This is it: Station Close. We waved at our last departing airplane and got the traditional wing-waggle as it disappeared in the North towards McMurdo on the coast. Everybody who's going to be here is here, everybody who wasn't planning to winter is gone. Catastrophes aside, we won't see another airplane (aside from a couple Australian Twin Otters going home next week) until late October. No more mail, no more supplies, no nothing! Now we find out how well prepared we are. Me, I'm feeling pretty good: got plenty of socks and underwear, a bunch of silly stuff to pull out at different times, some projects to work on. My co-workers are cool, the whole winter crew has a good feel, and our cooks are AWESOME. I thought we were eating well all summer....OH my goodness. Forget losing weight.
Temps are dropping (-49F right now), the sun is getting low. Most of us in some form or another have been looking forward to this for the last 4 months. It was sad saying goodbye to all of our summer friends but each big departure left the station feeling lighter. There were some shifts: one friend picked up a winter job at the last minute, another friend NPQ'd with back trouble and had to leave.... well that happens, it's lousy but giving up a winter here is better than risking being crippled with an untreated back problem.
Last week was nutty with all the summer folks packing up and getting ready to go, we worked all weekend and today (Monday) is our day off. We're all ready to calm down and settle in. I've been back working the radios since they started shipping out the Comms staff early last week, now all the pros are gone and it's us amateurs doing backup flight following for the McMurdo flights (they won't close there until next week). We're off fulltime operations for the winter, it sure is odd walking in here and finding Comms dark and quiet - all summer there's always someone here and something going on. Once McMurdo closes, I'll be back on the computers. Plenty of work to do, also plenty of time to do it in.
I had my 5-day vacation in McMurdo, big town! It was fun and I got to sleep lots and take plenty of showers, but I was happy to get back here. McMurdo has the scenery but South Pole is home, well for now.
Okay that's enough words, I'll write more once we've settled into our winter routine. Will we go up to 3 showers a week?? Stand by.
Best,
-Sarah
ps - a couple people I don't know have joined the list lately, can you drop me a note? I'm curious about the people who find me.