After a delicious breakfast consisting of freeze dried scrambled eggs
and bacon or granola blueberry cereal, the crew was greeted by the
presence of Don for the last time before full simulation mode begins.
Don gave us some insight for fixing some of our current power, heating,
and water issues. We’ve realize that the plus side of not showering is
that we don’t have to pump as much water into the habitat! The downside
being that we only have so much deodorant.

A large part of the day was spent training the crew on the ATVs. We
started off slow then quickly got up to speed traversing rough terrain
and going a bit faster. The ATVs are loads of fun, and we can’t wait
to try them during full sim mode!

Lunch consisted of chicken and rice, freeze dried as usual, then we
headed out on a field trip to “mile 21”. There, our crew biologist
Cheryl Wartman and crew geologist Kerry Cupit demonstrated some key
field practices and showed us some interesting local phenomenon. We
climbed a treacherous mesa, aiding Mother Nature with some rapid pace
erosion, especially when our chief engineer found some loose rocks that
were unfortunately supporting his entire weight! But we’re all Canadian
and he’s a hockey player, so a couple of scratches didn’t stop him from
reaching the top. After some scenic views and a cold decent, we made it
back to the hab for a nice warm meal and hot chocolate. Hopefully
tonight we’ll get a chance to play some games before entering full
simulation mode in the morning.

p.s. Power issues have affected both the length and submittal time of
this report, but I'm warm and back inside the hab now, so enjoy your
read and I will enjoy my hot chocolate!