Well, at least for me it is. I finally got out for the first trip of the year. I escort bus trips with New England Action Sports. That means I’m the guy (or at least one of the guys/gals) who shows up a bit early and checks names off the list. Sure there’s more to it than that, but I won’t get into that here. What the bus trips are, are the best way to go skiing from Rhode Island. You pay between $60 and $63 (depending on the location, see above link for schedule/rates). You get a bus ride AND your ticket. For reference, we went to Stowe Saturday. Their full price Saturday ticket is now $84. Yes, EIGHTY FOUR BUCKS!!! I couldn’t believe that myself. I do these trips as it’s the only way I can afford to ski. The added bonus is you don’t have to drive (those of you who know me, know I love driving, but home from “up north” after skiing hard all day can be tough).

So I’m waiting in the parking lot of NEAS at ~4:45am when Jeff asks me “what’s in the bag?”. I had all my gear on me at the time, my gear bag, my bus bag (magazines, food, DVDs) and my camera bag… I turned to show him the camera bag when I had a sinking feeling…. Normally my boots should have been on my back, over my gear bag. When I turned I realized they weren’t and realized they were still at home….. CRAP! Well my only option was to go home and get my boots, but that meant I’d miss the bus. I quickly exchanged phone numbers with Bobby and Cathy (Bobby was the other official escort on the bus, Cathy is his girlfriend). I told them I’d meet them up there, and I went home for my boots. The real bummer in this was 2 fold. It’s ~300 miles to Stowe. With gas over ~$3/gal., that meant this mistake would cost me ~$70… Add to that the fact I’d picked my parents up at the airport the night before netting me 3 hours of sleep (I had planned on sleeping on the bus). So all this meant I had to spend $70 to drive 8 hours to ski…. Anyone who knows me, knows this meant I’m broke and tired today, but I went skiing. 🙂

Somehow in all the commotion of me getting #s and getting all my gear back in the car, my cell called Nikki… She had already been up when I got up (pregnancy is not easy on the bladder) but now was on the other end of my phone in my jacket… I heard her muffled voice, so I got it out and explained my situation. I got home to my ski boots in the front room, my wife on the couch, and a fresh pot of coffee waiting! (I love my wife!). I grabbed all that, gave Nikki another good by kiss, and was out the door. Then I dashed to D&D for breakfast (since I had to stay awake now) and a fresh tank of gas. All this meant I’d spotted the bus a 15 minute head start. So off I was up 95N to 93N through Boston, to 89N. I caught the bus after Boston, and pushed on so I could hit the rest room on the way (all the coffee was catching up to me). I noticed it was pretty cold in the car (I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans with the hvac turned down) and looked up to notice it was -1ºF! I ended up beating the bus by about 10 minutes, just enough to get dressed and help with tickets.

I also realized one of the other escorts happened to be on the bus, Jeff. Jeff and I had skied together before, and always had fun as we’re both fast aggressive skiers. Bobby said he was going to take it easy with Cathy, so Jeff and I headed out and skied together. We also ended up running into another friend of mine (and summer sailing crew) Ted and his girlfriend in the gondola. Jeff and I had a fantastic tiring day on the hill (my first, his second). It had snowed 20″ in 3 days during the week, after an excellent cold snap to allow them to make tons of snow. Conditions are as good as I’ve seen in mid December with just about everything open (I don’t think I saw a single closed trail now that I think of it). It was very cold (the high was 8ºF at the base), but with good protection we were fine. Our iPods didn’t seem to like the cold though, lasting only a few runs.

The drive home wasn’t nearly as much fun as the drive up. Working on ~3 hours of sleep Friday night, and skiing all day, I was beat. I stopped for another tank of gas in VT before I got on the highway. I also picked up a can of red bull and some gatorade as well as some gum to help keep me awake. I made it about an hour down the road before I couldn’t keep myself awake enough to be safe. I ended up pulling into a rest area for a 45minute nap. After than, I was OK for another while, but still beat. Luckily Jeff knew how tired I was and called me to check in on me from the bus. That was a huge help and kept me going for another ~hour. Then right before I was thinking I’d better take another nap (around the NH/MA border) Nikki called and kept me up for a solid hour on the phone. As we hung up, Jeff buzzed in again, so we talked another little while. I was then in Boston, and wide awake from all the talking (BIG THANKS to both Nikki and Jeff for calling me, it was a HUGE help, also thank god for bluetooth headsets!).

From there I bombed home and made it w/o any issues. It was a fantastic first trip and the snow was the best I’ve seen this early. My wallet was punished for my stupidity, and I was beat, but it was all well worth it! If you’re wondering about all the pictures (of me) below, I had to do a self portrait HW assignment for my photography forum…