Snowshoeing/Sushi/& (un)Fortunate Rides

Status update: Back in the same coffe shop as yesterday still trying set up my ride westward. The bad news is due to white-out storms all the main highways are closed (i.e. very bad for me). The positive note is that the time spent here has been a blast. Yesterday college friend Reilly picked me up and she, her boyfriend Dave, and sister Ashley went snowshoeing in the snowy weather, which was a lot of fun. Dave was nice enough to loan me his sweet purple snowsuit for snowshoeing, which I grudgingly returned to him at the end of the day. Later we cracked open a sushi kit xmas present they had received and made some awesome food. I crashed at their pad in Dillion, CO and woke up this morning trying to get myself back to Breckenridge to meet up with some other family members inthe area. The day started on a bad note when I missed the shuttle into town by 2 minutes, which meant I would have to stand in the freezing cold for the next one for an hour. Not having proper mountain gear, I opted for the alternate source of transport and stuck the old thumb out. Lucky for me people in the mountains don't watch too many hitchhiker murder movies because I snagged two rides from two different locations within minutes. The first couple from Fargo, whose name I never got, graciously offered me a pair of winter gloves as I had none with me, which I declined and we figured going gloveless would make me a more suitable ride catcher when they dropped me off in Frisco (b/c of the sympathy factor, which actually did work). Next ride was Mark from Boston, who was sympathetic to my plight and gave me a ride to my Breck destination. Those were the fortunate rides and the unfortunate one is the ride to San Fran that I have not been able to score so far. Alas, I am back in Breck and waiting to meet up with extended family to ring in the new year.

See you in 08!

Into the Wild Times.....

And so it began, an itinerant dream being fulfilled with its first destination: Colorado. Breckenridge to be exact and the participants in this little wintry excursion were: Jim & Rita Tiehen, Dave T., Laura T., Andy & Jen T., me and my parents Andy and Janey (my first mode of transport on this trip). Also making the scene were cousins Mark and Dr. Luke Schloegel, along with Luke’s girlfriend, Heidi. The setting was the newly purchased Tiehen mountain house, which was an amazing winter hide-out and was probably not representative of my future accommodations on the trip. The 4 day trip was highlighted with good skiing, marathon hottubing, and the usual family revelry. A big thanks to the Tiehens for an awesome weekend! At the time of this writing, the families had begun caravanning back to KC and dropped me off in downtown Breck to fend for myself. My current prospects are that my friend Reilly and her boyfriend Dave, have graciously extended the invite to crash at their pad until my next move is made, which by the way is looking to be either: hitching a ride to CA from a Craigslist rideshare (my preferred choice of transport) or a 36 hour trip on the California Zephyr train. The latter is supposed to be scenic but I can’t imagine keeping my sanity on a day and a half train ride. Cross your fingers that I snag a ride………