Around 6 o'clock my internal alarm decided I had enough sleep, so time to get up and get going. 6 o'clock is my regular EST wake-up time, so no noticeable jet lag yet, in contrast to Danny, who was wide awake around 4AM.
After a very pretty drive up we arrived at the Hale Pohaku lodges at 9ish, found our rooms and headed for the Visitors Center where our equipment was already happily waiting for us. Since we didn't have a 4WD and the "transportation" people on site were extremely busy, it had to stay there and be happy for most of our day.
A winding and here and there very steep 1-mile dirt road led us to the actual field site, where we had to check in, get our badge, our very needed coveralls, and our walkie-talkies. The weather was great, making me wonder why I brought all that thermal gear, and coverall with t-shirt and shorts was sufficient. Sunscreen is a bare necessity, as is a hat and glasses and bandana to cover mouth and nose against all the dust. Dust-wise this is definitely a good lunar or Mars analogue.
The staging area of the field site
Day was mainly spend quietly, with having a great lunch, putting up our tent, waiting for equipment, chatting with random other field testers, having a 30-minute Pomelo-break, exchanging Dutch swear-words with first generation Dutch-Americans/Canadians (why is that the only people don't forget are the swear words, goal for this week, teach them some proper Dutch), finally getting our equipment and being too tired to set it up, and hiking back home.
Danny (left) and Tom putting up the tent (me being very helpful by taking pictures)
Danny was smart enough to bring some games, so I got my ... kicked in a game of Pass the Pigs and then beat him with Rummi.
Tomorrow the fun part starts!
Tents
After a very pretty drive up we arrived at the Hale Pohaku lodges at 9ish, found our rooms and headed for the Visitors Center where our equipment was already happily waiting for us. Since we didn't have a 4WD and the "transportation" people on site were extremely busy, it had to stay there and be happy for most of our day.
A winding and here and there very steep 1-mile dirt road led us to the actual field site, where we had to check in, get our badge, our very needed coveralls, and our walkie-talkies. The weather was great, making me wonder why I brought all that thermal gear, and coverall with t-shirt and shorts was sufficient. Sunscreen is a bare necessity, as is a hat and glasses and bandana to cover mouth and nose against all the dust. Dust-wise this is definitely a good lunar or Mars analogue.
The staging area of the field site
Day was mainly spend quietly, with having a great lunch, putting up our tent, waiting for equipment, chatting with random other field testers, having a 30-minute Pomelo-break, exchanging Dutch swear-words with first generation Dutch-Americans/Canadians (why is that the only people don't forget are the swear words, goal for this week, teach them some proper Dutch), finally getting our equipment and being too tired to set it up, and hiking back home.
Danny (left) and Tom putting up the tent (me being very helpful by taking pictures)
Danny was smart enough to bring some games, so I got my ... kicked in a game of Pass the Pigs and then beat him with Rummi.
Tomorrow the fun part starts!
Tents
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