On the cusp of a dream

I leave for Antarctica in one day.  One day.  ONE DAY.  My bags are packed.  Okay, that's a lie.  Everything is lying in piles on the floor our study.  But its laid out in logical piles.  Batteries are charged, camera gear is packed away (shout out to Ryan Winiarski for all of the gear he let me borrow and the advise he's given me), gloves, hats, long underwear, shell, etc. its all there, just waiting to be shoved into a duffle bag.  Recent web searches have included 'weather, Drake Passage' and 'wave height predictions, Drake Passage' and 'Dramamine vs. Bonine' and 'does candied ginger really work for motion sickness.'  I guess you can see where my heads at.  Just how rough is the dreaded Drake?  Inquiring minds (like mine) want to know.  Its not like i'm a big puker or anything.  I was totally fine going through rough water in the Adriatic years ago.  People around me were reduced from jet setting beauties to barfing adolescents in a mere twenty minutes.  My wife Kara and I?  Totally cool.  Well, not totally cool, but pretty darn cool.  I'd give us like a 90%.   But that required some Jedi style mind control and knowledge of accupressure points.  What I wonder is what is going to happen if we head into really heavy seas with big rollers.  Here's a link for weather in the Drake if your feeling interested.  It looks like its gonna be kind of nice, with a slight breeze.  A few days before its a near gale.  I have no idea how accurate this kind of forecasting is, and you know what, i'm kind of torn when it comes to it being a nice, easy passage through there.  Its not like I want it to be rough - or do I?  It sort of feels like it might be more authentic that way - that maybe i'll be missing out on something.  I've long been a fan of the epic.  I've been saying 'epic' way before it was hip, but in a deeper sense of the word.  Epic to me implies depth, the true experience.  Climbing, mountain biking, living and traveling in a van, all that stuff was a way to connect with the real.  I've always been obsessed with getting under the surface.  If its music, its the roots.  What was Eric Clapton listening to?  Whats under all the fluff?  Books, its the same thing.  Me - who I am, its the same thing too.  Its always been a mission to find out whats underneath.  Whats real.  I just heard Jeff Tweedy of Wilco on Marc Maron's podcast talking about how it was shocking for him that some people aren't introspective, that they just kind of float on the surface without digging.  I connect with that.  Now, back to giant waves.  Would being thrown around in a ship for hours show me something i'm missing?  Maybe I don't need to go that real.  Maybe a nice day chugging through the Drake would be just what the doctor ordered.

Alright Suffield.  Tomorrow (or maybe tonight) I do all of my final packing checks - make sure its all there, tickets set, accomodations good, and snuggle in tight with the family for one last night together before I hit the road for what might be one of the grandest adventures of my life.  As they say, be kinder than you need to be, pay attention, and keep checking in.  I'll keep posting.