Update from the freezer.

Well things are starting to settle in here in McMurdo. I have been to work for three days in a row now. I think it is almost time for a sick day. After a full day of training on Monday, I have actually gotten to work on vehicles for the last two days! So far most of it has been on Ford pickups. I have taken two out of hibernation that were taken out of service over the winter due to lack of parts. Lot of front end work on them. Have you changed a Ford ball joint lately? If you drive a Ford truck you probably need to.



But I have to go a little easy on Ford for the ball joints. When you bolt a pair of these on the frontend it puts a huge load on the suspension and steering system.





And after work tonight we went to a Town Meeting at the dinning hall. They reviewed a few safety items and gave a brief overview of the science that is being conducted during WINFLY. Also some of the important dates for this season. One of the things that came out of this meeting was a review of McMurdo's disaster plan. They handed out forms for people to complete and return if anyone wanted to be a part of the disaster crew and what training and experience they have. We both filled them out, it almost took two pages each to complete; and so I am expecting that they will be contacting us in the near future for training with the EMS crew.

Next we went to the Housing office to pick up my television that I won it the TV lottery. I might let Paula use it with a written request.

And before returning for dinner we took a short walk to the edge of town. Yesterday the winds picked up quickly and it was very misreable. -10 with a 30mph wind is not much fun. But today at -2 and just a breeze felt much better.



This is the view from the end of our dorm. It is looking to the west. If you click on the photo you will get a larger view. This is the bay where the two resupply ships will dock in Jan. Right now they are just starting the Ice runway. You can see the lights out on the ice, those are D8 dozers, monsterous snow blowers and other heavy equipment clearing the runway. This years runway will be 10,000' long and 1,000' wide. I will explain the three runways in one of my posts here.

And I have completed my Outdoor Safety Lecture so we are both allowed to leave the base on posted hiking trails when we have some free time. And so I am praying for good weather on Sunday. Because I am guessing that I am going on a hike on Sunday no mater what. Maybe we will have some good photos after that. And on an interesting note, we are gaining 20 minutes of daylight everyday right now. It is getting much lighter every day.

Talk to you soon.
R.J.

Well we are both here in Antarctic now! I have a few photos to share from Paula's flight.

Here is everyone dressed up in all of their ECW gear, at 4:30AM waiting for the pre-flight briefing. ECW is allot like Fire Department gear; without the style, breathability, lightness, or comfort. This is until you get to Antarctica, then it is the greatest stuff ever made!


This is a photo of everyone sleeping in the C-17. Actually it is fairly comfortable, and they let you bring on water and liquids. Much nicer than American Airlines.



Here is everyone exiting the C-17 on Pegasus Ice runway. Nothing says welcome to McMurdo like a good 20 mph wind in the face. Actually the weather was fairly nice in this photo for Paula's arrival. Mine was a bit more exciting. We did land with no problem, but there was talk about a boomerang flight at one point.



Here is the crew off loading the C-17. This was the first flight to McMurdo since Feb. 28th of this year, and so it was a big event. They brought everyone's baggage as well as supplies for the base. For example there was 15,000 lbs. of 'freshies' on my flight. (Freshies = fresh vegatables and fruit)



And so today on my first full day on the ice Paula took me for a hike around the station to get me all confused about where I am. Did I mention how much I like ECW gear? I cannot leave the base on foot until I take my Outdoor Safety Lecture. At that point I will be able to hike around on the marked trails here in McMurdo. And I will not be able to go outside of the base for work until I complete the Outdoor Survival class. They should offer that sometime at the end of September. When it starts to warm up. So tomorrow is the start of work for me and then I will wish I was still sitting in a desk in EA with Burf cracking the wip over me.

Until next time.

Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that they had a nice big campfire for all of us rookies last night. It was very enjoyable.



R.J.

ECW = You want me to wear what???

Will I am sitting in the Antarctic Center and I just went through the CDC to get fitted for my ECW. Can you see a pattern here; ECW = Extreme Cold Weather gear and CDC = Clothing Distribution Center. I have two large bags of ECW. They include but are not limited to a big red parka that makes fire parkas feel light and airy. A full set of Carhart winter gear, Bunny boots, mittens large enough to fit a small African nation in, and lots of long underwear and socks. Oh, and don't forget the Yazoo hat.

I now have the afternoon off and I don't have to report back here until 4AM tomorrow. So I plan to take advantage of the nice 50 degree and sunny weather to go for a long hike around the city of Christchurch. So far a group of six rookies have been hanging out together and we have not gotten lost yet, so I think I will stick with them until I get onto the Ice. And one of them is the Chef, so he is a good one to get to be friends with. And it sounds like Saturdays forecast is good and so we will have a good chance not to have a boomerang flight.

So in 24 hours I should be on the Ice. It is getting close.

Talk to you all from the Ice.
R.J.

And the tests have been completed.

The water does go clockwise here! I have no video at this point because Paula has the camera on the Ice. But as soon as possible, I will have documentation.

After a long day or two of flying, I am in Christchurch. The weather here is fine, it is about 50F and not windy or raining. My hotel room at the YMCA is good, it is right across from the major park and gardens in the city and it is only 5 blocks from the city center.

I recieved a message from Paula today that the weather has taken a turn for the worse in McMurdo. Winds around 40 knots, which would be tough for our C-17 flight to make it in. So we will see soon if I have an extra day here in NZ.

Time for some sleep and then 8:30AM Extreme Cold Weather gear fitting. With the remainder of the day off.

R.J.

Hanging out on the corner of Knapp Road and Nurburgring

Well after a very enjoyable 2 weeks in South Wales, I am finally on the move headed to McMurdo. Currently I am in Denver for training, orientation, and HR paperwork. I now know that I can't chase the Penguins. We have a half day in the office tomorrow and then we are off to Denver International Airport. Where I will be processed into the airport system, and I will be spit out on Thursday AM in Christchurch, NZ. As many of you have already heard, Paula is enjoying the sun and sauna of Antarctica. It has been in the -10F t0 -25F range.

And since our camera is in McMurdo with Paula, I will be posting a few photos from my last run with SW2 and everyone that was willing to go play in the rain on a sunny evening.

Insert Title Here...

Well things are progressing nicely for our next trip to McMurdo. Both Paula and I have made it through our pre-employment testing and we passed with no problems. Paula will be leaving from Denver on Wednesday evening for here trip across the Pacific. Her plans now include a stop in Australia before arriving in New Zealand. And on Sunday, Aug. 20th, after 10 years 4 months and 16 days, she should be returning to Antarctica. One of her favorite places on earth. The coldest, windiest, loneliest, driest, most out there place on earth, but one of her favorites no less.

Let me take you through the trip to the Ice. From my plans at least. I will be leaving Buffalo on Sun. Aug. 20th headed for Denver. Once in Denver I will be in training and orientation for two days. On Tuesday Aug 22nd I will leave from Denver for Christchurch, NZ. I will travel from Denver to Los Angles and then to Auckland, NZ and then finally to Christchurch, NZ. The flights will start on Tuesday @ 5PM and I should finish in NZ @ 5AM on Thursday. This means I will be traveling about 24 hours straight with the longest flight being 12.5 hours long.

Once in Christchurch on Thursday I will check in to a motel and have the day to rest and watch the toilet water circle around backwards. Then on Friday the 25th I will receive my ECW gear and some more orientation (ECW=Extreme Cold Weather). Then finally on Saturday, Aug. 26th I will climb on a military C17 for the five hour flight to McMurdo.

And so you have a question or two about Antarctica? Well I have added a few links at the top right of this blog page. They will take you to info on McMurdo (including the temp. in C. not F.) and info on the US Antarctic Program. These sites should answer allot of questions and give you some interesting stuff if you want to search around them (including a place to buy Antarctica T-shirts Jamie, so don't show this post to Missy). And if you have any questions post them and I will either give you the answer that I know or make something up that sounds like it could be true.

That is all for now. Thanks for reading.
R.J.

P.S. I have no idea how many months and days that it has been since Paula was last on the Ice, but it has been 10 years, and it sounds better giving the exact number of days.

Act 2, Scene I

Well Act 2 of the three hour tour has started. Act 1 was the month of Yosemite volunteer service. And Act 2 was supposed to be the John Muir Trail. Well since I am typing on the Blog right now and there is no computers on the JMT, this means that we are not on the trail. Instead we will be heading off to Antarctica. As many of you know, we have been attempting to secure jobs in Antarctica for the 2006-2007 summer season. And the summer season at McMurdo starts in mid-October for most of the population. We however will be starting in mid-August. This means two things; first we have next to no time left before we have to leave for the ice, second it will be much colder in McMurdo when we arrive. This is a great relief for me, because I was concerned that it would not be cold enough when I arrived.

Some of the details are as follows:

Job titles: Paula – Lead Scheduler, Vehicle Maintenance Facility
R.J. – Light Vehicle Mechanic, Vehicle Maintenance Facility

Buffalo departure date: Paula - N/A she will be staying in Denver for training and then deploy from Denver.
R.J. - August 20th

Arrival date at McMurdo: Paula - August 20th
R.J. - August 26th

Lowest temperature ever experienced: Paula - 113 below F.
R.J. - ??? Anything below 20 is all the same to me.

So right now I am in South Wales and Paula is in Denver for training. Things will be interesting for the next week or two until we both get to the ice. Until then we'll try to keep everyone updated.

Stay tuned.
R.J.

Oh, I forgot that we have a blog site to run...

Let me catch everyone up on the rest of our volunteer time at Yosemite. Allot has happened since then and I will explain later, but for now we will stick with just Yosemite stuff.

A week ago Thursday, Paula and I invited all of our volunteer friend to dinner that we would prepare at our campsite. This is very interesting because there were about 17 of them, and I believe the most people that we ever entertained at our home (with a full kitchen and electricity) was 4 people so this is a big stretch. We made marinated round steaks, green beans, instant mashed potatoes, and Kentucky grown fried potatoes and onions. With some store bought cupcakes for afterwards. Overall it went very well and everyone seemed to have a very good time, it was a great group.

And so, what is dinner without a show. As we were finishing up dinner, several of us heard a low noise like a plane. Not Paula, she actually watched the rocks fall from Half Dome and started shouting "Rock Fall, Rock Fall, Rock Fall, Half Dome." Pointing and waving her arms. Our camp sites had a wonderful view of Half Dome that well enjoyed looking at whenever we had spare time. A few seconds after the noise a plume of granite dust started to rise over Half Dome.



And for the next hour or two we watched as the SAR helicopter checked the face of the Dome for anyone that might have been trapped in the fall. And it appeared that nobody was hurt.

We also had several bear sightings. Some good, some bad. Very early one morning a bear got into one of the volunteers bear boxes, not ours and I won't name any names. But Paula heard the bear and got up and tried to scare the bear away before he got any food. After some shouting, some whistle blowing, some clapping, and some throwing of pine cones the bear finally went away with a bag of Tostitoes which he enjoyed while sitting in another volunteers campsite. After dawn, a few people were enjoying breakfast when they noticed that they had a friend. Another black bear was sitting in the weeds (very close by) and was watching to see if they would step away from their food. No food for the bear this time. And lastly about 8:30 AM a black bear was spotted about 30 yards from the boardwalk in an apple tree enjoying some apple for breakfast. We finally got some photos on this one.



So, now it is a week later and we have left the park. The month went very quickly and it was a great experience. We made great new friends, helped allot of people through YA and in general enjoyed our time. You could easily forget what day of the week it was when you were there, which is a very nice feeling. So here is a parting shot from Yosemite.



R.J.