Gear Update... We're almost ready to go!!!

Over the weekend, we received 5 brand new sleeping bags from Lafuma and 5 brand new backpacks from Eagle Creek!! Wow. I can't believe how lucky we are to have such great gear. The backpacks are beautiful- they're 55L bags with a 20L backpack attached! You can take them apart. Seriously, so cool. And the sleeping bags have built in compression bags, so they'll be super easy to carry around. AND they look comfortable too! Thank you so much Lafuma and Eagle Creek, we couldn't do it without you!!

I've started to pack up my awesome backpack with some of the stuff that I bought this weekend! I got tons of food... Because I'm hungry almost all of the time, and that's without physical activity, hahaha. So I'm thinking I'll be twice as hungry as normal on the island. :P There are a lot of last minute details to get figured out too, and supplies to be gathered. I can't believe we're leaving in two weeks!!

Training Day!!

This week on Wednesday, we had our "wet training day" where we went out to a nearby lake (Park Lake, in Lansing) to test our equipment and protocols. Everything went really well!!

One of our volunteers, Jennifer, checking out the view of Park Lake!

This was a great lake for a practice run! It had some of the same plants that we'll be seeing at ISRO.

This is Charlotte as we discovered that... the blow-up kayak worked!! I was sort of surprised, because I couldn't imagine a blow-up boat successfully holding two people and sampling gear. But there wasn't a problem all day!

This is Sarah on one of the practice runs with sampling gear. 

I loved my wetsuit! It's just so cool. After this wet run, I've decided that I have the coolest. job. ever. Can't wait for the real thing in July!!

We ate a delicious lunch of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches when we were all done!! We also tried using our SteriPen, and it worked really well!! I'm not gonna lie, I was really apprehensive... There was a lot of stuff floating in the lake water, and I didn't know if it would all get filtered out- but it did a really great job! After the water was filtered and cleaned with the SteriPen, I was still a bit nervous to try it. So one of our volunteers, Sarah, took the first drink. We warned her before drinking it that it would probably have a lake-y taste, but as she said when she drank it, "Nope, it just tastes like water!" I'm so excited that it worked well!! Can't wait to try it out in the field. :)

In addition to having a great training day, we've received more of the products from our sponsors!! We got a fantastic 75L backpack from Eagle Creek! When Angela got the package, the first thing she did was try it on- we're so excited to have it!! We also got our care package from Coghlan's- it had a foot pump, biodegradable soap, mini lanterns (which are adorable :P), and a first aid kit! What a useful care package!!

We also got another sponsor!!

http://www.shoplafuma.com/
Lafuma has generously offered us sleeping bags for the trip! I was just about to buy a sleeping bag, so this came at the perfect time! Thanks, Lafuma!!

So far, everything's going swimmingly. I can't wait until we get up to the island- we've got so much great gear, and there are great people working on the project, so it's going to be loads of fun. :)

More Updates!!

It's been a while since my last update... Getting ready for the training days (tomorrow and Wednesday) today! I just got back from driving the truck. o_O It's HUGE. I was really psyched out about it even though I've driven a truck before, because it's been a long time. But I got it back to the parking lot and parked it semi-successfully without hitting anyone/anything!! Always good. Wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, actually. Something about driving a big truck is really relaxing.

Sponsorship update!!

Coghlan's, an outdoor accessory company, will be giving us a care package to take with us to the island!! Can't wait to see what's in it- they have so many great products!! Thanks, Coghlan's!

We also have received our rain coats from Helly Hansen, our boot insoles from Scarpa, and our water purification SteriPen!! I'm getting sooooo excited to get started- now that we're getting everything together, I don't want to wait until July!! :D

I'm finding that I'm using lots of exclamation marks in sponsorship posts...! I'm just so excited, and we're so thankful to our sponsors that it's impossible not to be excited!! Thank you so much, sponsors!!

Oh, almost forgot! A friend of mine mentioned that our trip to ISRO reminded them of the Hunger Games... They thought of it when I mentioned our sponsors! Hahaha, thankfully we aren't all pitted against each other in a battle to the death.

Still, May the odds be ever in our favor! :P