Expedition for Opportunity Travel Log 6 - Trek Day 4 - Hitting my Stride
April 16th, 2016
Expedition for Opportunity Travel Log - 4/16/16 – Hitting My Stride
I woke up this morning and immediately made peace with Bobsled. I apologized again for my shenanigans yesterday and told her that she looked svelte and that she lost weight. From then on she was all smiles and perked up. Her full name now is Daisy Pushcart Bobsled. Daisy in honor of a no nonsense, get stuff done grandma. This must have made her feel good, because she was fast and light today. She told me that I'm a good sled driver. I'll take it! Later I told her that I feel like Alberto Tombo on my skis and she responded that I trip so much I'm more like Alberto tumbler. Not funny and I didn't laugh.
The horizon is foreshortened even more and the entire day I felt like I was standing on top of a giant ball in the middle of a perfect 400 meter radius circle. The circle moves with us. Above me is a perfect dome that goes over the horizon. All around it looks like we are about to walk off the face of the earth. To add to that, the lighting today was spectacular as the sun dipped behind clouds of different densities.
We cover 10 nautical miles in mostly boulder fields. There are shapes of all kinds and sizes. Every conceivable animal, a canon, ice henge, ice cairns, a guy doing the breaststroke, etc. you get the picture- amazingly beautiful place.
I felt good today, especially after the minor mishap at the end of yesterday. The team was good to me today. Julia gave me chocolate and soup I took it because she seems to always be full of energy. I don’t know what she puts in her water bottle that keeps her going, but I want some too! I asked her if she ever gets tired and she said at nights when she goes to sleep. Colin just goes and goes and I don't think that he gets tired either. Eric is in his element and doing a magnificent job leading and navigating. Masha is hanging tough.
After a few systems malfunctioning yesterday, I have mostly sorted out the kinks and we are rolling along. I'm happy to report that today was a ho hum kind of day. We're also getting pretty efficient setting and breaking down camp. Colin and I are so dialed in and in sync that our tent routine now happens in unison without having to say a single word!!! In general, things are going really well, but we are warned, at every safety meeting, not to drop our guards. Out here things could change in a split second, as was the case a couple days back. We're really hitting our strides.
Shout out to the GoFundMe donors, Freeman staff, Peter Stevens and John Motley.
