Wyoming and Idaho

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We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...

It is 5:00 AM. The shuttle will pick me up to take me to the USAP centre at the airport in 15 minutes. We all have to change into our ECW and hopefully we will launch at 9:00 AM. I am passenger number 62. Yes, they do stamp your passport and yes you have to have your baggage screeened. Antarctica is clearly (in) a strange political and regulatory "state". I can envision Washington folks wasting a lot of time worrying about the extreme exceptions of Antarctica for no real value as compared to worring about things stateside. The current weather at McMurdo is -5F with winds of only 7 mph. Visability is 7 miles. Sounds like a nice day except for the visibility. The flight takes about 6 hours. I am getting comfortable with the idea that I will be in Antarctica today. I think I got my computer working right yesterday. I did have to spend about an hour and a half connected for downloads via dial-up. I went to bed early and I am pretty refreshed at this point.

See you from the ice.

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