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Is anyone coming down at Winfly?We’ve just got the news that the first flights at the end of August will be C-17’s. Somewhere in the photo on the front page is the story of when I got to fly down on one. For all of you coming this year forget all those photos of people crammed into a c-141 like sardines. Instead imagine being able to stretch your legs out as far as you want and having room to walk around. You are in for a real treat.
mike
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]Well here I am, a few weeks from Winfly and for the first time in 2 years I wont be going to the airport on the 15th of August..[/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]How sad and hard of a decision this was to not return to the ice this year. I have thought many many nights about returning to the winter wonderland of Antarctica. The past 2 years I have met some amazing people down at McMurdo and miss them all very much. It seems just like yesterday I was having dinner with Mike and Lori Poole in the galley at Mactown. Maybe this winter we will have dinner together in Baltimore when you come to visit your family.. I miss all of my friends from the fire department, in the realm of emergency services you really make friends quick and learn to trust one another because your lives depend on it.. this is taken to the next level at Mcmurdo where you live, eat and work together for 6 months straight. [/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]I cant forget my Russian friends from Vostok, how cool it was this last year to drink Russian vodka with real Russians! let alone open our cultures and lifestyles to one another and laugh and feel the warmth of fellow mankind.. To learn the things I did and to hear the stories of Russian culture.. to hear how the American “icons” like toys and brand name sneakers are a premium there.. Something as simple as a harry potter toy for a 5 year old boy makes him the “cool kid” in school for a long long time.. Thanks barb and Steve for the harry potter legos! Alan’s son also thanks you![/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]Oh it seems like just yesterday I was chasseing penguins off the runway at Willy Field, now I turn the reigns over to another Pennsylvanian from the Allentown Fire Department who will take the trip this season to the ice for his own adventure with the Antarctic Fire Department.. good luck Steve![/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]Where does this leave me.. I am back home here in PA working for the County of Lehigh, Emergency Management Agency.. I also was recently appointed as Public Safety Training Coordinator for the Lehigh Carbon Community College where I am responsible for fire and rescue training programs for the area. I am living in a small suburb of Bethlehem, PA called Fountain Hill. My girlfriend Becca and I share a apartment in an old converted 1880’s mansion high on the hillside overlooking south Bethlehem. [/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]I look forward to hearing the adventures of all my ice friends as they return to and depart from the ice this season.. I wish the best of luck to all who are returning to the ice and miss all of you, My little sister I never had Erika.. good luck.. I hope to see you when you get back.. remember your good Christian values hehe![/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]For those of you, my ice pal’s feel free if you ever make it to Eastern side of the US, look me up, like Motel 6.. “I’ll leave the light on”, my office phone number is 610-782-3970.[/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]And to whom ever this email finds I bid you a temporary farewell, the Antarctic adventure is not over, never will it be, but on hold for a year or so.. [/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]From the warm humid steel jungle of Eastern PA Cheer’s[/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]Chris Post[/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]USAP 01-02 / 02-03[/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof]Chris Post
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Lehigh County Emergency Management
Allentown, PA
United States Antarctic Program
McMurdo Station Antarctica
Federal Emergency Management Agency
PA-TF1 — Urban Search and Rescue
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E-Mail: n3sig@arrl.net
Office: chrispost@lehighcounty.org
________________________________[/font:3aq19nof]
[font=Arial:3aq19nof][/font:3aq19nof]
I think I already know the feeling Chris. For all of you that don’t know, Lorie and I are going to take off the next year from the Antarctic Program. It’s already a little sad listening to everyones plans for next winter, knowing we won’t be a part of it.
Granted wintering in Antarctic isn’t for everyone. We take the isolation from our families for granted, knowing fully well that they accept they won’t see us for a year or more. And the cold temperatures and 4 month long winter night seem normal to us. What a shock it always is to be back in green when we leave. Not to mention rain and the smell of flowers.
Quickly we get back to reality. Lorie and I will be renting a house in the North Island of New zealand for a month or so and then it’s off for a few weeks on a tropical coral island called Rarotonga before heading home to california .sooner or later we’ll be back in Baltimore to pick up our camper. Hopefully we’ll have a nice enjoyable ride across america as we bring the camper back to California. It will be spring and early summer and we’ll be taking the WARM southern route.
Well back to reality. There is a storm going on and the base is hosting a wine tasting at the coffee house.
time to go.
mikeHey mike and Lorie!
This is lisa jean seending love and warm thoughts as the sun returns and winfly commences!!
I finished all of the work for my masters – just working on my thesis now –
Spent a bit unde a month in rural cambodia (most of it is) helping build a bridge between a road and a fmaily’s home on stilts etc – quite an experience….but that is my only major adventur until my thesis is done….hopefully soon!
are you returning to states this fall or staing on?!
where will you wind up on your next adventure?
please be in touch –
lj (:
gypsygene@aol.comLJ
Your ears must have been burning. I was just talking about you with Kaci yesterday afternoon.
Lorie and I are leaving the ice in Oct. We’re doing the pacific island tour till mid Dec. Then to southern Ca. for 2 months. In Feb we’re going to Baltimore to visit relatives and pick up the camper. Once it warms up we’ll drive back across the country and eventually head up the west coast towards the Canadian border. Maybe we’ll cross paths.
mike
Pardon my ignorance, but what is “Winfly?” The after winter fly-in or something like that? Seems to be an event of some importance.
I think winfly is an acronym for winter fly-in. It’s the first flights of the season usually starting on the day the sun first comes over the horizon. With a little bit of light the flight crews can see the runway and it’s a bit safer than coming in twilight.
This year we had three flights. The first was delayed a day by a severe winter storm. The rest came in on time, but the last flight was close to being canceled for ground fog which sometimes forms at very low temps and no wind.
mikeWinfly is more of a season than the actual airflight. The McMurdo year can be divided into
Winfly from August to October. It’s and early contingent of people that come in 6 weeks early to help get the buildings opened up and the ice runway constructed.
Mainbody is the main summer season when all the science takes place. It starts in early October and usually ends towards the end of February. The day the last plane leaves is called Station Close and flight is just called Last Flight.
Winter begins at Station Close and lasts until either Winfly or Mainbody depending on your contract.
Ever since the B-15a iceberg grounded on the north side of Ross Island the ice in McMurdo sound has been getting thicker instead of melting like normal. This has played havoc with the process of the icebreakers cutting a channel for our annual supply ship. This year it took until Mid-March to get the last plane out. I would imagine if the ice doesn’t melt that will happen again this year.
Sometimes they call these late summer seasons reverse Winfly.
Two years ago we had a medical emergency and the flew in a very late plane on april 20th, the last day of sunlight. That flight was just called the Medivac.
mikeHi all,
I just received my deployment info. I leave Colorado on Oct 10th and spend 4 days in Christchurch before going to the Ice on the 17th. I should be staying in Mactown for a week before going on to Pole.
I have been working long hours on my house trying to finish it before I leave (my poor wife is going to have a lot of work to do to finish it afterwards…..)
I spent seven days with 44 of my fellow winterovers at outward bound and fire school.
It was awesome…what a great group of people.
Now I’m trying to figure out what to bring for 13 months away from home.
Best Wishes,
Prairie Dog.Hey Prarie Dog
it looks like I’m going to miss you. I’m leaving on the 15th. Such is life.
We’ll cross paths in another year. I’m off for a year so you are welcome to keep the message board going for me while I’m traveling.
mikeSorry I’m going to miss you Mike,
You have been a big help to me and others as I have gone through the process of getting ready to go to the Ice.
I was looking forward to meeting you.
I bet you must be ready for a vacation after your year at Mactown.
It must be hard when winfly happens and your world gets so hectic again after a quiet winter.
I wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy your time off.
What are your plans?
Prairie Dog.I’ll be in Christchurch on the night of the 15th weather permitting . Staying at either Thomas’s or the YMCA. If we run into each other I’ll buy you a sendoff drink. Lorie and I will drop into Bailey’s now and then. That’s the “Antarctic” bar. right in the square, you can’t miss it.
have a great trip.
mike
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