Opening Day and "Friends-giving"

November 26 was Beaver Creek's opening day. There was really great snow on the ground and I had a blast skiing.

Opening day at Beaver Creek!

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:09am PST

 That night a few of us who live here on the hall got together and had a Thanksgiving dinner. I cooked a bacon wrapped turkey and a few little sides. It was awesome to have a good meal for the holiday with new friends.

@412allen will be proud of how I do thanksgiving in the mountains

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:12pm PST

Thanksgiving dinner with the coolest neighbors ever! @madi.lynn12 @kenniepie45 @hannaconoley @bigrockandimtn (and no instagram Alex)

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 6:53pm PST

Had a great first full day of skiing today at Vail. It was snowing most of the day, giving us a little powder. The temperature at the top was right around 10°F with winds blowing really hard. It was a good day to be out there! I'm really excited for Beaver Creek's opening day on Wednesday!

Headed into Vail from the top of the mountain

Alex, Me, and Alex on the lift in Vail

This is my morning walk out of my apartment to work. It hasn't snowed in a couple days but it has been cold (20° or below consistently). It is going to dump this weekend which will be great for opening in a week.

Went for a walk today down the hill to break in the my new boots. The sunset was perfect, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Sunset in the Rockies

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:23pm PST

Our Apartment

Our Patio

We moved in on Monday to our apartment in Beaver Creek. We have a single bedroom, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. It's kind of small, but for just the two of us it will work for 6 months. We are still unpacking and finding space for everything. 

Living Room

View off my balcony this morning. 8" of snow yesterday and more to come.

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:27am PST

Out of gas

Pulling the trailer behind us for over 2000 miles did a number on the 4runners MPGs. We had to fill up about twice a day. Here are some numbers:

Total Gas: 163.63 gallons

Avg Price: $2.82

Lowest Price: $2.52 (Varina, VA)

Highest Price: $3.59 (Golden, Co)

Total Miles Driven: 2,137 (give or take)

Miles Per Gallon: 13.05

Ran out of gas: Once (Arriba, Co)

Middle of nowhere

On Sunday we ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere just over the Colorado state line. The gas gauge apparently has been known to fault on 4runner's and ours read half-full when we stalled out. A quick tow to the next gas station, 18 gallons of fuel at $3.15, and 4 more hours of driving we were in the mountains! We made it to Beaver Creek this morning and have moved into our apartment. More updates and pictures to come.

Cooking over the fire

Last night we stayed in Knob Noster State Park in Missouri. We cooked some spareribs, corn and beans with bacon over the open fire. We woke up before sunrise and drove a short way to Wichita to stay with my good friends Casey and Duff. Tomorrow we hope to make it all the way to Denver.

Pork on pork for dinner in Missouri #Colorado2014 #RoadTrip

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 6:09pm PST

Greetings from our cockpit

Last night was interesting, to say the least. We stopped off in a little town on the state line of Kentucky and Illinois named Metropolis, yes, exactly like the city Superman is from. In fact they had his statue in the center of town...

Superman protected us from the crazies last night #ThankYouSuperman #Colorado2014 #RoadTrip

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:13am PST

 There were a couple guys who lived in the park camping next us. The local sheriff's office shows up and go over to investigate who was living there. We just sat by our perfect campfire and watched to see what would happen (nothing much, the sheriff left after he looked around a bit). We woke up to temperatures in the upper 20s and we had our first shower of the trip this morning. Headed through St. Louis today to the other side of Missouri.

Camp Night #2

 Our campsite

Last night we camped in Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We slept on a hill overlooking the Little River, the sound of the rapids below put us right to sleep. We cooked over a fire beside the slackline. The rain woke me up around 3:00am, but our tent stayed relatively dry. We are headed through Tennessee today into Metropolis, Illinois.

 Little River

Slackline by the fire

Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning at 6:30am I leave. I'm all packed up and ready to start a 7 day road trip that will end in Avon, Colorado. Stay tuned for updates along the way.

Things are getting kinda real #Colorado2014 #RoadTrip

A photo posted by Stephen Hudson (@scubasteve90) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:50am PST