jeb pushes on to the East looking for land ahead.

Eventually land appears, but just one problem... that lake is no lake.

It's part of the sea, so we've got to sail round the coat of it.

Jeb takes the boat in through the shallow... careful does it.

Then he hits the gas into the sea that's almost completely surrounded by land.

That sea being this one. The Coastal Cruiser came in through the very shallow entry on the right.

"So you want to name this sea Bob?"

"How about the Sea of damm it, you should have been a lake"

"Sounds good to me"

Once sight is made of the far end of the sea, Jeb swings the boat around and heads for the more northerly of the two entries to it.

With fuel running low, they decide to pull over around the next headland and wait for a tanker.

At last they leave the Sea of DIYSHBAL.

Before pulling in to await some tasty jet fuel.

Oooh... that was getting pretty low.

Back at their last refuel site, Andin prepared to take to the sky.

Hi Mun... now, which way to base.

Hmm... Andin only just makes it to the edge of the desert when his fuel drops below 100 units. No way he's going to make it back with that, so better look for a place to put down.

38 units left, this will have to do I guess. Shame I didn't have just a little bit more, the Dessert Airfield is only 72km away.

Okay... get that nose up.

Touchdown.

"Base... this is Goose 1, I'm gonna need a little help here with some fuel"

"Plus I think these cacti have me surrounded"

 

[KerballingSmasher]

the cacti... they're following the mission

[Jacke]

The owls are not what they seem.  Neither are the cacti.

[purpleivan]

Flightless Goose... or, For a Few Units More... or, the Good, the Bad and the Empty.

With Andin in JG1 stuck out in the desert, with just fumes to run the engines on, Gusman headed out in JG2.

Gusman entertained himself on the short trip by flying just a couple hundred metres above the desert.

He put down a fairly short distance for Andin... plenty fuel onboard for her plane and his.

Fuel delivery, direct to the cockpit.

As he was going to have to takeoff from the bumpy desert, rather than a flat runway, Gusman transfered about 25% of the fuel onboard, instead of just enough for Andin to get home.

Night fell, so travel onwards was left until the morning.

An early start for the two pilots, with Andin taking off for the airfield.

She made a low "thanks for the juice" pass over Gusman, before heading to base.

Not exactly a perfect landing angle, but it'll do.

Then it was Gusman's turn to take to the skies, with plenty of fuel to tank up the Coastal Cruiser and to get back to base with.

Hopefully...

Hot desert

Cool mountains

Green valleys

Before making it out over the plains... the endless, featurless....zzzzzzz.

Wake up Gusman, not to much further to go.

FInally, something to break up th view. Trees and lots of them.

Plus some terrain details that does make this look a bit like a golf course.

The boat's not far now and looks like Gusman has plenty of fuel, but only enough for one refill this far out from base.

Gusman is pretty proud of his landing... real smooth, even if it's about 2.5km from the boat.

Bill goes out to chat with the pilot, to find out if he has a spare deck of cards.

Jeb had a few too many the night before and droped the last set they had over the side of the boat.

With full tanks again, the crew wave goodbye to Gusman and head out.

Should be enough juice to get back to base with.

The Coastal Cruiser sped on towards new waters.

Just a couple more islands to pass before...

... breaking out into the the Great Sea of the North.

So named, as some southerners named one of theirs the Not Half Bad Sea of the South, and they didn't want to be outdone.

One issue with this part of the coastline is that there are quite a few large inlets that can't be seen into from the open sea, so the boat has to be driven far enough in to see the far end of them.

Val pulls into the first of these, motoring along for a couple minutes before hollering to Bob in the rover "can you see the far end of it".

Bob can't see much more than the spray of the boat, but replies "sure, sure... now GO".

Looks like we're coming up on another large inlet.

Again Val ducks the boat some way inside before calling this one done and moving on.

Shortly after the crew pull in at a small island for a save break.

That would be this island.

Another few 10's kilometres down the coast and it's another larger inlet, so Val once again heads away from the sea.

Bill who's joined her in the cockpit asks "is that a pale Mun rising".

Val who can now see the end of the inlet replies "dunno, but this is a cruise boat turning" and swings it round to point back towards the open sea.

Back out at sea, Val throttles up a bit and speeds through the shallow waters.

Fuel's down to a little under 300 unit, enough for a bit more cruising, but there are plans for that fuel tomorrow, so the put into shore.

Now they wait for more fuel.. but from where?

[RealKerbal3x]

Holy dedication, @purpleivan! This is gonna take a lot of legs!

Looking forward to more!

[purpleivan]

4 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Holy dedication, @purpleivan! This is gonna take a lot of legs!

Looking forward to more!

The thought had occured to me.

The arctic coast looks longer than it is on the map due to the projection form a sphere to rectangle, but it's still a long way. My guess is I'm at about 20-25% of the total journey.

When I started I planned to use the ISRU gear onboard to refuel, but it's so slow (weeks to refill) that I gave up on that as it felt almost like cheating. But then I needed another way of getting fuel to the boat, hence the Juice Goose, and they take time to fly around, extending the real time it takes to complete the trip.

Edited March 10, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

MIRF and Merriment... or, "Death from Above"... er... I mean, "Fuel From Above".

In a secret program, known only to select staff at the KSC... and their families... freinds... plus the readers of the Daily Kerbin (including free Saturday edition) the Coastal Cruiser was going to get an exciting alternative source of fuel.

The military might have their MIRVs, but the KSC has MIRFs (Multiple Independent Re-entry Fuel stores).

A set of four of these MIRFs were launched towards a low orbit of Kerbin.

The second stage engine was assisted by those of the MIRFs, using fuel from the central tanks in the stack.

Once in orbit (75km) the MIRF orbital platform waited... waited to rain terror... well, fuel supplies, on an unsuspecting world.

The automated platform received the instruction to deploy one of the MIRFs.

The Coastal Cruiser was a bit South of the equator, but the re-entry burn took care of that.

Early in the descent it looked like the vehicle might end up long of the landing site, so the bay doors were opened to help bleed off some speed.

Then as things started to heat up, the concern was that MIRF would land short of the target.

Well... we're going to land short anyway, might as try out those airbrakes.

Chutes ahoy and a decent slug of fuel onboard for the boat.

Splashdown.

Okay... 56km from the target is a bit more than planned, but the idea was always for the boat to come to the fuel. Time to rail the sails... well, solar array and wait for our first customer.

The Coastal Cruiser has 226 unit of fuel onboard, but that might not be enough to make it the 56km to MIRF. Gusman's route back to the Dessert Airfield takes him over the the boat, so he'll drop in to give them what fuel he can spare.

The purple marker on the left is MIRF and the green on the right, the Coastal Cruiser.

Hi guys... I ain't got much fuel for you this time, but you can have what I can spare.

Hmmm... only just over 1000 units onboard, so can't spare much.

The crew says thanks for the top up and head out.

So an extra 218 units should be enough to make it to MIRF... they hope.

They speed out to sea, the coastline falling below the horizon behind them.

Good thing they had the extra fuel from Gus, it would have been too close to call without it.

Finally the rendezvous with MIRF.

"Hello little fella.. pleased to meet ya".

Contact, now for some tank filling.

Bill looks for an eyepatch and hat in the trunk of stuff he brought with him, but looks like he left them at home.

Still, he climbs across to MIRF, then declares possession of the ship and all the booty it contains.

With refilled tanks, they speed towards the shore and away from the orbital fuel giver.

Ok... who stole the land.

With the sun setting behind them Val decides to moar at the first available spot.

A small island just off the coast.

Well, as a plan MIRF worked out ok, but with the fuel used to get refilled, we're going to have to get more accurate landings if it's going to be worth using.

Edited March 10, 2019 by purpleivan

[Jacke]

Cool idea, dude!

3 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Well, as a plan MIRF worked out ok, but with the fuel used to get refilled, we're going to have to get more accurate landings if it's going to be worth using.

Looks like this is a job for Trajectories!

Specifically the recent recompile (v2.2.2) by @PiezPiedPy, available on CKAN and links in this post.

 

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, Jacke said:

Cool idea, dude!

Looks like this is a job for Trajectories!

Specifically the recent recompile (v2.2.2) by @PiezPiedPy, available on CKAN and links in this post.

 

Thanks... I've downloaded the mod and give it a go next time I'm dropping a MIRF.

I've always just eyeballed my landings, which makes life... interesting. But I think this mod might be the way to go.

[purpleivan]

Bob's Barbeque... or, the land that time forgot.

It gonna be big... REAL BIG.

Big Coast, Big Action, Big Story.

Well... at least one of those isn't a lie.

 

Leg 21 started out like any other. Tanks full (well nearly) of fuel and a crew of four eager to press on around the coast.

The Mun came up over the horizon.

The boat whisked over shallows.

They even had some time for Bob to name stuff.

"So Val... do I get to name those mountains"

"Sure... go nuts".

"The Kraken's horns, pretty cool huh?"

"But the Krakken doesn't have horns"

"Yeah... but if it did"

Then something appeared on the horizon... Bob's rovering senses began to tingle.

This was big...

REAL BIG.

Bob climbed on top of the rover to get the best view possible, what greeted his eyes had him dancing with joy.

Either that or he really needed the bathroom.

Jeb pulled the boat in to a 100m or so from the base of the huge mountain range and the whole crew went on deck to take a look.

After checking the map they realised that they had reached the famous Barbeque Bay. Named after the smell of kinosour flesh, speed roasted by the huge asteroid impact that wiped them out, that lingers in the area to this day.

Bob was eager to attack those mountaintops, but even he didn't want to start out on slopes this steep.

As the boat carried on along the coast, an isolated mountain appeared in the distance.

Bob thinks that this will make a fine start.

Jeb agrees with Bob that starting from the shallow beach on the other side of this long spit of land will be the best bet.

"So... Kraken's toe?"

"But kraken's don't..."

"I know, I know".

Bob's mouth starts to drool thinking about climbing this beast.

Some pretty impressive slopes to climb, good thing Bob won't be going up that way.

Jeb pushed the boat on towards the beach a few kilometres down the coast.

All of a sudden Jeb shuts of the engines and coasts to a halt.

In all the excitement no-one's been watching the fuel gauge and there's not much left in the tanks. No problem you say, just call the Goose.

Well Jeb doesn't want to risk a tanker getting wiped out, landing in this terrain.

So they call up their new friend.

MIRF make a de-orbit burn, before falling away from the orbital platform.

The first attempt (aided by Trajectories... all your re-entry needs, in a can) was looking good, until MIRF got to about 30km and started to tumble, meaning that all bets were off for the final landing location.

So a 2nd attempt was made with the predicted landing site left long, to allow for the extra drag from the tumble, during decent.

Sure enough at about 30km, MIRF started to tumble, things got hot... but not too hot.

Ok, looks like we're going to land a little long, so time to hit the brakes.

This scenery looks familar, we can't be too far from the Coastal Cruiser.

Splashdown.

Wellcome, to Jurassik Park.

So how far are we from the boat... 11.8km, way better than last time, and well within range of it (probably about 30km with the current fuel load).

With their new load of fuel waiting in the water, the Coastal Cruiser hauled stern towards the waiting MIRF

After several unsuccessful attempts to clamp onto the nice round cargo bays (that worked fine in tests), MIRF finally takes a bite of the thin edge of a wing.

No accounting for taste I guess.

Then with full tanks and the sun about to set, the boat headed towards the shore.

"Hmmm..." says Bob.

"Mount stupidly big statue broken off at the feet".

"Come on... be original" says Val.

"Plus it's clearly Mount Gemstone".

Once they reach shore and make the boat ready for the overnight stay, Bob sits in the rover, barely able to sleep thinking about what tomorrow will bring.

[roboslacker]

That mountain reminds me of the meteorite/meteoroid/meteor/asteroid/space rock from The Shooting Star (one of the Tintin books).

[Triop]

11 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Do you have the location for me?

I'm so gonna ride up this mountain...

[FleshJeb]

1 hour ago, Triop said:

Do you have the location for me?

I'm so gonna ride up this mountain...

It's the center of the big crater, ya silly noob. ;P

[Triop]

5 minutes ago, FleshJeb said:

It's the center of the big crater, ya silly noob. ;P

I'll let myself out . . .

[purpleivan]

5 hours ago, Triop said:

Do you have the location for me?

I'm so gonna ride up this mountain...

It's at the tip of the south end of the crater bay.

[purpleivan]

Climbing Barbeque Bay - Part 1

In the morning Bob with Bill along side him, left the beach to tackle the mountain in the distance.

They trundled up through the foothills.

Then more foothills.

and even more foothills... come on hurry up, where's the fun stuff.

At least the mountain in behind them was shrinking, at least they had that clue they were making progress.

Ok, that looks more impressive.

The pair make it up to 1000m. Not something to write home about, but there's plenty more climbing to go.

From here the going got a lot steeper and progress slowed, but it did provide a pretty good view.

Finally something vaguely flat and a chance to stop and recharge.

Somewhere in the middle of that flatish area in the middle of the picture is the rover.

They made their way up to just short of the peak and yet again had to stop to charge the batteries (I wish I'd added a couple of 400unit batteries instead of the 100 ones).

After a short dash towards the top, the pair finally made it and perched on the peak to help braking.

2600m... not exactly a record, but not a bad climb.

Bob rolled down from the top to the edge of a small plateau just below it.

"Nice view from up here Bob, just don't let go of that brake handle..."

"... it's a bit of a drop".

With the mountain beaten, the pair headed down, taking a moment now and then to look at the scenery.

"There's some bigger mountains along the crateer edge... should be good for a record" remarks Bob.

"and the best way to get at them is from this end".

"Ok Bob... what are waiting for, the quicker we get down, the quicker we get back up again".

Edited March 14, 2019 by purpleivan

[Triop]

Your screenshots are amazing, It looks like a lot of fun too, happy trails, bro.

[purpleivan]

Climbing Barbeque Bay - Part 2

With the mountain at the tip of the crate rim ticked off, it was time for Bob and Bill to follow the rim to bigger, better mountains.

They left they vanquished foe behind them and headed along for the ridge along the rim.

It's a pretty sharp ridge but at first doesn't look too steep, but as they climb it it's clear that they won't be able to make it to the top this way.

So they go over to the South side to drive past the peak, the idea being to attack it from the further along the rim.

Up over 1000m and the nearby peak beckons, but it's still too steep to climb it, so they had past once more.

Reasonably gentle slope on the South side makes for easy driving.

Having rounded the first peak on their travels along the rim, the come across this staircase of rock ahead of them.

The rover with our two brave heroes is in the middle of there... somewhere.

The larger peaks that are further along the rim start to come into view.

2150m and still not climbed a peak yet. Surely today will see the trip's altitude record broken.

Decisions, decisions... which peak will Bob head for. He'd like to take a crack at the one on the South side (right of image), so he heads towards it to take a closer look.

2363m and were driving in a valley... kinda weird.

After taking a closer look of the South side peak, Bob can see that althought the lower slopes look easy enough, the peaks themselves are clearly impossible for this rover.

So his focus switches to that on the North side.

Yep... trying to get to the top of the highest peak there would have be a case of scratch one rover (plus Bob and Jeb), so the pair are ok with their decision to bail on climbing it.

Right... into the lower slopes of the North side peak, quite pleasant terrain for the pair to be driving through. Bob says that he'd like to have a cabin up here.

They reach a small plateau at the base of the peak.

Parked on the plateau they find it's atover 2600m, but how high is the peak they are about to attempt to reach.

Bob swings the rover around as he thinks he might be able to make the short, but every steep, dash up the South side of the peak.

No such luck though... the rover quickly falls to 5m/s and it's clear that the batteries won't make it to the top, and it's too steep to park on and recharge.

So Bob swings the rover round to the East and heads along the base of the peak to try and find a better route to the top.

The pair stop for a moment to take in the view, as well as take a look at other mountains they might want to climb.

They rule out the very tall steep peak on the right, that Bob names Wicked Witch Mountain.

Skirting around the base of the peak, they find a ravine, but a steep one, at the eastern end of the peak, that might give them access to the top.

Bob noses the rover from the plateau into the ravine.

Then he guns it for the top.

The going is steep, but not as steep as the assault on the South side was.

Finally the batteries give out and they have to stop to recharge. Fortunately the slope is just shallow enough to stop and charge the batteries without slipping too far down the slope.

FInally they make it... well, kind of.

It's a new record altitude of 2933m, but the true peak, slightly higher than this bump, is ahead of them.

The batteries won't make it the the peak itself, so they stop on the closest to flat ground they can find.

They make it up to he narrow ridge that the peak is on. The drop on either side is about 70 degrees, so Bob has to be extra carefull here.

One slip and the rover is going to be scattered in bits over the mountainside.

They assault the ridge, but it's just too steep on either side to stop at the peak and they don't fancy charging at it just to get an extra couple of metres higher.

Still, it's another record at 3028m.

3km up in this little rover and Bob thinks there are even higher peaks for it in the future.

Like the one dead ahead.

With the sun heading for the ocean, behind them to the West, Bob and Jeb trundle on through the high level valley, towards their next target. But with night falling, they stop the rover and break out the pre-dinner snacks.

They're looking forward to tomorrow, which could bring their highest mountain climb yet.

Edited March 14, 2019 by purpleivan

[Triop]

Tip: 31 screenshots in a single post might be a little too much . . .

I love the pictures, but in my opinion less is more.

 

[purpleivan]

Climbing Barbeque Bay - Day 3

Bob and Bill had a lie in after the effort of the previous two days, so didn't get on the move until mid morning.

The first 20 minutes was moving along the valley and over some ridges, that separated them form there target mountain.

Bob got out on top of the rover for a clearer look... is it too much, I mean, it is a bit steep.

2700m and the pair haven't even made it it to the base of the thing yet. Surely yesterday's record climb will be broken.

With the foothills (the ones that are 2.7km above sea level) out of the way, the going got tougher, with some steep slopes to climb. fortunately they encounter shallower gradients from time to time, allowing the rover to be recharged.

Nowhere near the peak and the record is already beaten. The rover is on the flatish area in the bottom right, and the plan is to scramble up to the ridge in the upper left, then follow the ridge up to the peak.

The going was steep, but fortunately it was short too.

Once up on the ridge, the pair drove to the end of it to take a look at the view.

It's a long way from the mountain they were at the top of a couple of days ago.

With admiring the view out of the way, Bob swings the rover around and points it towards the peak again. it looks pretty steep up ahead, but at least it looks like there are spots to stop and recharge.

They reach a small almost flat section and park up in the shade of a very short tree. Fortunately it doesn't block the solar panels.

As they head towards the peak, they break through 4km for the first time.

Ok... the easy stuff is over, from now on things are going to get a lot harder for the pair and their trusty rover.

Bob's getting worried now.

The rover isn't going to make it up that last slope on the left side of the picture from where they are (the shallower slope just left of the middle of the picture). He needs another route if they're going to make it to the top.

"So Bob, this plan of yours".

"Yup".

"This plan is to drive across that really steep slope ahead"

"That is the plan"

"The slope that looks like it's about 30 degrees from vertical... and looks like death in rock form"

"Uh huh"

"The slope that crashes down almost vertically for about a kilometre"

"Indeed"

"When we're done with this trip I think you need a new psych eval".

Bob then explained to Bill the reason is that they're almost to the top on the left side of the peak in the middle of this picture.

The only alternative to the dash across the slope of doom, is driving all the way back down to foothills on the bottom on the left, then all the through the foothills to the right end of the mountain. After that drive round the back a bit, then all the way up the right side.

"Ok Bob, just checking... I've got insurance, so let's get going".

Bob floors it across the steep slope. The rover keeps trying to turn into the slope, and point uphill, but each time Bob swings it around a little downhill, to keep them moving sideways across it.

About halfway to the far side the going thankfully gets a little less steep... about 45 degrees, and they finally make it to safety with about 1/3 charge left in the batteries.

The slope in the middle of the picture is what they had to scramble sideways across, in order to reach the safety of the plateau on the left.

Bob and Bill stare up towards the peak. The going looks the easiest they've seen in a while.

The rover pushes on up without having to stop to recharge, before breaking out near the summit.

The top is almost flat and Bob guides the rover over to the highest point.

4768m... it's so high up that the pair are actually in the base of the clouds.

The pair look pretty satisfied.

Why not... there's a great view from up here.

Just don't look down.

Edited March 15, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

Descending Barbeque Bay

Coming down from the top of of hmmm.. what does Bob want to call it.

"Bob's Triumph?"

"Too you."

"B's Triumph?"

"Nice try."

"Ok, how about just Mount Triumph."

"That'll do."

OK, where were er, ah yes... coming down Mount Triumph, Bob and Bill tried many way to get down in reasonable time.

Sliding backwards.

Sliding forwards.

"How about down there for a shortcut."

"Good idea Bob, but I'd like to get down with my insides still, you know, inside"

FInally after much sliding, slow driving and generally crawling around, the pair made it to the bottom... of the mountain that is.

Trouble is...

They're still 3km about the sea.

They could drive a looooong way that way, to get the end of this section of the mountain chain, but the going looks vey rough and slow.

Heading back to the nice gentle slope on the right might be an option, but...

... the sun will be setting soon, so there isn't time to get there and still have power.

So the only choice is going down where there are, which is here.

Bob pokes the rover out over the edge and hits the brakes to stop them hurling down the slope.

After a minute or so they reach some shallower slope and they stop to top up the batteries.

But that's the last of it for a while.. they're now in the shadow of rim wall.

From now on it's just steering and brakes.

But hey... at least it's all downhill.

The slope in places is is over 70 degrees and the rover starts to spin, pirouetting around a dozen or more times, until Bob graples it into pointing one way, albeit backwards, down the slope.

After what feels like an age, they still have over 2km to down until they get to the sea.

But Bob seems sastisfied with progress so far.

After another long slide on the brakes, the slope gradually eases, and Bob gently swings the rover round to point downhill. He's even confident enough to star letting the brakes off now and then to get them down quicker.

But they're still over 1800m up... when will this end.

Bob's mood has changed from satisfied to positively happy about they're trip down the rim wall.

FInally they're back into sunlight, but that isn't going to last long.

From the cabin the slope seems impossibly steep... how is this rover holding on? But at least they can see the end of the steep slope isn't far ahead.

Finally the slope that felt almost vertical in places softens into something manageable. With a nice little bay on the coast visible ahead, Bob aims for it and picks up some speed.

Having moved away from the wall that is the rim of the crater, the sun once again starts to feed the batteries.

But not for long, as they're soon in that special "you're visually lit, but your solar panels are blocked" state.

At last they roll onto the beach, the 3km high wall they just decended behind them.

With batteries empty there's no juice to run the lights on the rover, so Bill whips out some matches, firewood and food he has in his pockets (he had his expanded for the trip) for a barbeque on the beach.

[purpleivan]

Leg 22a

The following morning, back at the boat, the crew prepared for the almost 30km trip down the coast to retrieve Bob, Bill and the rover.

A short hop by their standards.

They dash along the coast, admiring the scenery on the inside of the bay.

They reached the cove that the rover descended to the previous evening.

With it and the two crew back onboard, they head back out to sea.

Then that dash along the coast once again.

There's some great scenery around here and the crew are really enjoying this part of their trip.

Bill and Bob look at the altimeter... it's wierd for them to see it at 0.

The boat has well over half a tank of fuel left, so they speed onward along the coast.

The chain of mountains seems to go on forever, and there's something in it that grabs Bob's interst.

That big bulge in the cliff wall must be higher than his last conquest, so he's joined by Val in the rover, ready for another wheels based adventure.

Coming in the next post... Bob and Val on record breaking form.