Drivin' in the Antarctic!

Finally after several weeks we have finished our D/O class. We took our final written exams the other day and then yesterday did the driving course and then pumping practical today. I had sprained my wrist pretty bad playing dodgeball a few days before the exam and had to take my entire written test, hydraulic calculations and all, with my left hand. It did remind me of how difficult writing, especially numbers, is for kids when they are first learning. I was exhausted by the time I finished. During the pumping evolution we flowed a couple of different length and diameter hoselines to different pressures and made new ice out near the transition. It was pretty fun and I'm so glad to be finished with the class. There were four people per shift in the class and I was the only one to pass the written tests on my shift the first time around. They all re-tested and then passed. Funny me, taking it seriously the first time around. :-) That night after passing the practical exams I went with the rest of the students to Gallagher's for a celebratory drink. When we arrived there we discovered it was karaoke night. I of course, did not sing, but it was hysterical to watch some of the others. Mostly I'm just so glad to be done with the class and get to have class-free days off again!

Today I'm out at station two again. There was the most amazing mirage this morning driving out. If I'm remembering correctly, the mirages are called Fata Morgana and they happen because of the dryness and cold...I think. Anyhow, they are different every day, sometimes appearing larger than at other times. Mt Erebus was steaming and looked just gorgeous. We also discovered the Antarctic scorpion out there this morning. Very rare indeed! Midway through the day we were notified that we needed to take a rig out to Willy Field for a C-130 to do a skied landing on the new packed snow runway. Lt. Myers (Trent), Sara and myself took Red 3 and headed out. We arrived and took our hard stand position waiting for the skier to arrive. Sara had packed reinforcements along and we had Pecan Sandies, tortilla chips and a nice cold bottle of water. Eclectic perhaps, but quite luxurious down here! The plane finally came into view and flew directly over us to check out the runway. They turned, circled around and landed a beautiful landing. Once on the ground they circled around out past us to head back to the end of the runway. Sara and I were standing outside the rig on the mat and the tip of the wing came about 15 ft away from us as they taxied by. They were all waves and smiles and we were too. It was pretty cool to be so close! After they passed we were immersed in a jet wash of snow from the engines. They taxied back around and took off flying off and out over White Island and back to the Ice runway. I found out afterwards that the Air Force ARFF inspectors that were here around the station the day or two prior were on the plane. That made all the cheery waving and all make much more sense. We headed back to the ice runway for the rest of the day and night of hard-stands with singing and dancing in our seats. At one point along the drive we stopped, hopped out and decided to try to lift more than the legal 40-lbs. We did wear our hearing and eye protection though so we should be covered for the safety guy down here. Hah! We all had such a fun crew together and just laughed and were completely goofy the entire 24 hour shift. It was a hoot!!