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Rob Landauer on day 3 of a year and a half journey.

Last week a few friends and I stopped at the Arctic Circle – even though I have been making my living as a photographer for many years now, I’m not immune to grabbing an occasional cheesy tourist photograph, and what better place then in front of the Arctic Circle sign.

While grabbing photos and playing games with the GPS and sunrise apps – another perfect spot for such things –  I was surprised to see someone ride up on a bike!  You see, we were a very long ways from anything, anywhere, so that has to be an interesting story.  Over the years I have meet other travelers on bikes, motorcycles and automobiles who were traveling between the Southern end of South America, to the top of North America, or vise versa, and that is what I assumed he was doing.  But no, this guy is planning on going much further.

Hi name is Rob Landaurer, and it turns out this Texan is going to effectively ride around the world.  As he explained, his route will take him around the world in more of a North / South direction as he makes his way East, not the more common East / West route – I can’t imagine either route is very “common”.  He is planning to travel from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia, Argentina, then will fly to the Southern end of Africa.  After riding across Africa with a flight around some dangerous areas,  he plans to fly from Morocco to Spain.  From there, he intends to ride across Europe and finally across Russia!  The entire trip is going to take a year and a half!

His bike was interesting.  It had a teflon like belt instead of a chain like you see on some motorcycles to avoid wear and rust.  The rear gears were entirely housed within a large hub to protect them from the elements.  The front hub could be engaged in order to provide power to a usb connection on the goose neck of his handlebars, so that he could charge his phone on the downhills, or power a light.

If you are interested in learning more, check out his website Self Powered Travel.  I see he is already in Beaver City, Yukon.

Rob is also doing this to raise money for World Bike Relief.  All the money he raises will go straight to the worthwhile charity – none of it will go to cover the cost of this trip which he is funding out of pocket.

Good luck Rob, you are an inspiration!

A truck climbs Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway, Alaska.

Last week we made a trip far to the North – we actually made two trips well North of the Arctic Circle, first in a friends plane, and then by vehicle.  Long road trips really help put Alaska’s large size in perspective.

This truck is climbing the gravel road to the top of the 4,800 foot Atigun Pass.  At this high latitude, the effects of even the slightest increase in elevation is exaggerated, so to find a road over a 4,800 pass is amazing.  The road itself rises up from the valley you see below at a 12% grade.  This is the Dalton Highway, formally known at the Haul Road and made famous in the History Channel’s show Ice Road Truckers.

That is me looking down on my hometown of Seward from Mt Marathon last summer.

This is a significant day that I haven’t written about in a couple of years.  You see it was this day 12 years ago that I walked away from a great job with wonderful co-workers, to begin life as a full-time outdoor photographer!  Janine had left her job a couple years earlier to build the business and we felt it was time to take the plunge!

It was both the most difficult and best decision I could have ever made!  At times I do look on with envy at those with a predictable monthly income, and nice benefits, but then I remind myself of the wonderful life photography has given me over these last 12 years and I wouldn’t trade it for the most predictable financial security.

Yesterday I picked up my old truck from the auto dealership where it was getting some work done.  This same dealership played a significant role in our lives some 16 years ago.  You see we stopped in to look at new vehicles to replace our little car that wasn’t very Alaska worthy.  Long drives can be some of the best times for talking about the future and planning, and it was on the long drive home that we realized buying a new car would keep us in the endless cycle of borrowing and paying that would prevent us from fulfilling my dream of becoming a professional outdoor photographer.  I am forever grateful to Janine for bringing up this discussion.  It was that evening that we wrote out a detailed plan for attacking debt, simplifying our life and working towards our ultimate goal of becoming a full time photography business.  The plan ended up taking a year longer then anticipated, but has certainly worked out for the best.  That old goal sheet is still taped to the inside of a cupboard in our office.  So here’s to 12 great years and counting!

Clouds over Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

We have never been this far behind on our processing – we are just working our way through last summer’s images – just in time for this summer!  We had a beautiful summer last year, so I thought I would share a few.  I worked really hard for this image – casually strolled out to the front deck.  🙂