Day 53: Pow Day at Wolf Creek then off to Colorado Springs

Matt's alarm goes off at 7. Booo. It is too early! I go back to sleep. He gets up. Apparently he leaves the room. I hear him come back and I decide I should probably actually wake up. "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"  Ivonne says that the bad news must be that the room is freezing. Close. Bad news is the power is out. We have no heat, water (it is on well), or light. We are planning to leave anyway but if the power is out at the lifts.... that won't be fun. The good news is that there is tons and tons of new snow!

I pack up my stuff and go to put it in my truck. My truck is covered in snow! Not as much as in Lake Tahoe but close. Sadly the new truck does not look as good in snow as the T Rex did. The hood scoop makes it all lumpy and funny looking under the snow. Also, the lines are more rounded so the snow doesn't contract as well. Regardless, the snow is awesome and my truck looks good in it!

Rarrww!!!

We head off to the mountain. It is about 6 miles to the ski area. The drive seems to take forever. It is snowing like crazy. The wind keeps blowing snow so hard that I can't see a thing at all. I lose Matt. He is crazy and passing people! I am content to drive really slow behind a semi. Luckily, I find the ski area just fine. There is a snowplow all over in the driveway. I sit there for a while until someone directs me where to go. I finally am directed to a parking spot.

Hey guys, I found you! I get my stuff on and head to the lodge. I need some breakfast! I meet them at the bottom of the lift a little later. The snow is crazyyy! I have powder flying up onto my face it is so crazy. I feel super cool and bad ass. Just like everyone else that is on the mountain today. Powder does that to people. I am not incredibly experienced at riding powder on my snowboard and fall over quite a few times. The awesome thing about powder is that falling is like falling into a really cold feather bed. That gets snow all down my pants and my coat. Powder is also a really really smooth ride. The not cool part of powder is it is really hard to dig myself out when I fall. I put my hand down to push myself out of the snow and it just sinks. It is a lot of work!

Snow everywhere! This was after it had started to clear up some...

The riding is awesome! Unfortunately, it is also snowing like crazy with a great deal of wind. Some of the gusts get pretty crazy. The windchill might just be in the negatives. I am actually worried about getting frost bite on my one exposed area- my nose and mouth. At one point, we stop to warm up and Ivonne and I go and buy face masks. I feel like a ninja in mine! We do some more sweet runs before heading inside again to warm up.

Ninja snowboard Anna!

It is almost 1 and I need to be headed on my way to Colorado Springs soon so I can meet the guy who is selling me the tonneau cover. Matt and Ivonne decide to head out too since it is so cold. They are going the same way as I am for a while so we decide to stop and get lunch a ways down the road. Sweet! I don't have to drive through the snow storm on my own now! An hour later, we arrive in Almosa. It is still windy. Ivonne gets out of the truck and we head to the brewery that is nearby that has awesome food. We almost get blown into the street when a particularly strong gust blows. This wind is ridiculous!

We have lunch before I have to get on my way. I go to get my stuff out of Matt's truck after lunch. My lack of a cover has been really annoying. My bed is now full of snow. I don't want my suitcase getting too wet. I grab my window scraper and use the brush side to get most of the snow out. I then load up my truck and strap everything down. I say goodbye and thank them for everything and head off to Colorado Springs.

At least all the snow keeps my snowboard secure!

The wind does not stop. It makes the whistling of my wind scoop even louder than usual. Stupid useless wind scoop that is purely cosmetic and just makes noise when I am going fast. At least it makes my truck look cool and fast! I had been contemplating with Matt if the whistling would work as one of those deer deterrent whistle things. And if those things even work. Well, a ways down the road, I see a deer standing by the side of the road, thinking of crossing. It is looking all confused and indecisive. I slow down in case it runs. It doesn't. In my mirror, I see it running across the road. Well, maybe my hood scoop does work as a deer whistle. I will need more data before I can draw a valid conclusion on this though.

I stop to get gas. The gas grades in New Mexico and Colorado are different than what I am used to. The low grade is 85 or 86. Mid grade is 87. I keep getting mid grade since I usually run 87.... Anyway, Tanya calls me while I am doing this. I call her back when I am done. She doesn't answer. What did you do, call me and then throw your phone in a corner and run away?

I make it to the interstate. It is even windier on the interstate. Jeeze, will this wind ever stop? The wind is reverberating between the cab and hood and making some really weird sounds. I am freakin out that something is wrong with the truck. Defiantly the wind this time. I drive a little further and see a road sign warning of high winds. Thank you for stating the obvious. I see two semi trucks rolled over in the ditch. I am pretty sure the wind blew them there. Yikes!

I make it into town without being blown into a ditch myself. I end up meeting the guy with the cover in a nice public and relatively well lit parking lot. Sweet, nice guy! He held the cover for me and is not a creeper! He helps me load the cover into my truck and I give him the money. I don't want to lug all of my ski gear into my hotel room so I decide to install the cover there in the parking lot. It is not as easy to install as I hoped it would be.

After almost two hours of trying to get it installed in the cold, dark, windy parking lot, I finally have it installed. Mostly. Installed enough to keep my stuff mostly secured. The part that keeps the tailgate locked requires a drill, which I don't have. Hopefully no one will want to steal my stuff that badly. It at least looks like it is secure. I will have to deal with that tomorrow. At this point, I am cold, hungry, thirsty and extremely tired. It is good enough. Tanya has called me back in the middle of this. Yay!! Phone tag.

I head off to the hotel. My driving is horrible. Luckily, Colorado drivers seem to be nice and not too terrible. I make it to the hotel safely. I back into a spot. I am half way over the line. Shit. I try again. Still off. Ugh, I need to learn to park this thing! The third time, I finally get it in the lines. Crooked, but in the lines. Ok, good enough. I go to get my suitcase out of the bed. Well this is a pain in the ass. The tail gate is hanging over a landscaped hill full of rocks and shrubbery. I get in the truck and pull it forward. I don't think that anyone is going to want to steal my skis this badly.

I drag all my shit into the lobby. "Hi I want to check in." The girl at the desk asks how I am. I continue asking about checking in. She asks how I am again. Okkk... you asked for it! I am tired. She then gets the whole story about my truck and getting a cover and how I was just putting the new cover on and how I was snowboarding all day. She actually seems interested. Wow. She then explains all the hotel stuff: internet, printing, pool, food.

I head off to my room and drop my bag. I get some water. I think my biggest problem is I might be slightly dehydrated. That is better. Ok, time to try calling Tanya back again. I get her this time. We talk for a bit. I babble about my day and she tells me about her latest excitement when my phone cuts out again. Ughhh dammit phone! This happened last time I tried to talk to her...and the time before that too I think. I need to make more calls tonight too. Once it cuts out, it is usually hours until it decides to transmit my voice again.

While on the phone, I had decided on some food. There is a delivery place that the hotel suggests. I call them on my cell phone. I hear the lady's voice. "Hellooooo. Hello? Anyone there?" YES I AM HERE LADY AND I WANT FOOD! Nope, can't hear me. Time to figure out how to use the phone in the hotel room. "Press 8 to dial local". Well it is an 800 number... I guess I press 8? A few minutes later, I have food on the way. Yay!

I wanted to call my mom tonight since it has been a few days since we have talked. I guess that is not happening... A text will work for now. I will try tomorrow. I don't really have anything to do tomorrow until 7 pm so I guess I will be going to an apple store and crying about my stupid broken phone. I will also be somehow securing my bed cover and unloading all the shit out of my cab.