REALLY the Last Post

So, just to tie up some loose ends…. The balloon came down on January 13, 2006, only 250 miles from where it was launched.  It made two complete revolutions around Antarctica, and stayed up for about 32 days.  CREAM is the luckiest experiment I have ever been on.  Recovery was easy and total.  Absolutely everything was recovered, and very quickly, in a couple days and a few flights.  

As for the beard: I shaved it off on Monday, January 16.  I was tired of wringing out my face every time it got wet.  The beard never really got soft, so always itched, and my wife never really stopped laughing.  I shaved it off in stages, intending to stop for a while at various places, but as soon as I shaved off the first part, I could not stop, because it looked ridiculous.  A goatee and/or sideburns are not my style.  

So, thanks for tuning in.  My journey and this blog were featured in a local newspaper article in the Cincinnati Enquirer (Northern Kentucky edition).  My 15 minutes of fame have come and gone.

I did decide that I want to make this once in a lifetime opportunity into a twice in a lifetime opportunity, and I think I have that chance.  In fact, I think I have two chances.  Once again with the CREAM experiment in 2007/08, and again the following year with CREST.  All this, of course, depends on various schedules happening as planned.  My fingers are crossed!!