This is the story of a man name Jed. Just kidding. This is my story….

In September of 2007 I decided that I wanted to get back on the road, to travel to far off places and to have adventures. I was recently divorced and was making a new start of things, it was a good time to do this. So I started looking for jobs over seas. Being a plumber I didn’t know what I could find, I didn’t think it would be very adventurous, but went to work looking anyway. That’s when I came upon the Antarctic. And was fortunate enough to land a position, as a plumber.

I’ve been hired for a 2 month contract to install a boiler and re-plumb some of the facilities at Palmer Station, Antarctica. Now you might ask yourself why would a country boy from East Texas( where it never gets below 20 degrees) want to go all the way down to the south pole, in the dead of winter to boot? (it gets a lot colder than 20 degrees there!) You know, I’m not sure I can answer that question with and answer that anyone would understand. Adventure? How much adventure can you have with 20 layers of cloths on? The photo opportunity? Going someplace that few people have ever been? Going some place that is unspoiled by human hands? Yes to all and so much more. I really like the ideal of going to a place without cell phone coverage. Peace and quiet!

Palmer Station is National science foundation research site in Antarctica. The only way in or out of the station is by sea. I’ve been told that my travel to the station will consist of a flight from Dallas ,TX to Santiago, Chili then to Punta Arenas, chili where I will board a ship for 4 or more day to get to the station. Depending on the thickness of the ice. I’ll be crossing the horn of south America , ( the roughest seas in the world), on my way to the southern ocean. In Punta Arenas I’ll be in-processed and issued my arctic gear before getting on to the ship. In Joshua slocums book “Spray” he talks about a magical place that is hostile and beautiful and totally wild. This place was called Terra del fuago . A place where the straights of Magellan crosses the very tip of south America. That’s where Punta Arenas is located and where my adventure begins.

“Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest, and emptiest place on earth.” That’s what my info packet says. Sounds like a great place to spend a vacation. The continent of Antarctica is covered with ice that can be as thick as 4,776 meters deep. This ice is 70% of the worlds fresh water. There is abundant life along the coast, penguins seals ect. All from the sea . But on land there is little of anything that is actually alive and there is no indigenous people. Summer time temperatures can reach from 0 F at the south pole to 55F at Palmer Station. The mean annual temperature at the south pole is minus -56F. The Antarctic is larger than the United States by 2 million square miles. No nation owns the Antarctic. The Antarctic Treaty reserves the area south of 60 degrees south as a zone for peaceful conduct of research.

The Antarctic was first sighted in 1820 but nobody set foot on it until 1895. I guess that’s when boot technology was finally sufficient enough to stand the cold. The south pole wasn’t reached until 1911 by Amundson and Scott. In 1956 the first year-round research station was established.

Palmer Station was established in 1965 as a small biology facility. It is named after Nathaniel Palmer, an American sealer who pioneered exploration of the peninsula area in 1820. The Station as it is today was completed in 1970 and is located on Anvers island. The station consist of 2 large buildings, 3 small buildings , 2 fuel tanks and a dock. Ship access to the station is year round, usually. The wild life is abundant. The temperature ranges from an average of 36F in the summer and 14F in the winter. Pretty mild compared to the other polar stations.

I’ve been contracted by Raytheon Polar Services to perform plumbing work on the station.

To prepare for this trip I’ve had to endure a vast medical exam. Now , I’m no stranger to huge medical exams , in the military, the special forces physical took three days to complete and we had to do that every three years. For three days that was actually your duty post. 8 hours a day. For this trip every crack and crevasse of my body was poked and prodded, they drew 3 gallons of blood and urine and ran every test know to man on it. I’ve had my lungs inflated, deflated and x-rayed . They checked everything, which is kind of scary when you’re a 43 year old man, I’m at that age when stuff starts showing up. So when all the poking and prodding and sticking was done it was with much apprehension that I sat in the waiting room, doing deep breathing exercises, waiting ,knowing that there was going to be some bad news. Fortunately, I passed with a clean bill of health. The only thing they didn’t check real good was my eyes. Just your common read-the-chart-with-one-hand-over-your-eye test. Now , I would think that in Antarctica your eye sight would be very important considering that with 20 layers of clothing on , its probably the 1 of 5 sinces that you actually can use. Well, I can see pretty good so I won’t loose any sleep over it now. They did require a good dental going over too. Ouch!

Now after feeling like a lab rat for 2 weeks I was done. Time to send in all my reports to the medical review board. At this point I’m not totally sure I’m going . It all depends on the review boards decision. This is a tense time, I’m close to my departure date and still have so much to finalize at home before I go. But I can’t really do anything until I know for sure that I’m going. Waiting. that’s the name of the game.