In my two previous visits to the interior of the frozen continent, I found that the main thing to learn is PATIENCE. Things rarely happen on schedule in the most inhospitable place on earth. So we waited at the hotel from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. for the first call as to whether we were going today. At 9:45 Richard delivered the news. The next update would be at 1:30. I walked into the center of town to pick up some sunscreen and got back for the next briefing. Again, no go. Next one is 4:30. I headed out to get some lunch with Ray from Wisconsin, Chris (Krzyzstof) from Poland, Taco from the Netherlands, Ladislav from Czechoslavakia, and Michael from Germany. A couple beers and a burger at Lomit's were just what we needed.
It's Tuesday, 29 November, and the original schedule is to fly to the Antarctic today, and run on Wednesday. Every update slows down the mission just a little bit more. We're in "wait and see" mode right now.
The 4:30 briefing came at closer to 5:00. The next call would be at 7:30, but Richard was speculating that we'd probably end up going early in the morning. Brent and I headed into the hotel restaurant to grab a bit of cerveza, soon to be joined by Ladislav. We let people know where we were so they could come in and let us know any news.
6:55--Good news! We're heading out. Be in the lobby at 7:30. We packed up, checked out, and loaded up the bus for the airport. In the history of this event, this is the first time that it has ever left on the day it was scheduled.
Flashback - 2007. My attempt to set the world record in around 25 days was right on schedule. Sunday before Thanksgiving in Beirut. Thanksgiving day in Atlanta, the next Sunday in Florence, Italy. Saturday in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the next Saturday in Wanganui, New Zealand, and crossing the date line to run in Vina del Mar, Chile on Sunday. I arrived in the wee hours of the morning to Punta Arenas to leave on Monday to Antarctica. An unusual period of snow was delaying everything. For eight days, we waited to fly to the ice. My mission to run seven continents was successful, but the world record was still belonged to Richard Takata.
Given the lateness of the hour, chances of running the marathon on Wednesday were still pretty slim, but at least we'd be in position. We went through airport security as a formality, but they drove the bus around back and loaded us on and drove us to the plane.
This is not your basic commercial flight. In fact, it's a Russian Ilyushin 76 cargo plane, and we're part of the cargo. The inside of the airplane has no paneling to hide the wires, pipes, and insulation. There are instrument panels out in the open, a little restroom that's fairly rudimentary up front. They reached down and pulled up the ladder and hung it inside the door.
The whine of the engines Russian Iluyshin airplane grew louder and they finally closed the door. We were off. Flight time to Union Glacier--about 4 1/2 hours.
I was sitting beside Linh, her face lit up, totally geeked at the prospect of visiting Antarctica. Being in an airplane like the one we were in added to the sense of adventure--hoping that everything was airworthy, going to a place totally unknown to nearly everyone on the planet. It was a mixture of joy, excitement, and fear of the unknown. At about 2:20 a.m. we felt the wheels touch down onto the blue ice runway. We coasted for a long time--normal brakes are useless on ice. Finally we settled and the door opened.
It's Tuesday, 29 November, and the original schedule is to fly to the Antarctic today, and run on Wednesday. Every update slows down the mission just a little bit more. We're in "wait and see" mode right now.
The 4:30 briefing came at closer to 5:00. The next call would be at 7:30, but Richard was speculating that we'd probably end up going early in the morning. Brent and I headed into the hotel restaurant to grab a bit of cerveza, soon to be joined by Ladislav. We let people know where we were so they could come in and let us know any news.
6:55--Good news! We're heading out. Be in the lobby at 7:30. We packed up, checked out, and loaded up the bus for the airport. In the history of this event, this is the first time that it has ever left on the day it was scheduled.
Flashback - 2007. My attempt to set the world record in around 25 days was right on schedule. Sunday before Thanksgiving in Beirut. Thanksgiving day in Atlanta, the next Sunday in Florence, Italy. Saturday in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the next Saturday in Wanganui, New Zealand, and crossing the date line to run in Vina del Mar, Chile on Sunday. I arrived in the wee hours of the morning to Punta Arenas to leave on Monday to Antarctica. An unusual period of snow was delaying everything. For eight days, we waited to fly to the ice. My mission to run seven continents was successful, but the world record was still belonged to Richard Takata.
Given the lateness of the hour, chances of running the marathon on Wednesday were still pretty slim, but at least we'd be in position. We went through airport security as a formality, but they drove the bus around back and loaded us on and drove us to the plane.
This is not your basic commercial flight. In fact, it's a Russian Ilyushin 76 cargo plane, and we're part of the cargo. The inside of the airplane has no paneling to hide the wires, pipes, and insulation. There are instrument panels out in the open, a little restroom that's fairly rudimentary up front. They reached down and pulled up the ladder and hung it inside the door.
The whine of the engines Russian Iluyshin airplane grew louder and they finally closed the door. We were off. Flight time to Union Glacier--about 4 1/2 hours.
I was sitting beside Linh, her face lit up, totally geeked at the prospect of visiting Antarctica. Being in an airplane like the one we were in added to the sense of adventure--hoping that everything was airworthy, going to a place totally unknown to nearly everyone on the planet. It was a mixture of joy, excitement, and fear of the unknown. At about 2:20 a.m. we felt the wheels touch down onto the blue ice runway. We coasted for a long time--normal brakes are useless on ice. Finally we settled and the door opened.
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