Thread: A Ride, Recently.

From the airplane window the ocean extends forever. Impossible blue of water blending seamlessly into impossible blue of sky. Clouds, vast systems, reacting to events half a world away.



The first view is surreal. Otherworldy. Am I Here? Really?



Find lodging, Ditch backpack, get wheels, strap on 12 pounds of camera gear. Go. GO.


be



It doesn't matter about the bike. Hardly anything matters here. I mean look at it.



look at it




restorative. it is bloody hot. I'm sweating like a whore in church. Replenishment. Keep going. It is just a tiny scrap of land south of the equator in the middle of nowhere/in the middle of everywhere. The belly button of the world. Beyond that beer can there ain't nothin' but ocean for 4000 miles.


Circumnavigate. Yes, yes. See it all. What is that old Leo Kottke song that keeps fleeting through my head? "I wish i had a tiny island, floating in the sea. Palm trees sway, don't get in the way, its a tropical ease."

Down off of the volcano and back through town. The town. The only one on the island.




The other side. Still sweating. It is still all very surreal.





Rano Raraku, the nursery.





Beach. Bob in waves. Perfect water, bright hot white sand. Overlooked by the ancients.



A shack, the smell of woodsmoke. And food. Manna. Perfect. No not perfect; very, very good. Perfection is a tyrant. What was it Dr. Paul Farmer said? "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."

It is good.

Meh, I prefer the Log Loop or Ed's Bowl, but I guess if you're trapped on some remote island, at least you got a ride in.

Awesome pics from what had to be a truly awesome ride!

Originally Posted by Singlespeedster

Perfection is a tyrant. What was it Dr. Paul Farmer said? "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."

True that

This quote made me want to Wikipedia Paul Farmer (Duke summa cum laude, Harvard MD, Harvard Ph.D, free Haitian hospital for tuberculosis and AIDS...)

Most awesome is his brother Jeff aka professional WCW wrestler The nWo Sting:

Finishing and signature moves

* Scorpion death lock (High angle Sharpshooter)
* Scorpion sting (Reverse DDT high angled)
* Stingomatic (Reverse Tombstone piledriver)

Signature foreign object

* baseball bat

Fact is stranger than fiction

those pics are amazing. "Otherworldly" "surreal"... yeah, both come to mind. Amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Outstanding! I've never bothered to take my good camera on a bike ride around here, but I think it's compulsory there!
And there have to be 100 other views you couldn't even capture... that's an experience of a lifetime there, glad you're taking the time to savor it.

I've wanted to go there ever since I found out about
Easter Island in the 3rd grade. I can't even begin to
describe how influential the Moia statues were on my
artwork back in the day...Lots of very large noses

Was it worth the trip? How long did you get to stay?