The Holidays Are Here!

This is my second season being away from home during the holidays and I am finding being away from home easier than I did last year.  Knowing that I am able to call home and e-mail whenever I want to makes it easier and I also purchased gifts for my nieces and nephew before I left home for Antarctica.  It is weird being here away from all the tv commercials and all the holiday decorations from back home.    Some of the hall ways of dorms are decorated, there are decorations outside around town and even our work center is decorated, so you know Christmas is coming.  It just doesn't feel like it 2 weeks away.  Also with the holidays coming I will be switching shifts going from the Night Shift to Day Shift and will be on the down hill slide to my contract.

Since I last wrote anything we have changed airfields and are now working out of Pegasus 14 miles away.  I have been trained to drive the Kress vehicle, if you remember the big red machine that I post pictures of from last year.  I am looking forward to driving that more often as the season goes on.  I have been able to drive it twice this season and it is fun.  I was also able to this week to assist with securing two A-Star Helicopters for transport from town to Pegasus airfield so that they could fly out to PIG field camp.  Along with working with the two helicopters I was also responsible for palletizing all of the cargo that was needed for the helicopters to be able to fly once they reach their destination.  Which was challenging but also a great learning opportunity for me at the same time.  Other than that the amount of work and cargo that we have had to palletize for flights has lessened with the seasonal stoppage of  C-17 flights which has been nice with the smaller teams we have this season and with the long drive to and from Pegasus airfield.

Well that is all for now, hope you enjoy the pictures in this add.  Also we found out today that the mailing address has changed and is now as follows:

Tim Schunck
McMurdo Station  - ASC
PSC 769 Box 700
APO AP 96599-1035

We had a bit of a wind storm here last week, these are the snow drifts that formed.

It is a harsh continent down here.

My good friend Audrey is working down here this season, she is the one who helped me get in down here.  It is nice to have your oldest friend around.

One of the 2 helicopter we sent out this week on a LC-130

Some of the helo parts

These are the main rotors for the helicopters.  We were asked not to strap them down by running anything over the top.  We had to be a little creative in securing them so that they could fly.  Thank you JI Dwayne for your help.

The Big Red Kress Vehicle, it is 98' long and if you are lucky can get up to 26 mph.  The ride is much nicer than in a delta and you can actually carry up to 7 extra passengers if you need to.