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Polar Explorers Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen send daily dispatches during their unprecedented four-month journey to the North Pole and back. The expedition team will pull and paddle specially modified canoes across nearly 1,000 miles of shifting sea ice and open ocean. Their objective is to complete the first ever summer expedition to the North Pole and to highlight the growing issues surrounding global warming.
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Life on the Ice


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Back in the USSR

Jul 02, 2006
overcast, rain, 33.7 F, 3.5 nautical miles
Day 63. We woke up in the eastern hemisphere singing old Beatles songs... 'back in the USSR'. Last night we drifted 3.5 miles south toward Siberia: the exact opposite direction of where we expected (and hoped) to drift and need to go. So, we had to delay our much needed rest.

With images of our sleeping bags and an extra Clif bar floating in front of us, we trudged back toward the North Pole where we are currently (once again) camped.

The wind has finally started to die down and hopefully the drift will slow down as well. Better still, would be ice movement toward Greenland so we can just relax and take our minds off the ice for a few days, but we'll believe that when it happens.

The day started with a nice summer rain. Big drops soaked our jackets and fogged our glasses. Luckily, it only lasted for 10 minutes or so. The ice was fairly kind to us, but it was still slow going. By day's end, we had skied through numerous melt pools 3 to 6 inches deep - our snow skis turning suddenly into water skis.

We are now getting quite good at locating the north pole by dead reckoning. We keep the wind in our face and the sun over our right shoulder. Today, we paddled the last 1/8th mile down a lead to the Pole, then set up camp on an old floe nearby.

In the end after a tiring day we had no net mileage gain. Tomorrow will be a rest day (hopefully). We have big plans of laying around and doing nothing. Perhaps in the afternoon we will go for a walk around the world.

Today's Picture: Lonnie and Eric display the Greenpeace banner on the North Pole.

Word of the day: cosmopolitan - you know, because we're in the eastern hemisphere. How international!

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