Disaster struck late today. The Cricket was destroyed and I have been returned to Colonia Dream Station in Ratraii to recover.

I jumped into a system with a Water World and, after doing a detailed scan, determined that the rotation periods for each body were very short, less than 4 hours. So I thought it would be interesting to set down, observe and take some pictures.

I'm flying without shields and was not too concerned. I flew from the bubble to Colonia in the Cricket without shields and learned how to land without damage by toggling Flight Assist off and on to slowly descend the last few meters. I landed and took in the sights for about 2 hours. It was getting late and, on retrospect, I should have powered down and gone to bed.

But I decided to lift off and make a few more jumps. When I applied full thrusters I knew that something was very wrong. The ship immediately flew into a sideways spin and took massive damage to the hull. I had left Flight Assist off and before I could recover control, the ship blew up.

I'm an idiot. After flying more than 27,000 LYs in the Cricket, I lost her because I wanted to get a picture and was too tired to fly her properly.

Here is a selfie I took just before the failed take off.

I have started to refit my Asp Explorer, the Irwin Allen, to retrace the path I traveled in the Cricket to rediscover the high paying systems (thanks to ED Discovery and EDSM) and complete my trip to Sag A.

I should have started logging this journey 33 days ago. But, frankly, I wasn't sure that I would stick with it this long. Now that I'm 4,000LY from Colonia and fully committed to the trip, I can truly say "Sag A or Bust."

It has been just a little more than a year since I limped into Colonia in my loaner Sidewinder, the Cricket, to complete the Outlander Challenge. I mothballed the Cricket at Jaques shortly after arriving in Colonia and, using a portion of my exploration credits, purchased a T6 to shuttle data and commodities between the first group of factions. Those were fun and profitable times and Colonia was a vibrant community then.

But something changed. Maybe it was the influx of factions, its rapid growth, and just as rapid retraction. Maybe it was me and my expectations. Probably a bit of both. But over time I felt less attached to the cause of supporting my new home and a growing itch for some quiet exploration.

So I bought an Asp Explorer and christened it The Irwin Allen. Not many know of the old stories of this man. I learned of Irwin Allen as a child through stories my parents told me. According to my mother, Irwin Allen was the name of a man from the 20th century who had the unfortunate habit of getting lost in space and into all kinds of trouble. I know these were just made-up stories, told to temper my interest in joining the traders out into the void. But now, after a year in Colonia and a bit disillusioned, I wanted to get lost on purpose. So I bought an Asp Explorer, kitted it as much as it possible in Colonia, and did some shortish trips within 300LY of Colonia. I was aimless and willing to get lost out in the black.

That didn't help. I would head out and, eventually, go back to Colonia and sell my data to the old and new factions. I needed something more. I needed to leave Colonia as I had arrived. And so I pulled the Cricket out of storage, upgraded her modules to get as much out of her as I could, and we left for Sag A.

That was 34 days ago. We're doing well. Sag A or Bust.