Painted Huli Wigman Warrior --- After a decent night stay at a missionary outpost and last night's dinner, and now breakfast in my gullet, I didn't think that I would reach Lae tonight, but for sure tomorrow.  There were still plenty of hills to climb and wild, rapid descents to enjoy.  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.

A sign said I had just come down from the Kassam Pass, with its winding, twisting road dipping in and out of the higher altitude cloud forest.  From here the rest of the way to Lae was going to be hot and dull stretches of road connecting village after village.  Stopping at an actual gas station, they told me it was still another 95 kilometers to Lae.  That was way too far to consider.  Finding a tiny boarding house, I was quite satisfied with a bed and a cooked meal to end another long day satisfied, instead of miserable.