The rest of the story ...

Time to be up front with everyone. The photo above is where I'm headed.

I'm an environment and natural resources writer for a McClatchy newspaper, called The Fresno Bee. I'm telling you this because I am going to Mendel Glacier in the Sierra Nevada as a reporter for The Bee.

I'm going to meet author Peter Stekel, the man who found one of the frozen airmen who died in 1942. The airman's name was Ernest "Glenn" Munn, and his body was well-preserved in the ice for more than six decades. Another body was found three years ago by ice climbers. His name was Leo Mustonen.

I will be writing from the trail, using a satellite phone as we pursue the other two missing missing airmen. They were both in the front seats of this training plane when it went down, presumably in a blizzard in November 1942.

The glacier is at about 13,000 feet. The climb to reach it will be arduous.

In the next several weeks, I will explain a little about our writing project. Stekel is writing a book called "Final Flight." It is due out in 2009 or 2010.

Of course, there are many things to write about in this blog. Our approach, our reporting beforehand, our training to get in shape. If you have questions, please feel free to ask. If you have advice or comments, I would like to hear them.

This project will be anything but dull.