Station Closing

Temperature: -44.2C
Wind Chill: -59.4C
Wind Speed: 8.7 kts

Station Population: 43

That about wraps it up for the summer. The last six people left this afternoon, and now there are only 43 of us left. Our second doctor came in on the first flight this morning, and the other six left about an hour after that!

That really stinks, too, because I wanted to say goodbye to the Fuelies and didn't get out to the flight line in time. I was down in the fuel arch, transferring fuel from the plane to one of our storage tanks for the winter. During the first flight, Cricket(Kristina) was down in the arch with me, but for the second flight, I made sure that the fuel was going to the right tank,



that we were getting fuel from the plane, which we could tell by looking through the site glass,



and that the valves that needed to be were opened!



We transferred 2900 gallons of fuel, and when I got the call to close valves again, I did, and beat feet to get out to the flight line...but when I got there, they were already loading passengers onto the plane, so I got to watch them walk away!

I had already said my farewells to Dan, since he left on Saturday


(from left) Cully, Logan, Dan, Erik, Cricket

but I didn't get to see Cricket or Buttercup(Andrew) off.



Hopefully I will see them again next summer on my way out!

Once they were loaded, it was time to bid the last plane for eight months goodbye!



It didn't start to sink in right away, and probably still hasn't yet completely, that we were looking at the last flight. So far, this was the normal routine for the pilots to follow, but then they circled,



came in from behind the station,




and did a final flyover above us, and then headed towards McMurdo!



All that was left to do was watch it fly away, and then head back home, where the moon was visible above the station.



Looking forward to the winter season with a pretty solid crew of people down here. Sure the galley is a lot quieter now, but the group will be a lot closer, and we have already had our first bonding experience...watching The Thing, once we were sure there was no way for us to get another plane in here!

Capt. Splash