'Bird Wing' Ears.   The early morning sound of a vehicle passing by wakened my senses.  No reason laying around all morning 'relaxing', so quickly packed up and got back on the road.  Within several hours I came to a small town where a woman was selling raw carrots and potatoes.  Not the best breakfast in the world, but a carrot sure can taste good on an empty, growling stomach.

By mid-afternoon the road finally lowered into the wide, flat Markam valley, finally out of the mountains, but certainly not out of the jungle.  Earlier I had passed a sign that said I had crossed the Karam Pass.  Road signs in PNG were far and few in between, making them easy to remember.  It looked like flat road the rest of the way.  I even had a tailwind to help pickup my speed.  Tailwinds are so rare when cycling.  It always seems like I'm heading directly into the wind.

A few cars even passed going in both directions.  I hadn't seen many cars since entering Papua New Guinea.  Each car slowed way down, or even stopped, to get a good look at what they were having a hard time believing.  I just waved and kept pedaling. I had come here because of the memory of those old National Geographic magazines at the library in elementary school and the specific hopes of finding the wild "Bird of Paradise" warriors before they disappear from this earth, and was not disappointed.