From Estonia with love (Round the World)

Truly a fantastic thread.
Glad I have been following you both since the beginning.
Many more rides to be had!
Steve

Simply amazing!

and the pictures very high quality, looks like the journey was for the pictures and not the pictures for the journey

Hi M&K ,

Just wanted to let you know I've aqquired another addition to my stable . A DRZ 400 which would be perfect for K to ride. M for you I have a V Strom or a DR 650 both well outfitted. My motorhome is pretty comfortable and private hot shower , AC ,kitchen , etc .

I also access to some really resonable air tickets to hear if your still interested in coming .

Cheers , Dan

Cat is out of the bag Dan. So you bought a Dizzer to go with all the other Suzukis . Good for you as you will like it really well.

Sounds like THE invitation of a lifetime!

As everybody else who have read this thread I am filled with admiration of your trip, your stamina, your photography, your storytelling, your technical skills, your adventurous mindset....

As you very well know, you have been an incredible inspiration for so many of us - in so many ways. Thank you so much for giving so much of yourselves for so long time.

________________

In all humbleness - could I ask, maybe a rather banal, question:

Should you once again take on a similar trip - and if finance was not a question - what bike would you choose, and for what reasons?

Again, many thanks.

Margus,
Any progress on the book?

dc

Cheers all for the kind input!

Dan,

As much as we'd like to come to the States it definitely won't be in the near future. Gotta work

But someday! There's always a fool's hope you know...

That's becoming a long story now. It's in the works but definitely delayed since we're fighting on the overall structure of the book.

The inside story is that Kariina's vision was as collection of lot of separate essays with different thoughts which is mostly ready but my idea was to make it a connected single book that would work better. And we still argue on that… :)

We'll see how it goes, hopefully it's not back to square one.

We actually thought we'd be ready with it by the this year but hell, we have to eat our own thoughts. We'll keep you updated.

"Unlimited" budget dream travel: a modded HP2 for me as a "mothership" + a modded and lightly loaded WR250R for Kariina.

I just love the HP2 concept, especially with the HPN mods, light wheels + high end suspension, below 170 kg dry - i.e. Simo Kirssi endurance racer replica but with a big fuel tank. You know, it's that wet dream stuff men have...

With big bucks budget you can conveniently go hotel-to-hotel, leave your luggage there and kill the lightweight bikes on surrounding areas offroading the wheels off 'em and visit the remote places.


But as of now on a shoestring budget travelling: it's got to be the R1100GS since it's the bike I'm familiar with and can carry us both + rtw luggage over bad roads/trails, slow but sure.



PS: In my background and culture, humbleness is a sign of a genius.

21" is not really worth the fuss unless you really like offroading that heavy pig. Also the 21" changes the frame geometry slightly and you'll lose some of that GS's onroad handling sharpness as a compromise. 19" is where the bike is designed to perform the best overall. If you learn to ride sand with the 19" you'll be allright.

I'm happy with the 21" for now, but it's not that big improvement in offroad department as you'd expect it to be. Yes, it's noticeably better, but nothing major and it comes with other compromises along with it - GS loses some of its sharpness on tar.

Kariina would do it again today, just like me. :)

She doesn't ride the bike although she wants - I've let her steer while I'm back but that's about it, since she doesn't want to ride the lardy GS by herself. I think her max would be 250-450cc class DS bike, 120-140kg wet or so, definitely not more.

We've thought about it a lot of times to get her own bike and each time we come to the conclusion that as of now we simply don't have enough money to buy and run 2 bikes parallel over long periods anyway without making major cuts on already very tight travel budgets we natively run - and making the trip around 2x shorter is not an option. The other factor is that Kariina is still not sure if she can handle all the third world traffic and the technical offroad bits, and if she is willing to crash often hoping she survives the mental breakdown or she'll be put off from the bikes forever. So it's kind of a gamble that can ruin all the game once things start to go wrong - and on the long road things DO go wrong, it's just a question of time.

If we win the lottery, then 2nd bike would probably be a nice test-platform for Kariina.

Damn time moves fast...

We've enjoyed a nice autumn with the family...















The colours were changing fast...















The sun got lower and lower, the water got close to the freezing point...
















With Earth's tilt our daylight times sharply shortened...















The beaches got empty...































Till the winter was standing at the door...
















And suddenly most of living things went to sleep...















But there were some who resisted...















Others had decent time in the snow...















































































Visit the heavens to see over the winter kingdom...















With nice views to take some photos...

















































Turns out it's the mechanical analog film camera that works the best (the digital just died in the -25C cold)...














So we let the good ol' analog film to take care of capturing the beauty...




















































Merry Christmas to everybody!!!

(the last pics from the very current Estonia)

​

Margus & Kariina

another lovely set of pictures Margus

but I'm wondering how that lakes and rivers can be free of ice at those temperatures?

I got those couple of river and a lake shot basically just moments before the ice started coming in

In the evening there were ice islands forming already - this year it got cold very late but also very rapidly. On one of the reflection lake pics actually you see the ice coming in the distance. Now everything is under the thick ice sheet of course - no chance for nice reflection pics with snow. Only the very fast flowing rivers are more or less free of ice and usually only in the center.

Truly magnificent images Margus - Merry Christmas
Phil

Awesome!

as always, amazing! Thanks for sharing. Those dogs don't even look cold. Bet they love it!



dc

Great pictures. I'm sure after riding for so long, hanging around during the winter must be a nice change. As much as I love riding, I still enjoy winters. Greatly enjoy your photography and writing. Keep it up...

and yes, still loving those pics

That one with the grass in the lake, captures it lovely(the transition between autumn and winter I mean)

awesome pictures !

As usual, you make us a very nice gift with these pictures.

Thanks a lot Margus, merry christmas for you and Kariina.

Amazing selection of pictures as always....merry christmas for you and your girlfriend...