A Trip for the Ages: My Six Months in Antartica: Learning to Ride, Antarctic Style.

As the last few weeks have traveled by with blazing speed, I have had to go to a lot of occupational training. the Happy Camper was one of them. There was others, but this one stands out. I have never been skiing. Oh well, I think sledding either with a plastic to or a wooden toboggan is a lot better. I also never been in an area where it snows enough to where a snowmobile is a mighty asset. I curse living in Coastal New England for that. Anyway, it was a bare bones lecture. We learned how it worked, looked at the engine and do field repairs, if necessary. After a short break, it was to the course. The instructor, Dale, was cool as hell. He said you will never learn by following, you will learn by experiencing it for yourself. Very mighty words here. We went down to the course, primped and primed the snow vehicle and it was off to the races. He lead us to where we were to ride freely. For me, it was fun, exhilarating and painful. This is where wearing glasses in a helmet in -5 degrees stinks. I could not close my mask, or else it would fog up and the fog would freeze. I had no facial protection from the elements as I drove around. At first, I was extremely nervous. I tried to slalom through the poles, but I hit the gas too much and flew by and almost tipped over. For some reason I stuck my leg out, which bad. So, I slowed down and stopped. Dale came over told me to relax and just drive. I followed the tutoring and Had no problems the rest of the time we were there. It was about maybe 20 mins, but it was super awesome. I cannot wait to roll on one of those again, if not only just once more. I tried to get video, but yet again, my camera's batter failed me. Dumb battery, freezing at the pinnacle of my enjoyment.