Searches And Snowmobiles

The last two days have been very much the same – fairly good weather (which means not too much wind), systematic searches and snowmobile issues. On the weather front, having little to no wind has been very welcome. It is much more pleasant to look for meteorites if you don’t have fifteen+ mile an hour wind sucking away all your warmth. Though, if the wind is to you back, it is not so bad. But the thing about the systematic searches on the snowmobiles, is that half the time you will be driving into the wind. The other thing about systematic searches on snowmobiles is that they work a whole lot better if your snowmobile is working. These last few days we have been plagued by a very finicky snowmobile. And, by we I mean Ryan. For whatever reason his snowmobile choses to randomly quit running. I think that in the last two days every engine part that can be replaced has been replaced. And, multiple satellite phone calls to the mechanics in McMurdo have not helped in determining the problem or a solution. I think that what has worked best has been a combination of appropriate cursing and removing and returning (but not replacing) the same part over and over. We may yet have to perform some sort of appropriate sacrifice to appease the snowmobile gods. In spite of the snowmobile troubles, our overall collection total has been steadily increasing. We have collected somewhere north of 230 specimens. Here is to more good weather and smooth running snowmobiles. Caption 1: Snowmobile and man down after the umpteenth stall of the engine. Caption 2: Trying to summon some yoga karma to help the snowmobile. Trust me when I say that the warrior pose (or any of them,for that matter) are not easy in four layers of pants, a big puffy coat and boots that way about four pounds each. – posted by Shannon, Jan 7, from the blue ice fields of Davis-Ward