Crisis central in Colorado this morning. With my departure date looming ominously close, today decided (for whatever reason) to reign chaos on me and everything I touched.

Beware of snow and ice? Yeah right. I can't wait to get to Antarctica where life is simple and all I'll have to worry about is thawing out my Clif bars enough to be able to chew them.

Right now I am up to my neck in craziness - replacing an HD video camera that mysteriously blew up while charging, setting up remote web posting capabilities - a process so vast and expansive that my brain actually hurts. In fact, there is now smoke coming out of my ears. Chargers, systems, back ups these details are critical.

On a positive note, my gear is all packed - 4 bags total (I'll get food in punta arenas). I also finished a heat exchanger that should reduce fuel consumption dramatically, put together a comprehensive repair kit and a bunch of other odds and ends.

More tomorrow, now back to the fray.