We woke up so excited this morning to a beautiful McMurdo day. Skies were warm and clear. Johnny, Steve, Barbara and I got all of our things together, put our ECW gear on, and marched up the hill to catch our shuttle to the runway. We knew we were in for a long wait when we stopped to pick up our air crew. It was fun to make our way out to the runway, going past Scott Base and the big pressure ridges, out across the ice, past a looming Mount Erebus (a big stratovolcano), today clear of clouds, and out to the Pegasus runway. We waited in the pax terminal, which is a big trailer near the runway, and got to see one of the big, beautiful Basler aircraft up close, seen here from the backside. I was in the ladies room and heard some runway workers talking about a problem with one of the incoming Hercs (LC-130s) that couldn’t get the skis on its landing gear down. They scrambled the emergency landing crew (shown here with the big Royal Society mountains across the ice sheet in the background), and eventually landed just fine on wheels. I emerged from the restroom to see an approaching van, with the driver telling me my flight was – canceled-! – and to get in the van with the rest of my gang. I may have shared my feelings too freely… Well, that’s life in Mactown, flights are canceled all the time for various reasons, there are just so many variables to getting out into the field. We still don’t know why we were canceled, but we’re hopeful for getting out tomorrow. Luckily we came back to taco lunch and cookie Wednesday! And naps…

-posted by Jani from McMurdo