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Absolute Elsewhere
Amid the crazy bouncing of the cheek-to-jowl-to-banging your head on the roof as we careen our way back to town in the back of the Delta, I put my head down, close my eyes, and think about elsewhere....
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we’re okay
We were on a boat South of CHCH when the quake hit. Our stuff is all back in town, inaccessible on the 20th floor of the possibly damaged GC hotel. We’ve found beds in Ashburton for the night (thank...
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update – Wanaka Southbound
We’re safely in Wanaka with Polie friends. Buying some basics, then on to qtown for the night. Sounds like the Grand Chancellor back in CHCH is about to collapse with our stuff inside. Could be a lot...
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longer update, now that I’ve got a keyboard
Okay, to recap, now that I’m ensconced at an internet cafe with a real keyboard: We were on the outskirts of CHCH when the earthquake hit, with our rain gear, hiking shoes and a rental car with a full...
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Northbound
Souvenirs – our room key from the Grand Chancellor We’re in Christchurch briefly, between flights that will take us on to Auckland later this evening. Have I mentioned how Air New Zealand is...
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The adventure continues…
Chiounard says that the word “adventure” is overused. Something like “when everything goes to hell in a handbasket, that’s when the adventure starts.” The adventure keeps rolling right along here....
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Bragging Rights
Sit back for a few minutes and put yourself on autopilot while I toot my own horn a bit. Humble (ahem) as I am, I really can’t resist crowing about this: We’ve launched! By “we”, I mean the odd...
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The Day Sleeper (South Pole retrospective)
[I came across this from my stash of "unpublished South Pole Journal notes" and figured enough time has passed that I can post it safely. Those of you who haven't spent time on the ice or weren't...
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The Season that Wasn’t
Way back when, I wrote about not wanting to jinx my chances for a job at the South Pole by writing about it. Well, apparently, by not writing about it, I’ve jinxed the entire US Antarctic Program this...
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Lorien’s Crazy Day (and “Who Wants to Winter Over?”)
Three years ago today I was thinking about how crazy and complicated my life was. I was franticly throwing stuff together as I prepared to head down to the freakin’ South freakin’ Pole. Of the world....
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Rhymes with “Antarctica”
So, you remember when I brought the entire US government to a standstill and jeopardized the Antarctic Program’s 2013-2014 season? Yes, of course, I realize that there were other factors, but I’m...
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Peeking out from the Land of No Should
Sorry about dropping out of the blog mid-trip there. Well, it wasn’t really mid-trip – we were on our way to the airport to head home, and there was only one more post in the offing, about how much we...
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A Different Life, Again
I found myself thinking back to Kingman, Arizona this morning. It was about seven years ago that I found myself living there for a couple of weeks while finishing up my flight instructor rating. I had...
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It’s a Mystery…
The idea of rain hadn’t fully formed in my mind until it I was already half soaked by the thick wet barrage coming in sideways through the open window. I’d been stopped at a light, westbound on...
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Old Friends
Blue skies in the reflection of the USAP building as the storm passes STRONGER STORMS WILL PRODUCE FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH AND BRIEF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL...UP TO...
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An Abrupt End to Summer
In Dallas, the sun’s gone down, and the monitor says it’s still 90 degrees outside; it’s mid-thirties and snowing in Punta Arenas. But here, sitting on the ramp in what is ostensibly AA Flight 945,...
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Two Stops Before the End of the Earth
Torres del Paine (not my picture) the stuff we were flying in over. Lifted from Wikimedia Commons It’s not even six, but the sun is setting over the South Pacific as we descend into Punta Arenas. No,...
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My Ship Comes In
The snow’s gone by morning, or at least what the clock claims is morning. Sean and I meet for breakfast, peering out to sea, pick up the NBP coming in slowly, probably under the guidance of a harbor...
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The Size of the World
Sunrise over the Straits of Magellan Today, they tell us, is a fiesta. No one can tell us which fiesta, in fact no one seems to particularly care. But they are certain: today is a fiesta; all the shops...
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I’m on a Boat
Well, technically, a ship. What’s the difference? I asked our skipper, Captain Paoni, and he says that a “ship” is anything big enough to lift a boat onto. But he says he’s not a stickler, and there is...
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