Yes, JM, the West Spur route is looking like a good bet at this point. The major difference in Rui's Route is that it ignores your red zone and runs straight down the middle of the etched terrain (exposed bedrock), midway between your West Spur and SW passages. Rui takes the geologists' preferences to heart and fearlessly confronts the big ripples. Beyond the red zone he continues in a more or less southerly route, whereas you loop back far to the east.
Which choice will Oppy make?
The tension is palpable.

Next move is planned for sol 1691 (Sunday) and the post-drive images are pointed due south.

If it's another 100 and something meters drive that will put Oppy on one third of the timeline my inner glowing oracle pointed as the requested for it to accomplish the first leg of the journey, 20 days.
If my clearvoyant batteries don't run out, see you at Endeavour on February 8, 2010...

Why on my 56th birthday ?

Anyone else notice how Oppy looks like the planchette of a Ouija board out there?

(Channelling secret mental powers to the W..to the W....to the W...)

I'm not a rover expert, but from the past experience with the Trek from Endurance to Victoria, I would say that a realistic estimate for Oppy's average "full speed progress" considering weekends, restricted sols etc. would be approximately 400 meters per week or about one and a half kilometers per month.
However, this "full speed" estimate does not include: 1. possible science stops and 2. unforseen incidents (stuck in dune, Odysee dropouts etc. )
So add another safety factor of two or so and we would have somwhere between 500 to 1000 meters per month on avareage which would result in an optimistic estimate of about 16 months for the whole Trek to Endevaour ...

Looks like 1693 will be another driving sol.

200 m ahead, back to the dunes on Sol 1691 :

That will endanger my estimative...but good to see that, somehow, Oppy will cross "my" path 8 months after dreaming of it...


And from Ant103's image looks like the tide is rising...

Don't go there. Don't start with a number and multiply it by numbers of days.

It
Never
Works

By that maths, Endurance to Victoria should have been <6 months. It was nearly two years. Just take it as it comes, step by step.

Doug

Beautiful panorma, Ant !

this martian landscape never ceases to amaze me in its subtleness of change: how, for example the character of the dunes changes ever so slightly but distinctly only some hundreds of meters apart: for example, this "feathering" of the dune crests now looks even more pronounced and beatuiful than ever before ...

What an exciting adventure we have the privileg of taking part in !

Perhaps there is no basis for such fear, but those differences also worry me. They look like ripples we have driven safely before, but what if they turn at some point into soft, yielding ripples that can't be driven on anywhere, even in the troughs? I certainly feel more at ease when they are on one of the "highways". You know that safe, unyielding rock is near at hand,... er, wheel.

Thanks Nirgal. It's a privilege, I agree. And I am constantly proud to work on pictures taken yestarday and sometimes today ON MARS! Great times we are living now .

The drive direction, taken on the same sol :

> The drive direction, taken on the same sol

We should call it "sailing direction", perhaps.

"sailing direction"

An excellent transition to my next picture, from the black & white pan. I've named it "A Sea Of Sand"