One small step...
10/18/04
9:32 PM NZT
Well, I’m here. We arrived at McMurdo just before 4 pm. At the end of the flight, I started eating a turkey sandwich from my lunch pack and about 4 or 5 big bites in, they came on the PA to tell us we were on final approach for McMurdo. I had to scramble to finish so I could put on clothes. I wasn’t expecting the landing and then all of a sudden the wheels touched down and there was an intense rumbling – an ice runway. I managed to throw on my parka, gloves, hat, sunglasses – the works. They opened the door, but we had to wait for about 5 minutes for the bus to arrive. As I made my way to the door, I patted the door frame and then looked outside.
At that moment I became euphoric. I was on an ice sheet. The ground outside was packed snow with treadmarks – all very flat. There were a few people moving around. I walked down the three steps off the airplane and just stood there dumbfounded. Right there on the horizon was Mt. Erebus and all around me were white mountains rising in the distance just beyond the flattest, whitest landscape imaginable. I just started smiling and saying to myself “holy shit, this is Antarctica”. It wasn’t even that cold. It was 7°F when we arrived, clear blue sky, bright sun. It was gorgeous. In a relative sense, it was like one of those rare 75° days in autumn in Providence. We walked about 60 feet to a waiting “bus” on tank treads. The words “IVAN the terra- something” were written in white paint near the door. We all boarded and headed to McMurdo. It really is like a small town. There are vehicles driving up and down the streets, pedestrians going from building to building. Only everyone is wearing bigass red parkas and sunglasses.
We went through a few briefings at the NSF chalet at McMurdo where they gave us our room keys. I couldn’t pay attention because I was still so overwhelmed. I wanted to just say “Hold on already, can we just look outside for 10 minutes and then deal with the logistical crap?”.
We are all in building 155, the main community center. It really feels like a dorm, only filled with scruffy looking men and women ranging from early twenties to fifties and even sixties. The room is a quad, two sets of bunk beds. So far there are three of us. A guy named Matt from West Virginia, heading to Byrd Station in a week; and a guy named Rudy who was on our flight and is another scientist. It is a little awkward, so far, mostly because we have been getting settled. Adam and Doug are in a room together. After we checked into our rooms, Adam and I went to the housing people to try to switch my room to theirs. It would have required minimal effort, and apparently the housing people are notoriously lazy, so of course my request was denied, because “all beds were filled”.
Then we went to dinner. It was so reminiscent of the ratty. Cafeteria style, grab your tray, grab your food, keep moving, grab a table, get your drinks. It was great. And all free, which makes me happy. All you can eat, whenever. I guess they figure, if you’re here, we’re going to feed you right. Dinner was lamb and pork with potatoes, veggies, some salad and other things. It was actually pretty good. Apparently not finishing your food is heavily frowned upon, which is understandable. Not only are you wasting resources, but you’re also creating more waste in the process. Charles, I think I’ll suggest the pocket rule to the cafeteria manager.
So we ate a lot of food. I was really hungry – I think my appetite is continually growing from all of this traveling. And…the best part, they have soft serve ice cream. So wonderful.
It was really interesting to observe the social dynamic. There were definitely a lot of people there who looked like blue collar workers. Electricians, carpenters, plumbers, maintence guys, etc. There were also many women, although a lot of them were “claimed” by men. We must look like the uppity scientists to most of these people. Now I understand what Adam was talking about, and why Jim and Dave have talked about winning them over (especially the helo pilots). It seems like we shouldn’t have to do that to get things accomplished, but I guess that’s just the nature of the beast. Adam attributes it to Ratheon’s recent takeover of the USAP. I think he’s probably right.
So we finished dinner and headed out to the Berg Field Center (BFC) where all of our field equipment is stored in a big cage. There was a ton of crap in there. We found some sleeping gear for our training school tomorrow and loaded all of our bags into the cage. We got a chance to ride in a jacked-up monster truck-esque ford passenger van on the way to the BFC. They also have trucks here with these awesome tread things in each wheel well. They are like these little triangles of tread attached to each axle instead of wheels. Badass.
It is so weird to walk around at 8:00 pm when it constantly feels like late afternoon. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but it is really strange. I’m glad we don’t have a window in our room. It’s going to be very disorienting at first in the field.
We went into the Crary Science Center to try to check email, but couldn’t get on a computer because they were making a call to the ISS. While that was very interesting, and on any other day, I would definitely have stuck around, today was an exception. We came back here and I finally got a chance to gather my thoughts and unpack some stuff.
And now I’m writing this, tired as all hell. I can’t even do justice to all of my thoughts and emotions during that first half hour after landing. I will never forget stepping off of that airplane. Surreal.
The view from Ivan the Terra-bus of the C-17 on the ice runway being unloaded.
9:32 PM NZT
Well, I’m here. We arrived at McMurdo just before 4 pm. At the end of the flight, I started eating a turkey sandwich from my lunch pack and about 4 or 5 big bites in, they came on the PA to tell us we were on final approach for McMurdo. I had to scramble to finish so I could put on clothes. I wasn’t expecting the landing and then all of a sudden the wheels touched down and there was an intense rumbling – an ice runway. I managed to throw on my parka, gloves, hat, sunglasses – the works. They opened the door, but we had to wait for about 5 minutes for the bus to arrive. As I made my way to the door, I patted the door frame and then looked outside.
At that moment I became euphoric. I was on an ice sheet. The ground outside was packed snow with treadmarks – all very flat. There were a few people moving around. I walked down the three steps off the airplane and just stood there dumbfounded. Right there on the horizon was Mt. Erebus and all around me were white mountains rising in the distance just beyond the flattest, whitest landscape imaginable. I just started smiling and saying to myself “holy shit, this is Antarctica”. It wasn’t even that cold. It was 7°F when we arrived, clear blue sky, bright sun. It was gorgeous. In a relative sense, it was like one of those rare 75° days in autumn in Providence. We walked about 60 feet to a waiting “bus” on tank treads. The words “IVAN the terra- something” were written in white paint near the door. We all boarded and headed to McMurdo. It really is like a small town. There are vehicles driving up and down the streets, pedestrians going from building to building. Only everyone is wearing bigass red parkas and sunglasses.
We went through a few briefings at the NSF chalet at McMurdo where they gave us our room keys. I couldn’t pay attention because I was still so overwhelmed. I wanted to just say “Hold on already, can we just look outside for 10 minutes and then deal with the logistical crap?”.
We are all in building 155, the main community center. It really feels like a dorm, only filled with scruffy looking men and women ranging from early twenties to fifties and even sixties. The room is a quad, two sets of bunk beds. So far there are three of us. A guy named Matt from West Virginia, heading to Byrd Station in a week; and a guy named Rudy who was on our flight and is another scientist. It is a little awkward, so far, mostly because we have been getting settled. Adam and Doug are in a room together. After we checked into our rooms, Adam and I went to the housing people to try to switch my room to theirs. It would have required minimal effort, and apparently the housing people are notoriously lazy, so of course my request was denied, because “all beds were filled”.
Then we went to dinner. It was so reminiscent of the ratty. Cafeteria style, grab your tray, grab your food, keep moving, grab a table, get your drinks. It was great. And all free, which makes me happy. All you can eat, whenever. I guess they figure, if you’re here, we’re going to feed you right. Dinner was lamb and pork with potatoes, veggies, some salad and other things. It was actually pretty good. Apparently not finishing your food is heavily frowned upon, which is understandable. Not only are you wasting resources, but you’re also creating more waste in the process. Charles, I think I’ll suggest the pocket rule to the cafeteria manager.
So we ate a lot of food. I was really hungry – I think my appetite is continually growing from all of this traveling. And…the best part, they have soft serve ice cream. So wonderful.
It was really interesting to observe the social dynamic. There were definitely a lot of people there who looked like blue collar workers. Electricians, carpenters, plumbers, maintence guys, etc. There were also many women, although a lot of them were “claimed” by men. We must look like the uppity scientists to most of these people. Now I understand what Adam was talking about, and why Jim and Dave have talked about winning them over (especially the helo pilots). It seems like we shouldn’t have to do that to get things accomplished, but I guess that’s just the nature of the beast. Adam attributes it to Ratheon’s recent takeover of the USAP. I think he’s probably right.
So we finished dinner and headed out to the Berg Field Center (BFC) where all of our field equipment is stored in a big cage. There was a ton of crap in there. We found some sleeping gear for our training school tomorrow and loaded all of our bags into the cage. We got a chance to ride in a jacked-up monster truck-esque ford passenger van on the way to the BFC. They also have trucks here with these awesome tread things in each wheel well. They are like these little triangles of tread attached to each axle instead of wheels. Badass.
It is so weird to walk around at 8:00 pm when it constantly feels like late afternoon. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but it is really strange. I’m glad we don’t have a window in our room. It’s going to be very disorienting at first in the field.
We went into the Crary Science Center to try to check email, but couldn’t get on a computer because they were making a call to the ISS. While that was very interesting, and on any other day, I would definitely have stuck around, today was an exception. We came back here and I finally got a chance to gather my thoughts and unpack some stuff.
And now I’m writing this, tired as all hell. I can’t even do justice to all of my thoughts and emotions during that first half hour after landing. I will never forget stepping off of that airplane. Surreal.
The view from Ivan the Terra-bus of the C-17 on the ice runway being unloaded.
posted by LankyPoobah at 9:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home