Road Trip

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I am back from my most recent roadtrip. I loaded up the Tesla and started letting the hands-off Full Self Drive (FSD) supervised take me to points North. First stopping in a campground in Tennesee and up to Pittsburgh for the CIDM Convex Conference (which was the best conference in years). There was a celebration of the 20 years of DITA XML. I was an earlier adopter. My presentation went well and I semi-stealth launched wisdomino. I demo'd some extra cool software we developed and will be selling in weeks to come. It's truely game changing. Of course, there will be much more than that to come. After that it was on to Franklin, PA. to meet with some colleagues in the mining division and onto the farm stopping in Olean NY for the night. I am pretty sure it was the first time I had driven across the entire Allegany National Forest. I ended up driving through the very dark forest expanse during a night time thunderstorm. Although I normally trust the Tesla FSD on the Interstat...
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Trying to Reacclimatize in Upstate NY Winter right after return from Antarctica

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Today here in NY it was -12 F with a pretty good wind. It didn't feel very cold to me. The cold air as it comes into the lungs is quite familiar. The air is much more damp here and the snow is not as crisp as it would be at the same temperature in Antarctica. Even at -12 it feels damp. I do have to get some better winter clothes though. I respect the cold more than I used to. I see folks around here not preparing for the cold at all before they go out into it. I understand that the car will be warm in a few minutes and all that and it it is only a short walk between buildings. I guess the question is why suffer? Not dressing and getting cold even for brief periods is self imposed. If you get cold and you don't want to be cold something is wrong.

I wish I could summarize the last 4 months on the ice but that just won't be happening. I guess it was too big of a deal, too much to summarize. I will be trying.

I am off concentrating on some financial plans, aviation plans, and generally trying to get back to normal.

This picture is a self portrait crossing over to the ice pier. The windows on vehicles and building in Antarctica often crack from the cold and the sun heating them at the same time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
What kind of vehicle are you in? And why is the heat/vent all off?
1:42 PM
Charles said…
Dear Mr. KC2DXZ,

With a name like that I ma not suprised you have such technical questions. Is that a Dutch name?

The vehicle is an Airpoter Van with super gumbo monnster mudder tires that are prefered in Antarctica. There is a big heater in the back. All the people in there you probably don't need a heater. You will also notice the tuning knob has been removed from the radio since there are only two radio stations at McMurdo. No commercials.
10:16 AM
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