Au Revoir to Palmer

Amazingly and with no warning, I am sitting on the Gould getting ready to head North. From my previous post, the long line is no longer my problem (or anyone's as the sea ice may be gone by the time the Gould returns), and I never got to my next long line retrieval shift. As it turns out, there was a medical condition on station, and the decision was made to medevac the patient. Since any trip North and back is at least a 10 day turnaround, they also told everyone who was scheduled to leave on September 5th to pack up and go. So in a frenzy, I packed up my room, hugged my friends, shed a few tears and said goodbye to my Antarctic home of 5 months. Now I return to civilization with slight trepidation. There is no one to cook for me, I won't know the names and personal details of everyone around me, I have nowhere that I need to be and I no longer have an income. However, as we start to sail away from Palmer Station, I know that I have a lot of good adventures ahead of me as South America will become my new stomping ground.