I went out to Pegasus runway today to do a hard stand for a c-17 flight. I was driving Red 2, a 19 tonne beau that with foot to the metal I could run faster than. The 7-mile drive out there took around an hour and a half. We had to load a medivac onto the c-17 also, he was suffering from appendicitis.
As the hours drew by the weather rapidly deteriorated, making the return drive back a little difficult. To make matters worse the window wipers were broken. Every so often I had to jump out and wipe the windscreen down with a cloth enabling me to see. On top of that the engine would die every time I stopped to an idle. I was on my own, in the middle of a white out snow storm, throwing up my options...Do I stop driving to wipe the window, and run the risk of it not starting again? or just carry on and drive blind?, it's just snow either side of me for 2000 miles "what am I going to hit" the words hadn’t left my mind when all of a sudden, in the 5cm circle of visibility I spot something black. As I get closer I realise it's a penguin, and not just any penguin, but an emperor penguin. "Now this is worth getting stuck here for,” I thought. I grabbed my camera and jumped straight out of the rig.
Out of all the things I wanted to experience here, topping the list was seeing an emperor penguin. People have been here for 5-8 seasons and never seen one. I was in absolute awe, clicking away on the camera. He stood no more than 10 feet away from me. I found myself talking to him as I do to my retriever Logan "hey little guy, hey buddy, whatcha up to?" I just wanted to go and rub his tummy.
After posing for some photos and realising I wasn't a fish, he turned and waddled away into the surrounding white cloud.
What a breathtaking experience. There I was on my own in awe of this lone emperor. I wonder what he was thinking?
