100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

-
Image
We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
Post a Comment
-

Today I am supposed to leave the pole at 11:30 AM. Delays and flight changes are common. It is all part of the deal. They announce to the whole station when a plane takes off from McMurdo, when it gets to the last checkpoint and when it lands. So it is pretty easy to be there when you need to get on. All the LC-130s (hercs) unload and load hot at Pole. They do not shut the engines off. I have to say it is the first time I got off a running airplane. It is windy and there are a lot of fumes with those 4 big turboprops.

I still have a lot to do when I get back to McMurdo. The first thing is to take a shower. Showers are restricted to 2 minutes twice a week at pole. At McMurdo I can take as long as I want, but conservation is encouraged. In the deep field camps showers are basically impossible. It is so dry it really doesn't become a real problem.

I got this picture yesterday on my way out to the RF building. It is a piece of the C-130 that crashed here in the 1970s. They are digging it up so they can make the skiway longer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caribbean Trip Christmas 2025

-
Image
Before this trip I couldn't spell caribbean... It's a weird one. We didn't have a lot of time for this trip as usual. Other things in life besides travel to get done, like work. We planned Punta Cana Dominican Republic, Domenica, and Antigua and Barbuda. Our visit to DR was shortened by a cancelled flight on Liat Airlines. Our first flight on Liat we were at the ticket counter for 3 hours. There were only 3 other passengers on an Embraer 145 which holds 50. We learned in Dominica that Liat is short for "Leave Island Another Time". Or as I used my very limited Russian swearing vocaulary "Blyat" or "блядь". You can hear this word many times watching car crashes in Russia on Youtube. It is normally compounded with many other intensifiers. Of the three countries we liked Domenica best. It reminds me of Maui without all the tourism and people. Parts of the island might be the densest jungle I've seen. This pic is a improptu ...
Read more
-
Kim H Bliss Here is a neat article of a recurring theme I find my self considering. I mean where does technology end and science begin? Where is that table where philosophy, science, technogy and human existance all come to eat?
Read more
-
Image
It has been a while. I have fallen behind on many activities. I made another trip to my Mom's place in Rochester. This time I left the trailer at home. I am getting the place ready to rent. Property always looks worse when it is empty. You see defects in the paint and the carpet and all that. I will be headed back up in a couple of weeks to help Jeff get the place in shape. I am being very choosy on tenants. If there is one thing I have learned about being a landlord it is that the focus needs to be on high-quality tenants. I am a bit surprised how much use I have been getting out of the trailer even in the winter. I moved a Jeep for Douglas the other night on top of using it to move my Mom's stuff. My house capacity is near maximum. I literally have boxes stacked to the ceiling in the basement. When warehouse space gets over 70 percent to capacity (or so) efficiency is greatly diminished (interesting tidbit of information). It is a bit depressing. The pic of me and a cow...
Read more

Helen Elizabeth Raymond Dowdell

-
Image
My Mom died today. It happens. It is the way it is supposed to happen. I am her son, always. Our human lives are physical/emotional, everything else is an abstraction (unless you are from some sort of lizard species). Looking through some photos today, I decided I liked this one for my blog (originally posted in Sept 28, 2009). The subtlety in this pic (looking very closely) is that in my Mom's gaze is an aviation NAVAID "the white thing" usually invisible when flying. I have faith. The same faith you feel when your foot hits the floor getting out of bed or when you make a turn in traffic. I will grow my faith. I will drive and pull as I did as they all did as they prayed for my survival when I was born. God bless us all. Throughout my life I was reminded from strangers that MY Mom was a genuine caring healthcare provider. She sincerely touched thousands of lives in Western, NY. They may not remember her name. They will somehow remember her care. Today, it seems these day...
Read more