We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves now that we aren't on anyone else's schedule. We've watched three movies, and we are only constrained by our own EVAs. That said, we were all awake at least two hours before our EVA today, the longest of the rotation. P.J., Marcus, and I were selected to be the suited crew while Chip went to town to deliver something to Paul for his Arctic trip and get a few supplies (except for the olive oil, btw, but we all know he tried his hardest and are very proud of him).

We started to suit up for our EVA while simultaneously finishing lunch (our team's lacking time management skills coupled with our debilitating internet addictions have led to this situation more than once). We sat in the airlock for five claustrophobic minutes (actually four and a half for me, I SWEAR I heard the beep before I bolted out). It's really not so bad, except that Pieter Jan has this gift for taking up more than his share of space, through some warping of space-time. He also extensively exercised this gift in the bed of the truck, which we all piled into. Alex drove us to our first site, which involved a little overhang, a small alcove, and prodding of Alex (who was out of sim) with an enormous tumbleweed.

Our next site seemed tame until I spotted some trees around a corner. We came across what is probably the third largest body of water in the state of Utah and a bunch of cow trails leading up to it (and consequently, cow pies). We moved on to our third stop, where we discovered piles of petrified wood! I was extremely excited, but I get that way about rocks. So sue me. At this point, our "rover" broke (this was a planned part of the EVA) so we did our "emergency walk back". We were such rock stars that we finished our four hour EVA in three. I just hope our immense strength and stamina didn't ruin Alex's data. We decompressed in the airlock again (those five minutes take forever) and ripped off our sweaty smelly suits.

I cooked up some tasty tacos and we sat down to meal and a heated political discussion (you never see these things coming). But, luckily, everyone lived through it.

We will need our rest tonight; this place is starting to turn into Real World Mars.