Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. was pancakes and bacon, cooked by Kim and Jody. During breakfast, we discussed the plan for getting the burned-out Generac generator to Grand Junction. That plan was complicated by the steady but very light rain that had been going on for some hours and continued through the process of readying the generator for transport.

Gradually members of the crew put on "rainy-muddy day" gear, including for a few members, the EVA boots, and for Jody, river shorts. Then we set out to commence the main task of the day.

David arrived to the scene of battle first, armed with a sledgehammer. This he proceeded to use on a pair of rocks that were keeping the trailered Generac from being accessible to the truck and ATV that could tow it.

While David and Jody took turns hammering the rocks, the rest of the crew worked to be sure the valves on the propane tanks were securely in the "off" position (they weren't!), and prepared psychologically for the upcoming effort of man-hauling the trailer over the rock pile and over to the waiting ATV. Photographer Derek kept a running photo log of the efforts. Kim made a lot of trips into the Hab to retrieve wrenches and such.

Watching folks walk in the mud was like watching beginning ice skaters taking their first lessons: a few steps, slide and wave arms, swoop awkwardly, stand upright, repeat. The mud was so thick that each member of the crew grew about four inches taller as the mud, layer upon layer, stuck to our boots.

Finally we got the trailer hooked to the ATV driven by Jody, who was followed by David and Tim running behind to stabilize the trailer as it slipped and slid its way to the waiting Ford Explorer Sport which was to tow it to Grand Junction. Before we hooked it up to the Explorer, however, David careened away to reconnoiter the route to see if it was passable in his vehicle.

Only after he was out of sight did the rest of us realize that we had broken the "Rule of Two" and let a single crewmember go out unsupported. We debated how long to let David be out of sight without going after him. The concerned mood was compounded because David, riding an ATV, could not hear the radio calls from Tim.

The group discussed a contingency plan, which involved a couple of "expendables" going out after him. (Expendables were the characters on Star Trek who wore red shirts and were always sent on missions never to return--somehow the main characters always made it back to the ship, while the expendable characters didn't). Kim and I, in burgundy rain gear (that's pretty close to red when other folks are wearing blue and black), began to be concerned, but before we were pronounced to be expendable, David came driving up. He, too, had thought too late about the Rule of Two, and a plan was quickly enacted to have the Explorer followed to the blacktop by two ATVs driven by Tim and Jody.

After some (literal) mucking about, Derek positioned himself to film the procession, and the others assumed their takeoff positions in and on the various vehicles. As David and Kim headed out with the trailer, the ATVs rode behind. They hadn't gone 75 yards before one of the access doors had fallen off the generator. Jody and Tim found ropes and secured it back on, and the procession continued, soon out of sight of the Hab.

On the way to the blacktop, the access doors continued to be a problem, so Jody and Tim continued to work to keep them closed securely. The whole 3.5-mile trip took about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, Derek and I had come in out of the cold muck and had made cups of Irish tea, which we had with ginger nuts that Derek had brought from Ireland. Derek pulled out a leprechaun figurine he had brought from Ireland to add to the overall felicity of the table.

Lunchtime at the Hab found Tim, Derek, Jody, and me dining on roast beef sandwiches and pretzels, overseen by the Hab leprechaun. After lunch, Derek spent a good while alone and then with Tim's assistance reconfiguring my laptop to work on the Hab network.

Meanwhile, Jody and Tim spent the better part of the afternoon reading up on and investigating the GreenHab's systems while Derek read previous crew reports on the subject, finding pictures of the control plants in their original condition. Those plants, Tim reports, are no longer green and sitting in clear water-they are green and brown, sitting in black water. This brought the crew some dismay, and Derek was called in to document the plants' condition with his digital camera.

Derek also spent time surveying reports by previous MDRS crews, giving us overviews of information that we could use or learn by. After the work in the GreenHab, Jody was busy working with the blue truck, which had been on a battery charger. He took it for a short spin before parking it out of sight of the Hab. By the end of his drive, it had already lost its charge and would not restart when he tested it. Jody continued his maintenance work by digging out wooden scraps and creating some shelves for the kitchen pantry, gassing up ATVs, and other such things. I caught up with my journal writing, hopping up periodically to mind the com, assist in projects, and the like.

Tim, Jody, and I went out late this afternoon for a walk through the surrounding area. We found bits of trash and interesting rocks and beautiful views and discussed what our first practice sim should be.

We arrived back at the Hab to Derek's receiving messages from Kim and David, who have been on the generator mission to Grand Junction. Don was relaying their phone questions via instant messenger, and Jody was sent out to take some measurements. They let us know that we cannot expect a temporary replacement for the Generac from Grand Junction and therefore are going to be dealing with more inconvenient and primitive waste disposal system than we might like.

Issues resolved, or at least dealt with for the moment, our thoughts turned to supper, which Tim and Derek prepared-a meal of chicken fajitas and Mexican rice. Jody and I were the supervisors as the other two used the kitchen for the first time. But the dinner was a success: we were all pleased to sit down to the table at last, at 9:00 p.m.

The rest of the evening, Derek cropped crew photos for posting on the Mars Society crew page, with much supervision and advice from me. We delayed our hoped-for bedtime as we waited for the return of David and Kim from Grand Junction. They arrived with a load of purchases, including two "Luggable Loos," a proposed solution to the waste problem that had some crewmembers in stitches after a free-for-all discussion of poop disposal.