WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD ALMOST A DAY TO KILL?  A mind-numbing plane ride is probably not anywhere near the top of that list.

10am (Houston time) Thursday morning flight to Guam with a stop in Hawaii; land in Guam Friday evening 6pm (Guam time).  Just a short 16 hour hop across the largest ocean on earth...no big deal!  Flying over the ocean brought to mind two movies.  The first is the scene from Jurassic Park when the helicopter is flying over the ocean and I remember how beautiful that looked.  Then, without warning, clips from Alive (the one where the rugby team crashed in the Andes mountains) flooded my imagination....if we crash in the ocean (not the mountains like the movie but you get my point), I'm probably going to die out here or get stranded on an island the size of a football field with a hundred strangers.

Anyway, I obviously made it here alive.  I walked off the plane like some sort of stiff zombie.  To say that I was tired (in mind and butt) is a gross understatement.

My colleague and I spent the next several days on Guam wandering through the jungle in search of ideal locations to set up some experiments for my research.  After all, that is the whole reason why I flew half way around the world.  Ohh, I guess some of you don't know why I'm in Guam.  Here's the gist:  All the forest birds species have gone extinct on the island of Guam b/c a snake species was accidentally introduced about 50 years ago.  The snakes are largely blamed for completely wiping birds off of Guam.  As many of you may know, birds play an important role in pollinating plants.  So as tragic as the situation is, it provides an excellent opportunity for me to examine how this effects the natural forests.  Using Saipan (which has no snakes and healthy bird communities), I can compare the forest on Guam to Saipan to basically see if the forests are different from each other and, if so, how they are different. So my short term life goal for the next three months is to get at that question.

On April 18th, we flew to Saipan to similarly search the forests of Saipan for suitable experiment sites.  And I've been here since.  It's been just over a month since I arrived in the Marianas and I'm in a beautiful island paradise which I will get to enjoy trampling through the jungle rather than laying on the beach tanning and drinking a daiquiri.  Ohh well, 'tis life.  It's actually probably a good thing I'm not laying on the beach b/c Jackie would not be happy if I left her for three months, vacationed without her, and bummed around!!

However, as I travel between field sites, I will do my best to photograph and document some of the cultural/historical aspects of the islands.  The rich, authentic, untouched WWII history here is amazing!

Check back later.  I'll try to write again and post some pictures once or twice a week.

Much love to my fam and friends!


ps-I don't have my phone so don't bother calling.  I have email access so shoot me an email at roy.chris.roy@gmail.com if you'd like to get in touch.  I will be back state-side 12 July.