Back to the "Deep South" in Duluth GA

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I get a kick out of hearing the term "Deep South" in 2026. It is a crazy incredibly outdated label. I think maybe I should start saying the "Deep Northeast". I am a Yankee. My family came over on the Mayflower and moved to Upstate NY via Connecticut. Terms used in the revolutionary and Civil war days are generally inappropriate. My family is all but totally out of NY State now. I find the term "deep south" to be of the same thinking that the movie "Heidi" is what contemporary Europe is like. Watching the fireworks in Rochester, NY from the back yard of a house in the city made it look like a real war zone. It is a long drive between Berkshire, NY and Duluth, GA. Most of the 35K miles on the truck were spent in between. I drove the truck about 3k miles in 2-1/2 weeks. It was great to spend time on the farm. It was good to make some progress on needed repairs and improvements. I also felt good about making some new friends up there. I will be...
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I wish I could upload more photos. I have so many photos and videos all in higher resolution. I was on top of Mt. 1882 today for about 4 hours. We were successful getting everything optimized to make internet access available to the scientists at Lake Bonney. The photos here show some penguins on Monday taken by a co-worker, me on top of Mt 1882 today, a gargoyal rock on top of 1882 today and a picture that my coworker took of the helo letting me out on top of 1882 with a 12x zoom (also today). It was a long way down. The equipment is right next to the lip so we can get a clear shot on 900 Mhz. We bent the yagi antenna down a little bit to help the path. You can see Mt. Coates in the background when you know which mountain is called Coates. After tomorrow we should be done with the dry valleys region of Antarctica for a while (until something breaks again). We will be moving on to the Penguin rookeries and the deep field camps.

I took a short video of my coworker talking on the phone on top of the mountain. I have been laughing just thinking about it.

I have an early launch tomorrow in the A-Star to get back up to Mt Coates. It should be a quick trip.

I believe you cannot drink enough water in Antarctica. With the activities I am doing staying hydrated is a challenge even if your weren't on the driest continent. Antarctica is the highest, dryest coldest continent on earth. I drink a minimum of 4 liters of water a day + other fluids. I worked out last night and the sweat just boils off you even when it is below zero F. It is a dry, dry place.

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