Post 95: Halfway Around The World

The road was smooth and dry, the sun shining but thankfully the interminable dust of the Amur Highway was gone. I indicated right and slowed the bike, .. my right arm outstretched to let Alan know that I was stopping.

‘What’s 25,000 divided by two?’, … I waited for the correct answer. ‘Ok, .. what’s half of 25,000?’. Eventually it came, .. 12,500, …. but he still had no idea why I had stopped.

Back at home using a map and a set of dividers I’d calculated that the halfway point of Poor Circulation would arrive 200Km south of Khabarovsk. We were now precisely 67Km south of Khabarovsk and 675Km north of Vladivostok. The clocks on the Tiger told me that since leaving the Ace Café on 21st April 2008 we’d covered 12,500 miles. At this precise time and location, ….. Poor Circulation was exactly halfway around the world, …. at the point furthest away from home and each additional mile that we travelled would bring us closer to Great Britain. Poor Circulation had reached the point of no return. In my initial rough calculations I’d been just 137Km out, ….. result. (If it is correct ;-)

We didn’t celebrate,.. we shook hands and continued along the road towards Vladivostok. I have to say at this point that since our ‘Conversation’ in Chita and Alan’s ‘Experience’ at the Amur Church and later with our mysterious traveller Alexander, .. Alan has become a changed man. No longer is he frozen by fear, .. he’s taking the lead, approaching strangers, .. volunteering to go alone into shops or to converse with the gatekeepers to our fuel supplies. He’s grown in confidence and I for one am really so proud of him. Over the second half of his journey Alan will gain much more than he has over the first half, .. simply because he will be ‘involved’.

I am aware of the reasons behind the events leading up to his experience on the Amur Highway and I fully understand that anything that happened was simply an expression at his own inner frustrations, .. we’ve all been there. I’m also aware of what transpired in the Amur Church and I have my own theory as to the mysterious Alexander, ….. but I’m sure that in time Alan will explain all.

I promised Alan’s parents that I would see him safely through and I promised Alan that I would get him to Vladivostok. As for the future, … Alan feels confident enough to deal with North America on his own and that will enable us to have our own individual adventures. Tomorrow, July 12th we will arrive in Vladivostok and from there we’ll try to arrange an exit. It is more than possible that we’ll have to travel via Korea, …… hmmmm, ..... I sense a new adventure beginning.

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