Another Message Home from Antarctica

Hello Mom & Dad,

Everything is going well here. We're pretty busy in this last week while we finish everything and start making sure everything is ready to leave for the year. I spent the entire day yesterday driving the 25 km back and forth from town to camp in a PistenBully (I don't have a picture yet, but it's a German made tracked vehicle) towing a 250 gallon fuel tank on tracks. The drive takes just over two hours but that thing will not get stuck anywhere down here!

Driving this was pretty fun but for everyone else it's pretty bumpy. It's also lacking in a way to play music or something, which it really needs. The sound of a loud diesel engine gets a bit old after 4 hours. They're not easy on fuel either; at about seven miles per gallon they're pretty thirsty.

There was a pretty funny issue when we were refueling for our second trip that caught us off guard. The 'Fuelhopper' truck came and refueled the 250 gallon tank we were towing (lovingly called the "Diesel Weasel") but he couldn't refuel the PistenBully directly because his fuel nozzle was too big. The guy drove off to go find a jerry can or something and Luke and I sat back in the PistenBully to warm up. We weren't there 30 seconds when we looked at each other and simultaneously and independently realized that the Diesel Weasel has an electric fuel pump with a smaller fuel nozzle on it. Why don't we just use that? Man, we're dumb... We just finish refueling the PistenBully by the time the Fuelhopper gets back to us and he tops off the Diesel Weasel again.

Here are two photos. A Skua bird, of which Wikipedia accurately describes the Skua's behavior as "piratical" when it harasses its victims; this one was chasing a group of white terns. It was an exciting and diverse day in Antarctica: two kinds of birds!

And the other is the stunning view from my tent when I'm going to bed out at Windless Bight camp. Nearly 15 km of snowfield and ice shelf stand between camp and the base of the mountain, just over 12,000 feet up treacherous ice falls and crevasses to a persistent lava lake at the summit. The peak just to the right of Mount Erebus is Mount Terra Nova, a now inactive volcano.

Glad to hear your trip to Arizona went well. It sure is nice to see such awesome people! The sun helps too, plenty of it here. Congrats to Dad with the 'first class' upgrade! We'll have to figure out how to get some pictures of you in the cockpit.

I haven't planned with Bear at all yet on the Christmas plans, but if Haley and I come down earlier then we can cram some chairs in my car. We'll figure it out. I return with plenty of time to plan.

Yesterday, we broke camp and double checked all of our equipment at the site. It has to sit there for a year all lonely but our work is done. Today, we have to check in and clean all of our issued gear and, my favorite, do dishes! We fly out to Christchurch tomorrow on a C130!

Busy day and I still haven't had breakfast yet.

Love you both!
Drew