Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation

[purpleivan]

Big Bulge in BBQ Bay... or, heading for the heights once again.

Once the rover was detached, Bob and Val raced up the hills towards the cliff wall. A break in it offered a way to the top of the cliffs.

Their target is the large bulge in the crater rim, left of center of this picture. They don't know how high the peak is, but they're pretty confident of setting a new record.

The going on the slopes up the the break in the cliff wall are steeper than expected and the rover needs to be stopped frequently to recharge.

It's 2.3km up and they've still not made it to the rocky part of the break in the crater rim.

That's the break they're aiming for. The picture gives an incorrect impression of the gradient.. it's  about 45 degrees where they are, and the way ahead is 50 - 60.

Between here and the dip ahead, it take 4 or 5 recharges to make it up. The going is so steep that it's a case of 2 steps forward, then when step back, when they have to stop to recharge while sliding down the slope.

Finally they break out on top of the slope, then their way a little higher, before finally finding flat ground... at almost 3.4km up.

That's the way ahead, most of it is fairly easy driving, but there's still quite a way to go to the bulge.

They stop under one of the mysterious floating boulders that can be found around these parts. Val climbs on top of the rover to see if she can reach.

Sadly for her, she cannot.

4.4km and they can see their target ahead of them. The going is generally pretty easy and they're making good time, though occasionally it does get steep enough to force them to recharge.

The terrain is pretty bumpy, so the rover gets airbourne from time to time.

Twice the rover comes up over the top of a gradient, going a little too fast and tumbles end over end, only to land squarely on it's wheels.

To quote a certain Youtube channel "It survives this".

They've made itup to over 5km, breaking the previous record at Mount Triumph. But there's plenty more climbing to do, so this new record is set to tumble.

5.5km and they break out on top of a small plateau near the summit, which is seen just behind them.

The going up that last part was pretty steep, requiring a recharge, but the sun is low enough for that to be a slow process now.

With some extra charge in the batteries the pair gun it for the summit, straight into the low sun

Bob's blinded by the glare, but he can just about make out the edge of they're narrow strip they're driving up, with the steep 3km drop on the right side.

At last they make it to the top and set a new record of 5734m.

Both look pretty happy with that achievement.

It's a very long view from up here and the pair spend a little time taking it in.

But the sun is setting, and the weak light just gives them a trickly into the batteries, so they're not going much further today.

The sun hits the horizon and at this altitude (possibly aided by clouds) they get the spectacular view of the sun through one cab side window, and the darkness of night throught the other.

[purpleivan]

Big Bulge in BBQ Bay - Part 2

With morning comes another jaunt of 27km in the Coastal Cruiser. The rover's going to make making its way along the top of the rim to meet them further along the coast, but Val has other plans.

Some driving the boat along dramatic coastline later and...

... they're a lot closer to the pair in the rover, especially considering that a good chunk of that distance is altitude.

Talking of altitude, here it is... 5.3km above the boat.

Val might seem a little overdressed, but that's how she EVA'd and I'm not one to argue.

She walks to the edge and takes a look. It is a very long way down, maybe sticking with Bob in the rover isn't going to be so bad.

Power seat, A/C a good supply of sugary snacks.

Then again, Bob did keep her up half the night with a string of bad knock, knock jokes.

Who are we kidding... this is Val right.

Of course she going to take that short cut back to the boat.

Ok... that jump did take almost 7 minutes, but it is a loooong way down.

The plan was to land on the boat, but a splashdown is almost as good, if a bit wet.

With Val back down at sea level, it was time for Bob to make his own break for the coast. His was going to be just a smidge longer though.

Ok, a smidge might be the biggest understatement since Jeb's tax return, but with scenery like this Bob doesn't mind spending a day and a half getting to the coast.

Look at this place, I mean there should be some pterodactyls flying around here... riden by orcs in an epic battle.

But today it's just Bob, the rover and the trees.

The rover speeds through the impressive scenery (video coming soon), up and down, up and down, but overall heading down. The high level valley that he's in gradually drops in height, as he drives along it, following the line of the crater rim.

This goes on for quite some time, with lots of snap-able views, but so as not to break Imgur, here's just one.

Well and another one.

It's early evening and the sun's low in the sky, so not much more driving for today.

With sunset comes the end of new juice for the rover, but it's pretty much just a downhill slope now. The high valley breaks out into the lowlands that sit between the two edges that make up this part of the crater rim.

Finally night falls and Bob brings the rover to a halt. In the morning he'll make for a low point in the crater rim (it's just above the rear of the rover in this pic) for a rendezvous with the rest of the crew.

[purpleivan]

Getting back on track... or, all good things come to an end

No not the K.S.C coming to an end, still lots of that to come, but Bob's fun in the rover... at least for now.

With the morning comes battery life giving goodness, and Bob made use of it to head for the coast. Between that and his overnight camp site lies some pretty interesting terrain.

Bob's a bit sad to be leaving these mountains behind.

But then there's more up ahead.

Just gotta squeeze through that gap first.

They sure make mountain passes tight around here.

Bob tries a little break dancing in the rover (there actually was quite of spinning around to get out of this mess).

Bob says goodbye to the mountain on the other side of what he's named Victory Pass (why not... it's shaped like a V).

On this side of the pass, the gradient is picking up and the altitude quickly passes the 1km mark.

Heading up the slope towards the mountainous edge of the crater rim, Bob wonders why the trees look funny around here.

The incline on the route Bob planned to take is just too steep, so he heads back down towards Victory Pass, then makes a left just before reaching it, heading North into lower terrain.

Ok.. enough with the easy stuff, time to get climbing again if Bob's going to get to the coast.

Back up to 1500m and the green mountainous stuff is being left behind.

2000m and the gradient is falling off now.

But so is the grass... things are starting to look a lot more sandy... maybe salty.

Definitely looking salty up here. It's almost 2.8km at the high point on his way back to the coast.

Bob fancies a crack at that peak, but thinks better of it... he's got a boat to catch.

Moments later Bob stops the rover and rubs his eyes... is he seeing things, is that... the sea.

He's not seen it for almost a full day and he was starting to forget what it looked like (here's a clue Bob... it's blue and below the sky).

He heads downhill from the salty plateau, but it's stll a  2.1km drop to get to the beach... and the boat (once it gets here).

He's not going to be this close to a mountain for quite a while. These land based detours really chew up the time, so it's probably going to be a while before Jeb lets him loose in the rover again.

So he decides to make the most of it and puts his foot down, tearing down the slope.

He even got a little fresh air.

Finally he makes it down to the beach.

"Jeb... I'm at the shoreline now, you wanna come and pick me up".

"Sure, just give us another couple hours to finish lunch".

Eventually a fully laden boat (stomachs, not fuel), headed out for the 47km trip along the coast to the Bob and the rover.

As they speed towards the rover, they pass by the Crater Rim tracking station, just visible high up on the mountains above them.

At last they arrive at the rover. Bob's pretty pleased to see them, even if it does mean the end of his 6 wheeled highjinks.

Bob's back out at sea at last, and he gets a look at the Crater Rim dish as it gradually falls into the distance behind them.

It's been a pretty rewarding time in Barbeque Bay, if a bit time consuming. I'd be surprised if there's any better scenery on Kerbin's shoreline.

Finally Jeb can see a break in the mountain chain ahead... it's the northern tip of the crater rim.

Before making the turn out of the bay, Jeb kills the engines to give everyone their last clear view of the mountains behind them, lined up along the crater rim.

He throttles up and turns the boat around the narrow end of the bay, before swinging the rear end of it onto the shore.

There's not a lot of fuel left in the tanks, so it's time to call up some support from their friends at the Dessert Airfield. There's bound to be some scuffles over who gets to fly out to them through the scenery of Barbeque Bay.

Edited March 20, 2019 by purpleivan

[TheTripleAce3]

Awesome job making a hydrofoil, man. Very glad to see the giant crater get attention, that's the benchmark I use for finding my aircraft range :p

[purpleivan]

BBQ Refuel... or, Hildard gets a trip to the big bay.

With the Coastal Cruiser in need of a slug of fuel, the two pilots and the Dessert Airfield raced for their planes to get in the air first. Hildards been hitting the gym lately, so made it to their bird first, and so was cleared to head of to Barbeque Bay.

Like most pilots, she'd not ventured out to this neck of woods before, so was looking forward to seeing the sights.

The desert is kinda pretty, but it's no massive impact crater rim.

Talking of which, there it is, dead ahead.

Hildard flew in low between the peaks, so she should get a good look at the terrain.

So what's on the left... mountainous terrain...

and on the right more of the same.

She can see why bob wanted to spend so much time driving here, it's quite fun to fly through too.

After a short time the Goose breaks out over the coastline.

So what's out the right side... dramatic coastline as far as the eye can see.

Hmmm... what about the left side... you guessed it.

At last she remembered she had work to do, so Hildard cut short the sight seeing and swung the plane round to the North, to head towards the waiting boat.

But on the way she couldn't resist taking a low pass by the Crater Rim DSN station.

Then whoosed on towards the end of the bay.

After an aborted attempt to land downhill on the beach (too much speed to scrub off) as she approached to boat for the first time, she swung round and made the usual "up the beach" landing.

She stopped a little under 1km away, then rolled down to meeting the waiting crew.

Bob did his usual highly proffesional job of guiding the bird in.

After filling the tanks of the Coastal Cruiser, everyone settled in for the night, under the Mun and the mountains of BBQ Bay.

[Reinhart Mk.1]

do you play cliffs of dover? some of the lingo is really familiar "into the drink" "three sister" just curious. CRAZY mission you're planning as always

[FleshJeb]

Really exquisite mission. The BASE jump was epic. Makes me wish we had wingsuits. I may have to build one.

[purpleivan]

On 3/21/2019 at 11:42 PM, Reinhart Mk.1 said:

do you play cliffs of dover? some of the lingo is really familiar "into the drink" "three sister" just curious. CRAZY mission you're planning as always

No I've not played it, I guess I just throw in the occasional distinctly British phrase. I had to think for a moment what you meant about the "three sisters", then I remembered the seven sisters cliffs.

[purpleivan]

BBBBQB... or, so long and thanks for all the pics.

Well it was time to say bye, bye to Barbeque Bay. The crew got an early start and headed off just after sunrise, saying thanks to Hildard for the fuel.

The majestic mountains of the crater rim started to fall behind them into the distance as Jeb, the control stick in one hand, a fistful of sour jelly candy in the other, maneuvered the boat along the coast.

Those mountains took a while to sink below the horizon. By the time they finally did, the boat had used about 1/3 of its fuel.

The hills around here are mere dimples compared with what they've been looking at for the past few days.

The area does have some lakes though... don't remember any of those near the crater rim, so it has that going for it.

With the terrain around here being a bit lumpy for a Goose to land on, Jeb brings the boat in a little earlier than necessary fuel wise, when he sees a good landing spot.

With the news that Jeb's pulled the boat in and wants a top up, Hildard hits the afterburners and scotches up the beach.

That results in the usual high angle takeoff.

Then she too says BBBBQB... good fun flying through ya.

After a fairly short flight, Hildard spots the boat and heads out over the sea, for a better approach angle for a landing.

A nice easy landing is made and the trundle back to the shoreline is smooth enough. However she overdoes the speed on approach to the boat a bit and pushes it and the plane into the water more than intended.

That Juice Goose is going to be doing a little swimming, to get itself turned round for its takeoff angle up the beach. Its not a problem though, this goose is happy going for a paddle.

[purpleivan]

Taking a detour... or, ok, let's go take a look.

Having refuelled, the Coast Cruiser took off under the afternoon sun, along the coast, leaving Hildard behind them.

After a short time, something familar appeared on the horizon.

"Somebody go get Bob".

The mountains came into clearer view, but so did a coastal feature that they'd not come across so far on the trip... a river mouth.

With plenty of fuel in the tanks, Jeb decided to point the boat upstream and do a little exploring.

The boat made its way up the river for several minutes.

Leaving the open sea well behind them.

The view was very different from any that thet had encountered on the trip so far.

Eventually Jeb turned the boat into what look like a tributary, which looked like it might take them closer to the mountains.

However their passage up it was blocked by a shallow bank of sand.

Bob wanted to take a crack at the mountains in the rover. However Jeb reminded him that they'd just spent 3 days on one leg of the trip, due to his rovering, so they needed to press on up the coast.

With that in mind, Jeb wasted no time in getting back to the main river, then pointing the boat downstream.

As they whooshed towards the sea, they left the river scenery (no populated by trees) behind them.

The sun was setting as the end of the river came into sight.

With the light going, Jeb decided to put in for the night at the end of the river mouth.

It was an early start the following morning, as Jeb swung the boat out from the shore towards the sea.

On their way up the coast, they ducked into a small bay, as they couldn't see all of it from the open sea.

Ok.. we can see it now, time to get back to the sea and further along the coast.

See ya mountains.

With the boat down to about 15% of fuel, it was time to look for a good place to stop for a fuel delivery.

The terrain is a bit bumpy around here with fairly steep slopes into the sea, but this beach provided a fairly flat rendezvous location.

Looks like it's time to give the Dessert Airfield a call, to get one of their birds in the air.

[Jacke]

Saw some of these shots on "What did you do in KSP today?"

9 hours ago, purpleivan said:

With plenty of fuel in the tanks, Jeb decided to point the boat upstream and do a little exploring.

 

Spoiler

....

The view was very different from any that thet had encountered on the trip so far.

 

Spoiler

....

Bob wanted to take a crack at the mountains in the rover. However Jeb reminded him that they'd just spent 3 days on one leg of the trip, due to his rovering, so they needed to press on up the coast.

Never get out of the boat.  Unless you're going all the way.

Spoiler

 

 

And in that, when I saw this photo and video, well, the response was obvious.

On 3/17/2019 at 9:28 AM, purpleivan said:

[Val] walks to the edge and takes a look. It is a very long way down, maybe sticking with Bob in the rover isn't going to be so bad.

 

Spoiler

 

....

Who are we kidding... this is Val right.

Of course she going to take that short cut back to the boat.

Spoiler

 

 

[And of course I couldn't find a YouTube clip from the best queue point.  So just watch these two one after the other. ]

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

Of course, that music only gets its full impact when watching a good production of Die Walküre.  Some of the staging for the beginning of Act 3 with that amazing music is crazy.  Looked for a few and couldn't find a real fantastic one.  But some of the staging is almost Kerbal.

Spoiler

 

But hey, it's an operatic cycle of 4 that took 26 years to compose and takes 1 evening and 3 days to perform.  See it at least once.

[Wildcat111]

Wow... I want to go take a shot at those mountains in BBQ Bay now.

[purpleivan]

9 hours ago, Jacke said:

Never get out of the boat.  Unless you're going all the way. perform.  See it at least once.

I actually had the same thought yesterday when I typed the post up, and wanted to add the quote somehow, but gave up on it.

Actually now that I think about it, I had the perfect opportunity. When the boat was moored at the blockage, I took the rover up the slope from it, to see if Bob could take a crack at the nearby mountains. However the power ran out on the way up, and the sun was so low the solar panels were blocked. I didn't bother posting any pics of it, as it the whole thing lasted a couple of minutes and I just brought him back to the boat.

So that would have been a great line for Jeb to tell him.

5 hours ago, Wildcat111 said:

Wow... I want to go take a shot at those mountains in BBQ Bay now.

There's some very cool terrain there.

[Wildcat111]

8 hours ago, purpleivan said:

There's some very cool terrain there.

I'm planning to fly a rover from the Dessert Airfield and landing on the norther tip. Do you mind if I can borrow your rover design and extend it?

Edited March 25, 2019 by Wildcat111

[purpleivan]

2 minutes ago, Wildcat111 said:

I'm planning to fly a rover from the Dessert Airfield and landing on the norther tip. Do you mind if I can borrow your rover design and extend it?

Go ahead... the more the merrier.

BTW... one thing I've found is that for some reason the Mk2 lander (rover variant) likes to drift to the side for some reason. I've made a couple of rovers with it and whatever I tried, it likes to gently veer to on side or the other, even on flat ground.

Other than that it makes a nice basis for a rover.

Something that I meant to do when I passed through the bay, but forgot, was to drive up to the Crater Rim DSN dish. Could make a nice photo op.

One last thing, after I drove around that area, something I wished I'd added was parachutes. Just so I could drive it off the top the mountains and sail down. That would have saved quite a bit of time.

[Wildcat111]

On 3/25/2019 at 9:31 AM, purpleivan said:

Go ahead... the more the merrier.

I added a Mk.1 Crew Cabin to the back so Bill and Val could hitch a ride. Now time to figure out how to extend the range of the Stearwing A300 so that it has enough fuel to make it back...

Edited March 26, 2019 by Wildcat111

[Triop]

On 3/25/2019 at 4:31 PM, purpleivan said:

BTW... one thing I've found is that for some reason the Mk2 lander (rover variant) likes to drift to the side for some reason.

I've had that experience, I had wheels that where not vertical aligned causing that problem.

Not sure if that is what is happening to you, it also could be you hit a bumb offsetting the wheels.

I'm just guessing...

Goodluck with your trip, loving the story.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Triop

[purpleivan]

I've not posted anything for a few days, but Jeb and the crew with be continuing their trip in a day or two.

Just have to stick a high speed landing on Eeloo, while on an escape velocity of Kerbol... it's for a challenge.

[KerballingSmasher]

24 minutes ago, purpleivan said:

I've not posted anything for a few days, but Jeb and the crew with be continuing their trip in a day or two.

Just have to stick a high speed landing on Eeloo, while on an escape velocity of Kerbol... it's for a challenge.

Ooooh... what challenge?

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Ooooh... what challenge?

This one.

I've got a vehicle with Val (must be a clone, as obviously she's having fun on a boat right now) approaching Eeloo in pretty much a straight line coming out of the center of the system. It's moving at 13km/s which I need to burn off, as well as match the orbit of Eeloo, with a single ion drive.

Going to be a long evening.

[Fraston]

Shoulda been named "Kerbin Sorta-navigation" instead...

Also, PLEASE CONTINUE THIS IS AMAZING!

Edited March 29, 2019 by Fraston

[purpleivan]

Back in the hot seat... or, lets get this thing moving again.

After a short hiatus, the team is back with more boating, flying and driving antics. The break was due to Val making a cameo appearance in a high speed trip from Moho to Eeloo.

First of all, the flights from the Dessert Airfield have to come to an end, at least for now. The reason for this is that the Woomerang Launch Site is now the closest base the the Coastal Cruiser, so all refuelling operations will be moving to there.

But first, time to get the birds home... Hildard was the first to take to the skies for the long trip back to the desert.

A decent amount of fuel in the tank for the trip, even at about 1/3 distance into it.

Ahead is the desert, with a nice cold drink waiting in the pilots lounge for Hildard.

She made it back to base with plenty of fuel to spare will no head back to the KSC for a well earned rest.

With one bird home, it was time to bring back Gus. His flight is a little longer but Hildard made it back with only slightly more fuel.

On the way back Gus decided to take a low pass through a mountain range.

Pity this isn't anywhere near the ocean, I'm sure Bob would like to take a crack at that.

Gus adds this location to his "been there, done that" collection.

With the fun of the mountain flyby, Gus hasn't looked at the fuel gauge in a while and when he does, he sees that it's looking a little low.

He's only made it to the edge desert too, still plenty of flying left to do. To try an increase range Gus shuts down the center engine.

The airfield is still 28km away and with only 45 units of fuel left, Gus is thinking of putting the plane down in the desert below.

6km out and things are looking better. Now it's time to swing roung to get a better approach angle.

Now swing back the other way and drop the gear.

As usual the engines are cut a few seconds before landing, to loose some speed, so no more fuel being consumed.

Gus makes it down with just 10 units left in the tanks. Now he too will be take a much needed vacation.

From tomorrow the action moves back to the boat, plus refuelling operations out of the Woomerang Launch Site.

[Fraston]

Aw nice! i expected this leg to be tomorrow, not today!

[purpleivan]

Welcome to Woomerang... or, so long to the scorching desert.

With the Coast Cruiser now a long way North West of the Dessert Airfield, it was time to move tanking operations to the Woomerang Launch Site. As the name suggests, this is designed for the launch of rockets only. It has no runway (not too much of a problem) and deployment of the first Juice Goose brought up an issue.

The pad is smaller than that at the KSC and the position the aircraft was deployed at, ended up with the rear set of gear (there to prevent tail strike on bumpy ground) on the outside of the railing. This meant that this gear had to be raised to allow the plane to get off the pad.

That's better... now to roll down the ramp.

Once all three Goose were deployed, it was the turn of the Juice Moose, now driven by Jonfred and Catble Kerman.

Finally with all vehicles off the pad, the base was ready for tanking operations to begin.

Staemy was the first to take to the air from their new home.

After swinging around 180 degrees, she hit the afterburners to get an extra boost in clearing the nearby mountains.

Breaking out over the top gave Staemy her first view of the sea she's be flying over to get to the boat.

Leaving the mountains behind her, she headed out over the sea.

After several minutes (x3 warp) the location of the boat came into view.

Lined up nicely for the landing and plenty of fuel onboard for a thirsty boat.

Hi boat.

Staemy took theplane a little up the hill to get a better view of the sunset, before heading down to link up with the Coastal Cruiser.

Val seemed to think it was Halloween already... some strange things happening with the lighting.

With the boat refuelled, they'd be able to start their first leg in days.

 

 

 

[purpleivan]

Hold on tight... or, what was that splashing sound?

Everyone except Bob, who would be piloting the boat for this leg, was out on deck enjoying the morning sun. Jeb and Val were strapped into their seats, waiting for Bob to hit the throttle, but Bill was busy clearing away the breakfast dishes.

Unfortunately Bob was a little overeager to get started with his first piloting of the boat, and Bill along with the dishes end up sliding off the deck.

"Guys you forgot something.... HEY GUYS!"

With Bill back onboard in the cockpit, giving Bob an earfull, the boat got underway once more. It's safe to say that Val and Jeb were enjoying the morning breaze.

It's not the most interesting terrain around here, certainly compared with Barbeque Bay.

About 2/3 tanks left to burn through.

Still enjoying the high speed, open air trip, Jeb tells Val about the time he was stuck for months in a capsule with Bob, on their way to Duna. There was a supplies loading error, so the only food onboard was baked beans, gorgonzola cheese and chilli.

Jeb says by the time they reached Duna, the smell was indescribable.

First interesting bit of terrain to come up so far on this leg.

So Bob, you fancy naming this.

"No... busy... boat".

Ok Bob... I guess you're busy.

Up on deck Val reminds Jeb that it's his turn to cook dinner.

"So what are we having Jeb".

"Chilli".

The tanks are getting low enough to start thinking about looking ahead to decide on a good place to park the boat.

Round this high headland Bob thinks there is a nice spot to put in.

Indeed there is and with fuel looking low he bring the boat into the shore.

Actually make that very low.

So now to wait for Staemy to make another visit.

Edited March 31, 2019 by purpleivan