4th of July - Camping, Deer Babies, Wake Boarding

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We have had a new resident. Actually there several new residents. A deer decided to have her kids in the back yard. They are here often. I can see them from my Zoom Room, so I apologize if I seem a little distracted sometimes when I am on a video call. We went canoeing and camping in South Carolina. We were exploring without a lot of planning, so you get what you expect- adventure and discovery. We stopped by the Tallulah Gorge lookout. When I rode my motorcycle through the area in the early 80's, I vowed I would come back. And I have come back-- again. I ate my traditional moon pie there as well. The Tesla is a great camper. Charge the battery, run the AC and enjoy the filtered ventilated with a nice entertainment system. Crazy. The paddleing wasnt that good. We found ourselves in Lake Keowee. The camp ground was good if you speak Spanish, and only enjoy power sports on small boats. I am a bit disturbed by the new trend of wake boarding. Instead of skiing being towed by a ro...
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It is difficult to comprehend that I will be leaving in 5 days. I have three missions to complete and I have to finish up other stuff around here. Folks are starting to say goodbye. We are exchanging personal email addresses and talking more about plans off the ice. A lot of folks travel in the off season. I know people who are going the following places for extended periods of time: New Guinea, Indonesia, Africa, China, Mongolia, Tibet, Cook Islands, South America and others. It all appears to come to an end quite abruptly. I am a little apprehensive about being off the ice with all the traffic, advertisements, chaos and everything. I have not seen or heard a radio or television commercial in 4 months. I have not seen the night sky or the sun or plant life in the same time. It is hard to decide what I need to do before I am suddenly in New Zealand.

I have a feeling that my taxi driver in Christchurch will be an individual named Derrick. It was weird; when I was there 4 months ago it always turned out that he was my driver as I had to shuttle between my hotel and the USAP facility 4 or 5 times. He is a native looking kind of middle aged man with large sideburns, glasses and New Zealand cottny way of speaking. I am concerned about the traffic. I have heard stories of folks getting hit by cars just as they get off the ice, because of disorientation, excitement and cars on the weird side of the road.

I really missed the 24 hour internet access at pole. You get so accustomed to things. Although the connections are slow I can get quick answers to questions.

This picture was at pole. I like it because it is a good ol' Rochester Thermometer.

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