Friday, October 13, 2000

Leaving

Friday the thirteenth. A full moon too. Beautiful weather. A perfect day to begin a South Pole odyssey. My bags were packed and I had finished almost everything I had hoped to accomplish before heading south. Probably the worst part about leaving home was saying goodbye to Kirby. As I looked into the old brown eyes of our fourteen-year-old Cocker Spaniel for what may be the last time, it hit me. I really am going to the South Pole and it is going to be a long time before I come home again. I will only be working in Antarctica for a year, but I plan on traveling for another year before returning to the U.S.

My mom drove me to the airport and I said goodbye like I had so many times before, but this was definitely different. I have never been away from home for this long. I am excited by the uncertainty of what to expect, but I feel a little disoriented. I write as if I don’t know at all what this trip will be like, but I know that I have a much better idea of South Pole life than the majority of first time Antarctic travelers. I have been reading the journals of polar explorers and former winter-overs obsessively since the spark of opportunity for this adventure first manifested. I have read all about what I will be doing from any source I could get my hands on. I have talked to those who have been there, and I have absorbed a tremendous amount of knowledge. This past week, I visited five classrooms in several local schools and my former scout troop, talking about Antarctica and telling all about what I will be doing. Although I tried my best, I couldn’t answer every question, and to the shock of some, I had to confess that I had never actually been there. Yes, I know a lot about what I will be doing, but there is still uncertainty.