More Adventures on the Cape Evans Road
As promised, here are some more pictures from the Cape Evans trip:
Here I am standing out on the sea ice. In the “summer” those rocks in the background are islands. They form a great big ring, and are part of the caldera of an extinct volcano. Little black dots in the background = penguins!!
My co-worker Aaron took this picture of the penguins - next time I come down I’m bringing a much better camera, like the one he brought.
Here is the hut, looking from the back side, out to sea. The mountains in the distance are the Royal Society Range, and all the area between the mountains and the hut is frozen ocean.
The day after we went out, a grantee group was taking a tracked truck out to their field site when they radioed in that their truck was on fire. Some folks managed to get some pictures of it, and here they are:
Here’s the truck burning. This picture was (obviously) taken from a helicopter.
By the time anyone could get to the truck, this was what was left:
Surprisingly, it burned fast and thoroughly, so it really didn’t melt far into the ice.
So that’s all from McMurdoland today…hope all are well and I love all the comments!!
PS Sexy Beans rock!!!!!
Never a dull moment “on the ice”.!
Got the Versa today, it’ll be in the garage tomorrow after Lisa and I clean out some of the last of the stuff. We went to lunch with your folks today and talked about a little of everything. Hope you’re having fun, just be sure to not start smoking and, if you have to, not to do so in a truck in the middle of the Antarctican wastes!
“Boy Howdy!” -James Bennett
WOW! What happened to the truck to make it catch fire??? James wants to know if it was terrorists. Uuum, yeah so he’s crazy. Anyways, glad you’re having fun - those penguins are so darn cute!
I blame the penguins. Seriously. Haven’t you seen “When Penguins Turn”? Don’t trust ‘em, next thing you know you’ll be waking up upside down in a museum with klaxons blaring, wearing nothing but a pair of mechanized trousers and a giant blue diamond dangling from your helmet!
I’ll bet they’re the ones claiming that volcano was “extinct” too. They always say that, just before it blows!
Wowza, though. Fantastic pics. Somehow I think taking an F-150 down to Antarctica, ripping off the wheels and replacing them with treads, and driving it on sea ice is bound to void the warranty. Day-amn that had to suck! (Not as badly as Scott’s little expedition, but still …)
Good to see you getting pics of “me on the ice” - I always forget to have my picture taken to prove I was anywhere. Geez, some people, eh?
Niki says he wants you to bring a penguin back for him to play with. I keep telling him it’s not gonna happen, but hey, if you find room in your bags …
— Dave
Hi everyone!
With the truck, apparently there was a leak of some sort that caused the engine to catch fire…and that’s not a cheap piece of machinery. The tracks alone apparently cost $25,000 and there was a bunch of scientific equipment in the back that was really expensive too.
It wasn’t terrorists, but the science group to whom this happened is about as close as we can get. I can’t be too specific but this particular group has wreaked some pretty good havoc on station, most of it accidental.
Just an FYI, the car is in the garage, repeat, the car is in the garage! The Blue Car Group is ready to perform!
Love the penguin pics, talk about cuteness beyond belief! I’m assuming more penguins will appear once the sea ice melts? I think Dave might be onto something—I’d be keeping an eye out for a suspicious penguin wearing mechanical pants, he may have something to do with that truck fire. Though I think you might need an inventive but soft-spoken canine to track him down.
It was great seeing your folks on the weekend. The Versa is safe and snug in the garage – the whole Blue Car Group in one garage together is quite the sight to behold.
Ciao,
Lisa
“As close to terrorists as you can get”, eh? Why, ask me again, why am I not surprised?
I can totally understand not being able to post incriminating details, sadly, but damn, can’t wait to hear stories when you get back! Bet AAA was NOT happy to hear from them …
Lisa, Jason: putting treads on the Versa is a bad idea. No matter how bad the snow gets, don’t do it!
– Dave
Treads on the Versa? Nah, we’re just planning on going out and doing donuts tomorrow in our first snow storm! Hey, Hwy 24 and Woodmen from Falcon are supposed to be great ice tracks, let’s see what this Versa can do!