Where am I? Good question! I am at McMurdo Station on Ross Island in Antarctica. But wait, there was a flight today! So this morning I get up at about 0300 and repack my bags making sure I am happy with everything. Then it was off to the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) deployment terminal to check in at 0530. At the terminal, I was with about 75 other travelers for the 0900 C-17 flight from Christchurch, New Zealand to McMurdo. This is about a 5.5 Hour flight in total, so about the same distance/time to fly from Washington DC to Los Angeles. What many of you might not realize, but Antarctica is a about one and a half times the size of the United States. It is a huge continent that is covered in ice, in some cases up to two miles thick of ice! Oh, I got distracted with details didn't I. Okay, back to the flight. So I grabbed a side wall seat, my usual in these type of aircraft. Something about sitting on the skid doesn't work with me..... For those who don't understand, the skid is the center where all the cargo is loaded. The seats you see in my pictures below (seats in the center) are all on a metal plate that is slid onto the skid. This means that you move around a bit, in this case they moved around a bit more than usual. It just doesn't work for me. although I did hear one person ask - "what would happen if they opened the back bay door?" I laughed as the person next to him said - "we get a quick trip down to the ice below. But at least we'll have comfortable seats!" Anyway, can you tell I'm tired yet??
So the flight went very well and I even got up into the cockpit to take some pictures and talk to the pilots a bit. Yes, we are all 8 years old when we enter a cockpit on a C-17, or C-130, or C-5, or anything that big that flies! I was no exception and loved every moment of it! We had an uneventful flight, the kind you want, and we landed on the Ice Runway just outside of McMurdo. Ice Runway...yes, you heard that correctly. This is a runway built on a sheet of sea ice. This means that there is some thick ice that on top of about 5,000 feet deep of water, and we land a C-17 on it. Yes, you are correct, it is entirely too cool! :) I don't smile, but look at this picture...I'm smiling standing next to that plan on the ice. I have to admit, life does not suck and is anything but boring some days.
Other than getting a few beautiful pictures, My Friday is coming to an end. It is 2033 (8:33PM) on Friday from me. This means that my brain is fried and my typing is probably gibberish right now, you can be the judge of that.
I will be updating almost every day now that I'm here. I plan to add pictures to every posting. The only exception to posting daily is if I'm at a field camp, and well, there isn't any Internet in a tent in the middle of Antarctica where you had to take a helicopter to get there.... ;) Yes, can't wait for that either. Until later......
Catbert and I - Ready to go!!
People loaded like cargo. :)
Yes, 8 years old.....
From the cockpit. Too cool.
I'm smiling! Who wouldn't????
That long thing is the "bus" we took from the Ice Runway to McMurdo.
This is just too cool. I want one!
Just here because it's pretty.....
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