Victoria In Victorialand

Hey friends,

I’m currently in Millinocket, ME at the AT Lodge. I arrived in Bangor yesterday afternoon and was greeted at the airport by my wonderful friend Sherian. She and I worked together for a few months in Cayman. She is a wonderful human who brought me the most amazing and unique doughnuts from her bakery The Only Doughnut located in Belfast Maine. If you are ever in the area, I HIGHLY recommend giving them a visit. And wear your fat pants.

After several laughs and some interesting people watching at the bus stop, I hopped on the Cyr bus to Medway. While boarding, I said hello to a guy with a hiking pack and inquired if he would be going on the trail. He said that he was and so I introduced myself. Terry is a nice guy with a wife and two grown daughters. He is doing some vlogging for the website The Trek as a SOBO correspondent.

We were picked up at the bus stop in Medway by Trash Panda (real name Koty) and headed to the Lodge. After a quick tour of the facilities, Terry and I popped over to a local restaurant for some grub. The service was slow but that’s how the world seems to be in 2021. The food was good though and the waitress was nice.

We returned to the lodge and settled into our bunks. Side note, I was delighted that the bunks weren’t bunk beds. There are 5 beds in our sleeping area, then a bathroom, then another small room with two beds. We are in a converted attic area.

Shortly after getting into bed, I heard some folks walking up the stairs quietly and I knew the rest of the patrons had arrived. Overall they were quiet and I got a solid 8 hours of sleep. I woke up to the sound of the floors creaking (again, old attic) when 5 people on our floor got up at 530 to leave for the day.

A bit later, I got out of bed and wandered over to the Appalachian Trail cafe for breakfast as it was included in the SOBO special deal. It was a tasty meal of tater tots and eggs.

I then walked over to the park and filmed a few clips to put on YouTube to share some video of this adventure with you all, you lucky devils. https://youtu.be/AJPorU3ufos

We have a gear shakedown in a few minutes. I will find out if I’m pretty well outfitted in that time. And if I’m not, I guess I’ll order some stuff to ship to Monson to retrieve after the 100 mile wilderness.

Happy trails!

I met a few of my nieces’ friends tonight.

Two out of three asked me why I was doing this hike alone? The common questions were:

Won’t you be lonely?

Aren’t you scared?

Let’s combine the answer to both of these into one:

Maybe?

I would have loved to be planning/taking this trip with Robert. Or my Siblings. Or any other friend that I don’t mind being stinky and cranky with.

But I’m not.

I never planned to take this hike with someone.

I love all of my friends. Really. I do. But I don’t think we would want to be with each other that entire time.

It’s 2200 miles. Roughly.

Probably 2300 miles with the way I navigate.

I’m not scared of being lonely. I’ve always been a bit of a loner. Especially when it comes to my wild ideas of doing things against the norm.

The thing I am worried about most is:

Well it’s tied between pooping in the woods and hitching. Yes Mom, I’m worried about hitchhiking.

But it’s going to be a reality. It’ll be part of my life.

Hi friends! Long time no write.

Sorry about that. I’ll write about my continued time on the ice (540 days total) and then my abrupt departure another time. I’ll have a long time to think about how to put it all into words while I’m taking my walk.

This summer, I have been in Texas with my boyfriend on his off season (he heads back south in 4 days) and we have been building a plane! It’s a slow process but it’s been fun so far. We also spent a few weeks (over a few trips) in New Mexico. Robert bought a GORGEOUS piece of property in Angel Fire that we are going to eventually build on. Oh, and we have spent several weeks in the small town of Ajo Arizona with his sister (and I have learned I do NOT want goats). Then we visited my family in Georgia for a week.

If you don’t already know, my next adventure is going to be…well…a real adventure. I’m setting out to hike the Appalachian Trail on July 25th. I’ll fly up to Maine on the 23rd, spend two nights at the Appalachian Trail Lodge and then start the 2,193 mile walk south to Georgia.

It’s quite possible that I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I’ll find it on the way south.

So, a lot of people have asked me why I want to do this hike. Here’s the back story.

Years ago (sometime 2010) I was sitting in dispatch at GB-911, working the county fire/ems desk on a night shift. I was covering that evening because we were incredibly short staffed and I needed to work a console for a shift (I was in the admin position at the time and HATED Mon-Fri hours) and I was discussing camping with one of my co-workers. She was big into camping and we were discussing a good place for trying backpacking. I stumbled across the Trailjournals site in my internet searches and for the next 6 hours of my shift, I obsessively read journals of hikers on the AT. I then decided that I would hike it the year I turned 40. At the time, 40 was still a good ways off and it sounded like an excellent idea. I was single, I wasn’t planning on having any kids, I could save up enough money to do a 6 month hike…

Then Antarctica part 1 (and 2,3,4) happened. The thought of the AT got pushed onto the back burner a bit. In my early 30s I toyed with the idea of having kids, so the trail was pushed even further back. Then I decided that if I didn’t have kids by 36, I wasn’t having any and I would hike the trail when I turned 40. When I became single shortly after turning 35, I made the announcement that my plans to hike the trail were back on.

Should have started preparing for it then. I’d go through periods where I was hitting the treadmill on the highest incline for weeks/months at a time, carrying my fully loaded 36 pound camera bag for practice. Then I’d go for months of not doing anything.

And lately, I haven’t done anything to prepare. Except shop. I’ve now ordered everything. Some of it will arrive in Georgia this weekend. A lot of it is already in Georgia (we took it out there when visited my fam).

I’ve read a lot about the trail. I know that while it is a strenuous physical activity, it’s also a big mental game. You have to keep your head in the game. Oh, and watch out for snakes, bears, ticks, rocks you can trip on, other people on the trail, keep your feet in good shape, keep all smellables out of your tent, etc. I’m mentally ready for this. Sure, I am a bit concerned about Mt. Katadhin (which I’m starting with) and the White Mountains in NH (which are also early in my trip), but I’m sure it’ll be fine.

I’ll write another post with a breakdown of my gear and such when I get to Georgia.

Cheers!

Tori

It’s near 2300 on Monday, November 16th 2020.

I am still in Antarctica.

Yes, you read that right.

I am still in Antarctica.

Not a complaint, not a boast, simply a fact.

It is now the 442nd consecutive day that I’ve been down here. I think this beats my on personal record. It’s late and I don’t feel like going back through my journals and seeing if this is my longest stay so far.

I am now scheduled to leave March 2021. If my calculations are correct and the plane I leave on is on March 19th (guesstimating) I will be here for 562 days.

That’s 562 days without seeing any of my biological family. I will say though that the best part of being here are the people that become family. During the winter season (or as I like to call it – the (f)unplanned winter) I was on night shift the entire time. Those of you who know me well know that I love night shift.

However this winter was rough. There were many nights where I spent a good 10 hours of my 12 hour shift without a single phone call, radio transmission or any other kind of human interaction. It took its toll on me. Not to mention worrying about my family and my boyfriend who were out in the “real world” and having to deal with Covid. Also, I am a worrywart. I know I got a lot more gray hair over the winter season thanks to worry.

On the rare instances that people would come visit me at the station, it was like my birthday/Christmas/Thanksgiving/Mardi Gras all rolled in to one. I will be forever grateful for those visits. Those people helped me keep my sanity over winter and will always hold a special place in my heart.

I was planning on writing a longer post but I am very, very tired and now somewhat emotional. I am incredibly fortunate to be down here at this point in time but it’s also damned difficult.

I’ll write more later. Hopefully it won’t take another 365 days for me to post something.

Be good to yourselves and to eachother.

I feel like it was just two weeks ago that I made my last post, but I guess not!  Sorry about the delay.

It is now approximately 0500 on Sunday 17 November 2019.

We are in the time of year where the sun is up 24/7 and the temps are warming up, a little too fast for my tastes.

We’ve actually had a few days where the temps have reached over 25 degrees.  And I’m not sure but I think we may have gone into positive temps this season.  This, of course, is disturbing at this time of year.  We normally don’t get these temps until closer to Christmas and New Years.  I don’t even think I’ll get a chance to see snow on my birthday this year which somewhat saddens me.  I know, I know, I didn’t get to see snow on my birthday until I turned 30, and that was down here.  But, still.

One of my favorite things I’ve done this season is a pressure ridge tour.  Not just because the pressure ridges are beautiful, but because there were LOADS OF BABY SEALS!!!

So, I must share them with you.

Other than that, things have been going pretty well.  This season feels super slow in that we got a late start at Winfly.  Then Mainbody got a late start.  The C-17 hasn’t gotten down here as often as it should have by now.  Which means I am missing mail.

Side note – if you were planning on sending me a package – at this point of the season it is not very likely I’ll get it with enough time to enjoy it down here.  Mail is not a priority this year.  But, letters and postcards are welcome!

So, enjoy these pictures!

Because I promised I would in yesterday’s post.

Greetings dear readers!

It is currently 01:20 on Tuesday, 15 October 2019.  I am warm and cozy sitting in BL165 in our new dispatch room.  The merger that we’ve all been pushing towards and sorta stressing over the past few weeks is done.  We have abandoned the dispatch room at the Firehouse for the summer season and are operating in our new home.

For the first half of the season, I’ll be on night shift.  I am scheduled to transition to day shift on the weekend before my birthday in December. The switch to day shift is something I am very much looking forward to as I worked nights all last season.

So, here are a few things that have been happening!  And I’ll add pictures later, or post an entirely new entry of nothing but pictures with descriptions because I forgot my phone cord and am unable to upload any pics from my phone.

My roommate, Robin, arrived on the 30th of September.  He is another dispatcher who worked here last season.  I wanted a roommate that I already knew so I asked him before he came down if he wanted to room together.  He said yes and things have been working out perfectly.  We work opposite shifts and have opposite days off but, so far, we have tried to have at least one evening a week where we have “spa day”.  This means we sit in the sauna of our dorm for about an hour, going outside every 15 minutes or so to stand in freezing temps just to watch the steam rise off of us.  Then we go back in and warm up.  During the course of the going in and out of the building, we will put on clay face masks.  Last week, we were joined by our new co-worker, Kris.  The three of us went out and laid in the snow at one point and we couldn’t quit giggling.  People were walking by looking at us like we had lost our minds.  Perhaps we have.  It’s too early in the season to tell.

The official move to the new center happened.  Unfortunately, I did not attend the walk over and official opening because I was stricken with a migraine.  Thankfully, I don’t suffer from them often.

The last member of our dispatch crew arrived on 10 October and I am so glad he’s back for this season.  Jonathan and I worked night shift together last year and we love to pick on each other.  At least I enjoy it.  He’d probably argue otherwise.

We have had some spectacular sunsets over the past week.  Again, I unfortunately did not bring my cord with me but I will be sharing the photos as soon as I am able.  Perhaps this evening as I will be off of work and will need to stay out of the room so Robin can sleep.

Let’s see, what else…  I have gotten permission to bartend this season so I am looking forward to that.  I didn’t bartend last year but I have previous seasons and I rather enjoy it.  Especially when I get to work Day Bar.

Also, I am writing postcards this year and hopefully once the plane gets fixed I can get them in the mail and on their way their intended recipients.  If you’d like a postcard from Antarctica, email me your address at victoriaTparker@gmail.com.

**The T doesn’t have to be capitalized but when it’s lowercase, it has a tendency to be overlooked.

OH!  One more thing, the title of this post.  Cosmic Raspberries.

One of our new tasks is monitoring HF frequencies as they will be used to communicate with field camps and people doing Science throughout the season.  We frequently get weird transmissions that sound like someone blowing raspberries in outer space.  It can be amusing when you’re sitting in dispatch and it’s pretty *q word*, then all of a sudden “thppt!”.

 

Be excellent to each other!

Good morning/afternoon/evening, dear readers.

It’s about 15:30 on Sunday, September 29th, 2019.  I’m currently at work in what is most likely my last shift in BL182.  Tomorrow is my day off and also the day that the next four dispatchers arrive.  Starting Tuesday, I’ll be working over in BL165 at our new home.  Last time, I shared pictures of the views from the room.  It’ll be a bittersweet time but I’m excited about the consolidation of the two major communications hubs for our slice of the Antarctica pie.

One of the dispatchers coming in tomorrow is going to be my roommate for the season.  We met last year and he’s a pretty good guy.  I think it will work out well because we will be on opposite shifts on opposite schedules.  So the nights that I’m working, he’ll have the  room to himself, and the days I’m off, he’ll be working.  We also have another dispatcher returning from last year, one returning MacOps person and one brand new person.  They sent a picture of their group hanging out in Christchurch the other day and it looks like we will have a fun group.

Winfly is rapidly drawing to a close.  It’s been full of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, laughter, great times with friends and the occasional karaoke night.  The next few weeks are going to be interesting with the transition to the new work center and job duties.

SO! Regarding the title of this post…

I’ve now been here for almost a month and my skin hasn’t acclimated.  I’m drinking a boatload of water and lotioning like crazy every time I get out of the shower but my skin is so dry.

So. So. SO DAMN DRY.

When I got home from work yesterday, I was changing and noticed the amount of dry flaky skin on my long johns.  Because I believe in showing you what it is really like living down here, y’all get to see a picture.

Yeah.  One day’s worth of dried skin.  Now picture doing laundry and every garment you grab out of the bag has it’s own layer.  Dead skin confetti EVERYWHERE!  This is also why I wash my laundry bag each time I do laundry.

I didn’t take a picture of my horribly dry skin on my hands when it was bad because I thought that may be a little too much.  A friend of mine found some skin balm that seems to be working so I’m much better there.

Other than that, things are good!  Looking at forward to main body and getting this crazy season underway!

 

Good Morning, dear reader.

It’s Sunday, 15 September, 2019.

I am currently two weeks into season 6 in Antarctica.

So here’s what’s been going on, I’ve been keeping a bit of a journal on my phone as I’ve been waiting for a chance to get on a computer and actually blog some.

We (first flight of Winfly) landed at approximately 1930 on September 1.  The flight down was pretty uneventful and I was seated at the front of the C-17 so I was able to be one of the first people out of the plane.

After zipping up my Big Red and throwing on my backpack, I walked down the steps of the plane and started walking towards Ivan the Terra-bus, the deltas and the vans.  About 20 feet away from the plane, I saw two of the firefighters walking towards me.  I immediately recognized both of them.  One of them was the winterover Captain, Emily and the other was Catfish.  He and I flew down together at Winfly last year and I count him as one of my closest friends.  He and I practically tackled each other with hugs.  After a quick Hello, I got into one of the vans to transport back to McMurdo.

After arriving, all of us went to an on-ice orientation in the Galley with some super delicious pizza waiting on us.  After about 45 minutes, we were able to trudge over to the Firehouse to pick up our pagers.  I think I may have audibly squealed when I saw all of my friends when I arrived.  Marsha and Wes had come in to work the flight so I was able to see both of them.  As the crews returned from the airfield, I got more hugs from everyone and then we were off to collect our luggage.

This year, I’m in dorm 208.  I don’t have the magnificent views that I had from my dorm room last year, but that’s okay.  I’m not in my room that often anyway.

After lugging all of my bags up to my room, I went in search of another friend from last year who just finished his first winter on the ice.  I managed to track down Z for hugs and then returned to my room to chat with Marsha for a bit while I sorted through my belongings.  We were laughing and chatting when there was a sudden knock at my door.  I opened the door to find Catfish standing there with my oil diffuser and leftover essential oils, which was a nice surprise, but the news he brought was even more exciting.  There were auroras popping all over town.

So I threw on my big red and grabbed my camera and tripod and headed downstairs.  *side note* I was dressed in leggings and had on tennis shoes, but the adrenaline rush kept me pretty warm during the two hours I was outside.

Sorry these are out of focus but, it’s been a while since I’ve done any night photography.

We watched the aurora dance across the sky over Winter Quarters Bay and then realized that the better viewing was actually OVER town.  The light pollution normally drowns out the colors but the lady was beautiful and green, right over our dorms!  I may have shed a tear or two watching them.  It felt like a great ‘Welcome Back’.

After spending about 2 hours outside, it was time to go inside and thaw out.  I made my bed and took a hot shower and used hair conditioner for the first time in two weeks.  Finally, after two long weeks of waiting in Christchurch, I finally felt like I was home and went to bed around 0315.

The next several days consisted of readjusting to life down here.  Meal times, work, good talks with good people.  Hugs and laughs.  Laughing so hard that I spit out a mouth full of coffee, twice.  We took home the trophy at trivia night Wednesday the 4th, but I honestly played no part in that win.  I just sat there and kept everyone else company because I knew all of like, two answers.

We also had several more days of bad weather which delayed the second flight from coming for several days.  But it finally arrived on September 5.  Of course, this meant that it was also a Goodbye Day to several of my friends, but I’m glad they’re now back where it is green.

September 6 was a karaoke night.  Fantastic time, as always.  Not a lot of people here this time of year (current population is 277) so I was able to sing several songs.  Overall, not too bad.

Week two was a flurry of training and getting things ready for our relocation to BL165.  That’s right, the dispatch center for the Antarctic Fire Department is moving.  Dispatch and Mac Ops have historically been two different work centers with different job taskings, however, we are merging this year.  It makes sense because though we do different tasks, our two centers have been the eyes, ears, voice… hell the heart of McMurdo for ages. So this year is going to be full of changes, but hey, if I didn’t like change and challenge, I would NOT be in this line of work.  One of my favorite parts of the amalgamation – WE WILL HAVE EXTERIOR VIEWS!!!  Like this!

Weather wise, it’s getting lighter for longer here.  It’s been wicked cold for a few days now.  We actually hit Con 1 in town for about 90 minutes on Thursday.  It was right when we were supposed to get off of work so we ended up stuck at the fire station for a while.  But it was fantastic because Havoc the mechanic and I found some spam and eggs and cooked it up for a few of us.

Overall, things are going great and this may be my best summer season so far!

And here are some other pretty pictures for your viewing pleasure.

 

Good morning, evening, afternoon… wherever you are.

So, dear readers, it’s been a while.  A very long while.  But now that I have a new computer, I’ll be able to write more.  And post more pictures.

Right now, I’m currently in Christchurch, NZ.  Specifically at the Breakfree Hotel on Cashel.  I won’t post what room I’m in because that’s just creepy.

I left the states last Thursday, August 15th for my 6th season in Antarctica.  I luckily was given the opportunity to deploy again at Winfly (again, for those of you who are not familiar, it’s the time of year between Winter and Mainbody) and I am so excited.  In the past, it used to be that we’d only have three flights coming down during that time.  However, things change and I believe we are having 4 flights in August (if we get out of here soon) and one flight in late September.  That’s the biggest change.  Between the August flights and the October start of Mainbody, we used to not have any flights.

When I left on 15 August, I flew from Jacksonville to Houston.  In Houston, I met up with several of my firefighter friends and met some fantastic new people.  From Houston, we flew 14 hours to Auckland NZ where we met up with even more people.  Then it was onwards to Christchurch and our hotels.

The day we arrived in Christchurch, several of my friends and I who were booked at the Breakfree hotel caught the same shuttle.  We arrived at the hotel fairly early, like around 1040.  Of course, arriving that early meant that there were no rooms available.  We all hung out around the lobby together talking and laughing, catching up on what we had been up to off ice.  Now, mind you, this was Saturday, August 17th thanks to crossing the international date line and time traveling.  I think my room was ready around 2 so I came up to this tiny shoebox of a room to shower and get ready to head out for a wander.

One of our new fire lieutenants decided that he wanted a new tattoo, so away we went to find a tattoo shop.  After being there for a few hours, he had been successfully inked and we decided to head back to the hotel.  I fought the urge to get a new tattoo but I think when I come back through Christchurch, I’ll end up giving in to that siren song.

That evening, a couple of my friends and I headed over to a place called Little High.  It’s a collection of restaurants in one central location.  The variety of food that one can order is most impressive.  It’s kind of a food court of sorts.  One of my friends, Steven, and I ordered a steak and split it.  It was absolutely phenomenal. Then we meandered back to the hotel for an early bed time.  It was just past 7pm.

The next morning, I woke up early and went in search of coffee only to find that the coffee bar in the hotel is closed.  And there were no places around us that serve coffee at 4am.  So I came back to the room and had freeze dried coffee which of course, is subpar in my book.  Even for desperate times.  bleh.

At 615 Sunday morning, we were all in the lobby and ready to be picked up by our shuttle to head to the Antarctic Center for orientation.  There are going to be so many things going on this year, it’s going to be interesting to say the least.  I’ll post things throughout the season as they occur.

One exciting thing for me personally is that the dispatchers for the Antarctic Fire Department are merging with the Mac Ops department (that’s who talks to field camps and does more science/remote related radio communications).  Or it’s actually vice versa since the operators formerly known as MacOps will be working for AFD.  Schedules and staffing is going to change.  Operations are going to change.  Safety and customer service will still be number one.  Nothing changes there.  I’m sure there will be some growing pains, but for those of you who know me, I love change.  I thrive on it.  That’s why I’ve been doing this job for 18 and a half years.  That’s why I’m good at this job.  It does make me sad that we won’t be physically located in the fire department any more, but that’s only because I like the interaction I have with the fire family.  Because that’s what it is.  Anyone in the fire service knows that those are some of the strongest bonds outside of biological family.

After our 10 hour orientation, we decided to go out to eat at the Rockpool.  It was fantastic as always and my buddy Thomas met up with us there.  Thomas works in a totally different department.  He’s an electronics tech for a department now named NPP. Don’t ask me what it stands for because I’ve forgotten.  But those guys are in charge of runway electronic stuff and things way above my pay grade.  They make sure the planes have the right navaids on the ground side to land safely.

Days are starting to blend together for me so I’m having to count backwards, okay, that was Sunday… we were already aware we wouldn’t be flying Monday…  Okay so we’re at Monday.  Monday was a rough day for me.  The first thing I read when I woke up was that my dog, Phoebe, had died.  Granted, she’d lived most of her life with my fantastic, amazing, wonderful sister, but I still considered her my dog.  She was 10 years old but had a heart condition.  Hopefully, she’s chasing all of the armadillos on the other side of the rainbow bridge.  I won’t write any more about it because I don’t want to start crying again.

Monday, my amazing friends were very gentle with me.  They knew how badly I was hurting so they wandered with me through the botanic park and let me cry when I needed to.  Damnnit Parker, you said you weren’t going to write any more about it.  Long story short, a very emotional day.  I’m grateful for my friends who let me cry as needed.

Tuesday!  We were supposed to have a shuttle come pick us up to take us to the airport at 0815, however, shortly beforehand we were informed that we were being placed on a 24 hour weather delay.  Oh, darn.  After getting that information, I met up with friends for breakfast and then proceeded to go to the botanic park again afterwards.  Even this time of year, when there are very few things blooming, it is still one of the loveliest places I’ve ever been.  Plus, once you know what it’s like to go without smelling things for any amount of time, you embrace every chance you get to smell the green.  So we meandered around a bit more and then I came back to the hotel for a nap.  Because I like naps.  I’m good at naps.  Tuesday evening, we headed to the casino for some roulette action.  I ended up with $25 less than I came in with, so I’m not terribly upset.  Then it was back to the hotel for sleep at about 9.

Wednesday!  We were supposed to have a shuttle come pick us…. yeah, you read that same line on Tuesday.  And we are currently on another 24 hour weather delay.  So far today, I’ve played on a playground, played a round of putt putt (came in 2 out of 4) and have managed to purchase a vacusealed bag of smoked brisket to take down to the ice.  Oh, and start my 2019-2020 season blog.

Until next time, stay cool.