Six months ago I packed up whatever I could fit into my Toyota pickup and headed east from Seattle, out across the winter landscape...
-25 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty cold.
At -25°F, it turns out, transmission fluid starts to freeze.
I'm in my pickup at a hotel in Sioux Falls, and it is -25°F outside.
The manual transmission is stuck in first gear, where it was left the night before when it was parked.
The seats are frozen hard as rock.
But, the battery I purchased three days prior in preparation for the cold Midwest winter was up to the task.
The engine turns over... It takes a few seconds, but it sputters and rumbles to life, running very rough and accompanied by clanking, grinding and squealing sounds that are definitely not good.
A little pressure on the gas pedal and it smooths out, but still sounds like death. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the sounds return to normal.
After holding in the clutch for 30 minutes inside the frozen cab, the engine has warmed up the transmission enough to get out of first gear, and I'm mobile again!
Not everyone in the parking lot that morning was so lucky. This 'polar vortex' is by far the coldest weather I've ever experienced.
It's not too bad, as long as you bundle up well. I can deal with this.
And that's good, because where I'm going this November, -25F is just the beginning...
...three days later I found myself building a telescope in a lab at the University of Minnesota. I left an exciting job working with great people making more money. I am living apart from my friends, family, fiancée and dog. I left all that (for now) because this particular telescope will be deployed to the South Pole.
And I get to spend an entire year there.