Ricky Bobby

Miles Advanced: 64                                                                                                                                         Weather: Heatwave, 25 Degrees                                                                                                                         Location: 443 Miles from McMurdo, Nearing the Transantarctics

Can’t believe the conditions we are having this year- to good to be true. We are doubling the miles we made (outbound) last year.

One of our crew (we will call him Ricky Bobby) loves racing. He even took racing ‘classes’ and loves it so much, he has magazines, books, and even audiobooks on the subject. Now put Ricky Bobby out here in a tractor and guess what he’s going to do- he’s going to race. Ricky can’t drive straight, he’s got to be weaving in and out of other tractors and will often ‘draft’ behind a load and then ‘slingshot’ himself to the front of ‘the pack’. All of this is going on at a whopping six miles an hour. Mind you, other members of the crew don’t know they’re racing, all they see is some lunatic weaving and passing for no particular reason.

When asked on the radio, “Hey Ricky, what are you doing?” The reply is usually,” Shake n’ Bake!”

Miles Advanced: 62                                                                                                                                          Weather: Sunny Morning, then Overcast, 20 Degrees                                                                                       Elevation: 290 ft.

Happy Thanksgiving! All is well on the homefront. We started the night off with an appetizer of canned salmon and water crackers, then on to the entrée- a savory TV dinner of Tube Turkey and cranberry sauce. We topped the night off with a box of wine and an amazing dessert- pumpkin pie with the crusts burnt off. An absolutely breathtaking meal.

Below is a pic of the crew during lunch break- 10 person crew, only 8 in the picture.

Miles Advanced: 57.5                                                                                                                                                Total Mileage: 564.7                                                                                                                                        Weather: Overcast, 24 Degrees

We are at the halfway point! Yes!!!

We could see the rocky bases of the mountains today but the peaks are still shrouded in mist, bummer. I’m looking forward to seeing these mountains as they are pretty stunning and they give perspective on how far we’ve gone.

Took our first turn today, a left turn, and it was wonderful- used my blinker and everything.

We saw a visible crack in the snow but the radar didn’t show a void so we continued on across it without mishap. The crack was perpendicular to the trail and went for miles. We should be nearing the ‘Shoals’ area pretty soon. It’s another place with known crevasses, so we’ll see if it’s moved any from last year.