End of a long haul

First of all, a picture of the Oden from the other day. They docked Saturday morning while I was at Pegasus, gave tours yesterday while I was at work, and left this morning. I am upset that I didn't get to see it close up, or go on it. Rotten timing.

Today is the last day of my 3 day work stint. I am glad, because I am tired. I need to make myself go to bed earlier.

Friday night I got an email that said I had to be ready to leave Station 1 for Pegasus by 0730. The flight that was supposed to come in Friday afternoon (full of congressmen for the South Pole Station dedication on Saturday afternoon) was postponed due to bad weather down here (the tail end of the system that dumped all the snow on us), so it was coming in first thing Saturday morning.

They made really good time, so at 0545 on Saturday morning, I got a page saying that we had to be ready to leave by 0630. I rushed to get ready, and was at the station on time, and left with Cassidy to do a truck switch, since Red 5 had been at the shop. We got to Station 2, and found that Red 5 had developed a coolant leak. We threw some pads under it, and he took Red 1, and I took Red 6. Red 6 has a transmission issue where it overheats if you go too fast. Saturday I discovered that if you go slow but the snow is too deep, you have the same problem. There is a temperature gauge in the cab so you can watch the transmission temperature, and if it gets too high, you need to stop and let it cool down. I had to stop 3 times. I finally made it out there, and we had to chase a penguin off the runway, which was barely accomplished before the C-17 came in. They flew over the runway and made a second approach, which sent the penguin scurrying for the open water.


All the congressmen (we call them DV's for Distinguished Visitors) got off the plane, pressed as much flesh as they could find, and in general bummed around looking cold until the LC-130 landed for them to go straight to the Pole. It's always surprising when a LC-130 and a C-17 are next to each other. You just don't realize how big the 17 is until you see it in comparison to something else you view as big.


After the DV's left, the medevac that had come from the Pole late Friday night was flown out to the airfield by a helicopter, and was loaded onto the C-17 along with all the other people heading home. The 17 took off and we headed to Station 2 for a late lunch, and were finally back in town by around 2pm.

I basically just bummed around the rest of the day, taking advantage of no truck assignment to take a quick shower and thaw out my toes, which had gotten a bit of frost-nip. I ended up getting assigned to go back out to Pegasus for the late flight, which was due in around midnight. The clouds were finally breaking up, and the sun was shining through with an orange hue, making the ice on the mountains sparkle. The pictures don't do it justice.


I got some sleep on the later flight, and finally got to bed around 0330 or so. We got woken up again shortly before 6am for a hydraulic fluid spill. It was a big spill. Because we can sleep late on Sundays, when we got back, I went back to bed for a few hours.

Sunday was my A shift day. I covered for one of the guys playing rugby, and though I was supposed to go to provide standby coverage, I got bumped and had to stay at Station 1. We did a few chores, and that was really it. I tried to go to bed early, but I just couldn't sleep, and ended up staying up till 1am. We had a call at about 6am this morning, and then another one at 0745. Now I'm at Station 2, and plan to catch a nap or 2. Got to get caught back up on sleep...flu is going around again.

I am a bit congested, it started last night. I can't wait to get to my room tomorrow and get some meds. I've started a nasty tickle in my throat, and I don't want it to turn into something else.