Everyone thinks that adventure travel is just a charmed life. Blue skies and the wind at your back. But the truth is some days suck!!!
Yesterday, I was heading into one of the most desolate regions of Iceland. An area that resembles the moon with it's black volcanic sands and volcanic mountains. It's a narrow two track road that crosses the country and gives you the impression of being on a different planet. It's also rather remote. That's why when I got not one, but two flats, it was an event. Seems I found the only nails ever spewed from a volcano into it's black volcanic sand. Making things even worse was the fact that it was raining and amazingly windy. The loose volcanic sand became volcanic muck and it was a freakin' mess. One car passed and saw the bike on it's side with my stuff strewn all over and assumed I was in an accident. Surprisingly a Ranger showed up after a while and offered what limited assistance he could. Actually, I had taken care of the problem by then so he more or less just watched as I put things back together.
This means a big change of plans for me though since I was expecting to be on the north side of the country last night. Now that I am running a 21 inch tube in a 17 inch tire I will go looking for a shop to get a new tube or have mine repaired. Unfortunately, that takes me in the opposite direction of where I was to be and the exact opposite side of the country from where I was to pick up the ferry.
Such is the life of adventure travel. Some days are indeed beautiful and some just suck!
