It’s not Cleveland, it’s Papanui! Home of Cleveland Chinese Takeaway and Wisconsin Burger (franchises available).
Hello all, I made it to Christchurch yesterday afternoon, after 28 hrs of flying (Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney to Christchurch. It’s never comfortable to sit on a plane for 17 hours (that DFW to SYD leg) but I slept pretty well, and that makes a big difference. Had a reasonable (not excellent) night sleep last night as well; lights were out around 10, woke up at 2 and 4 (8 and 10 east coast US time) and finally got out of bed about 4:45. That’s close enough to my “workable minimum” that I should be fine today, and I’ll plan to take a nap in the afternoon.
At about 8:45 I’ll catch a super shuttle van to the clothing distribution center (CDC) to get my flu shot paperwork checked, my laptop scanned, stash my bag of stuff I don’t need before McMurdo, and check out whatever field clothing I need. I’m part of a special pilot program this year where PIs with extensive experience can supply their own outerwear instead of using the normally required issued clothes. There’s still one thing I need from the CDC though, and that’s the big rubber boots we call “Bunny Boots”. I bought my own on eBay a few months ago, new and my size but a little narrow, and they are just tight across the instep to worry me. Complicating matters is that the military makes two types of bunny boots, a black type that’s slightly less insulated (suitable for the Arctic) and a white type that’s more insulated (and thus more common in the Antarctic). I like the black type a lot more than the white ones; I have “hot feet” (lucky me) so I don’t need the extra insulation and many of the latter have a big bulbous “nose” on them (some contractor being clever) that I trip over sometimes. This probably sounds a little trivial to some, but I’m sure many of you understand that a 10% increase in boot comfort can make a 100% improvement in a trip like this. I’ve used the bunny boots since my second trip in 1988 and for me they’re perfect.
I’ve got about 3 hours of morning to kill now- it’s about 6 am locally, I’m drinking my usual chai tea, the sun is just now shining in my window and a gorgeous chorus of songbirds is heralding the day. Not a bad time to catch up on internet chores, and then repack again and again as usual.
Oh, and if the pic and caption don’t make sense to you, it’s because you don’t know I live and work in Cleveland and grew up in Wisconsin. Papanui (the suburb of Christchurch where most of us typically stay) is a welcoming second home for me.
UPDATE at 2 pm CHC time- all the clothing and indoctrination stuff went smoothly. On the schedule for the morning, scheduled pickup at the hotel of 5:45 am. Everyone pray for nice weather in McMurdo!
-posted by Ralph from beautiful NZ