Out in the Field
Exciting day! I called Joe, the solar guy, this morning to see if I could come over and check out the shop. He said that he was going to be going out in to the field in the afternoon but I could come over this morning. On the way out the door I got a call from him. He told me to bring my cold weather gear because he was going to need someone to go out to the camp with him. We met up at lunch and headed out to a seal reaserch camp at Razorback Island. He needed to check on the system and connect the lab sled with power. The camps consist of groups of insulated, heated trailers on runners called sleds which are drug out to the reaserch spot by big snowcat type machines called Challengers. This camp is out on the seasonal ice-shelf so, as the ice begins to break up they drag the sleds back in. He told me all he had to do was this minor wiring but he needed me more to keep him awake during the drive.
It was a two hour drive each way along the NE coast of Ross island. It started out over cast with little wind but the wind kicked up as soon as we began work on the sleds. The camp is in a beautiful spot on the shore of Razorback island. The Island is about 100 ft above sealevel and about a mile long by only a few hundred feet wide. From a distance it looks very much like its swine namesake. There were about 50 seals lounging around, unaffected by the wind and cold.
This afternoon a c-141 and a c-17 both arrived soon after we returned from our trip. Here is a picture of the 17 landing as a helicopter arrives from Marble point. I believe that both planes were cargo-only flights. It has been over a week since we had our last flight. The “freshie box” (the walkin fridge where we keep our fresh supplies) is a big empty void. Hopefully we have some mail on this flight. You all should feel free to mail us christmas presents. The adress is:
Luke Wagner / Luci Pandolfi, RPSC,
McMurdo Station
PSC 469 Box 700
APO AP 96598
Make sure, when you send us goodies, to do so before the end of the year 2003. Otherwise it might not arrive before we leave.
So, yesterday at work, one of my supervisors, a guy nameed Delma, came up to me at work and told me he was changing my schedule. He siad he wanted to put me out at the runway. Whoopie!! Apparently, they were having problems with the current cook and she was asked to leave. Tomorrow I start drivers training so I can drive out to the airfield. I’ll send you pictures later of the truck I drive. My schedule will no longer be syncronized with Luci’s but hopefully things will change in the future. It seems like anything can happen at this point.
Here is my daily link: http://www.polar.org/Public/OtherAntarcticLinks/maps.htm . It is a link to a bunch of maps of Antarctica. Some good, some not-so-good.
Luke
Sono felice di vedere che vi siete sistemati e che state vivendo appieno la vostra avventura al “FRRREDDDDO”! Spero che proseguiate questo bellissimo blog arrichendolo quando potete di foto belle come quelle che avete inserito fino ad adesso.
Spero che luciana abbia proseguito il suo impegno all’uncinetto!!!! Anche se non so se ha avuto abbastanza tempo.
Noi tutti bene, un bacio da tutti (anche il piccolo Enrico) ed A PRESTO:
Chiara
I’d be happy to send a box of goodies…what do you guys miss most? I may send it from the US or I may wait until I’m in NZ as it may reach you much quicker that way. I won’t be there until early December, though.
I’ve enjoyed the log and all of the pictures…its making me consider a trip to one of the southern islands while in NZ–not quite the same, but as close as I will get on this upcoming trip.
As the address is actually a US military APO if you sent a package from NZ it would go first to the US then back to NZ before it was airlifted to McMurdo. It is also better to use a re-inforced envelope rather than a box if possible because it is processed as a letter rather than a package. I’ll talk to Luci and let you know what we come up with. Thanks for your enthusiasm.
a south pole haiku for you:
careful what you fix
when floating on a snowcone,
you could lose an eye.