Finally after more than two months I finish putting together a new site.  

 Why a new website? 

Anyone who is serious about running a website really needs to have full control of contents and the ability to access and update from where ever and when ever. 

 The problem is neither Father nor myself have the first clue when it comes to websites.  Two months ago my first question to smart website savvy friends, other than “help!”, was “what is a web page?” and “how big is a web page?” and so on… comes a point when a man has to learn I guess, I had kicked that can down the road for a long way.    Getting to this point has been equivalent to pulling finger nails.  But still, I feel I have barely  scratched the surface.  

 Its far from perfect and I am sure over time it will improve as I learn.  I had hopped to implement more content before opening to the public but I am under time pressure.  We need to use this site and the new image to find partners and support to get me back on the ground this winter.  Much credit and a huge thanks for the staff of Mail2web who have been running and built a site for us for more than six years, and did an awesome job!  Not forgetting a big thanks to my new Host  Paul Bryant!

 Why the name change?

Those of you who have been following the Odyssey/Expedition over the years will be wondering why I have chosen to change the name from Goliath Expedition to Odyssey XXI (Odyssey 21^st).  

 Truth is, our situation is direr.  I need to do something and I need to sell this expedition/Odyssey to get the support to get it home.  We had reached a low point this year and this was the time to make appropriate changes.  I can sell Odyssey better than Goliath, not only, but it better relates to what we are.  This is way more than an expedition, this is truly an Odyssey of the twenty first centaury, as such we have shed the expedition skin. 

 Hope the new site is to your liking, I would be interested in what you think?

Kind regards

Karl (webmaster) Bushby

Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico 03/09/09

Melaque is our current base while we work on getting back into Russia.  

 The Odyssey is currently faced with three distinct challenges. 

1.  The lack of a financial partner or sponsor
2. New Russian visa rules restricting me to only 90 days in Russia out of every 180 days, in conjunction with:
3. Seasonal movement on the Arctic Tundra in the Far North East Russia and the cost that entails, brining us back to the first problem.  

Worst time worst place scenario

First, the lack of a partner or sponsor for over two years now has bled the Odyssey financially dry.  As such,  every move we now make is labored  and restricted needing careful thought.  I was forced to leave Alaska once the visa runs out, nor could I afford to live there while I look for solutions to my predicament.

I jumped at a 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.  I bussed it down south looking for a cheap spot to make base and arrived in Melaque, a town I had visited six years ago on my way north.  Here we found the right combination and went to ground. 

Since that time plans have gone a rye.  Both a sponsorship deal and a business venture where quickly lost to the financial crisis 2008, a perpetual quest to obtain leniency regarding Russian visa restrictions has failed to bare fruit.  . Forced into a very tight corner, I am forced to look at better ways to market the endeavor to find solutions to these issues.  Whilst at the same time abiding by the rules I imposed on my self. Cannot return home unless on foot, cannot use transport to advance.  There lies in the very challenge and point of this, as is often referred to as, project. 

 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 a road system, mitigating the seasonal restriction, 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.  Its some times hard for people to understand why I can not just pack a lunch box and waltz off into the tundra and get on with it.  I don’t want to go into to much details, but regardless to say this could be a big mistake.  The problem is even more pronounced if im 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 the 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 neither, and also requires significant logistics, such is the nature of such remote terrain and extreme conditions.   There are also unique factors to this case worth keeping an eye on.  My enter into Russia was some what controversial and I managed to rub people up the wrong way.  It would not take much, I dare say, for me to rock the boat just a little to much.  If I was to push it to 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 to much attention to my self. The ice roads in need to walk on are indeed thin ice.

But right now the obstacle I face on this odyssey is not a river crossing, a stretch of jungle or desert, it’s a marketing political and financial obstacle.  Such is the changing nature of this game.