Current situation and location
Bilibino, Chukotka - Russia, displaced pending funding and visas, currently located in Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico 04/09/09. Melaque is my current temporary base while we work on getting back into Russia.
The Odyssey is currently faced with three distinct challenges.
Worst time, worst place scenario
Firstly, the lack of a commercial partner / sponsor for over two years now has bled the Odyssey financially dry. As such, every move we now make is laboured and restricted, needing careful thought. I was forced to leave Alaska once that visa ran out, nor could I afford to live there while looking for solutions to my predicament.
I jumped at the chance to hitch a ride with a friend from Fairbanks, Alaska to Tucson, Arizona. This put me a stones throw from the Mexican border, and Mexico was a lot cheaper than Alaska, or anywhere north of Mexico in fact. I bussed it down south looking for a cheap spot to make my base and arrived in Melaque, a town I had visited six years ago on my way north. Here I found the right combination and went to ground.
Since that time plans have gone awry. Both a sponsorship deal and a business venture where quickly lost to the financial crisis, a perpetual quest to obtain leniency regarding Russian visa restrictions has failed to bear fruit. Forced into a very tight corner, I am forced to look at better ways to market the endeavour in order to find solutions to these issues. Whilst at the same time abiding by the rules I imposed on myself. I cannot return home unless on foot, cannot use transport to advance.
Solutions; It is possible that if a visa waver is issued by Russia for, lets say, one year, I could get back on the ground this winter, winter 09/10 plus be able to get beyond the Arctic tundra, and back on the road system, negating the seasonal restriction and making a tremendous difference.
Visa waver not forth coming, we need sufficient sponsorship or support to be able to get me in and out of Russia accordingly until reaching China.
Understanding the terrain equation: It's some times hard for people to understand why I cannot just pack a lunch box and waltz off into the tundra and get on with it. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but needless to say this could be a big mistake. The problem is even more pronounced if I'm restricted to only 3 months at a time. I would want to make best use of the time allotted and on the arctic tundra, best speed is made in winter, especially in Far North East Russia. In the summer the tundra is a water logged, river strewn maze, creating untold problems for a man on foot. I could face such a challenge if I had the money for the extensive support and logistics and sufficient time....I don’t. But then again winter is not a cake walk either, and also requires significant logistics. Such is the nature of remote terrain and extreme conditions. There are also unique factors to this case worth keeping an eye on. My entry into Russia was somewhat controversial and I managed to rub some people up the wrong way. It would not take much, I dare say, for me to rock the boat just a little too much. If I were to push it too close to the bone and require a rescue, there are some Russian officials with an axe to grind that might see this as an opportunity to demand enough is enough, and see me deported. Everything has to be squared away, I have to be in and out on time, and not draw too much attention to myself. The ice roads I need to walk on are indeed thin ice.
But right now the obstacles I face on this odyssey are not river crossings, stretches of jungle or deserts. They are marketing, political and financial. Such is the changing nature of this game.
