Ski Road Trip
States: 9 Weeks: 4 Ski Resorts: 3 Lodging: $0
it’s time to hit the road
I set off in February on a road trip out west. My primary desire - to go skiing. I had been seeing pictures of record snowfall at the ski resort I worked at last season, Winter Park, and was frustrated that I wasn’t out there frolicking in it. Over the past few years I’ve come to realize that I am obsessed with snow and that skiing has become my favorite activity/sport to do. I remember thinking last year that I wanted it to dump snow everyday and it didn’t matter that I worked outside in it. I wanted a blizzard everyday. That might seem overkill for those Northerners who dislike snow but for this Southerner who has been deprived, I can’t get enough. And I had somewhat planned to work at a ski resort again this winter but my plans changed once I found out my Kiki love was dying and I decided to stay with her.
I also decided to go on the road trip in order to shock my system out of the dark funk I was in from staying at home and then grief over my love’s passing. I needed to pull myself out of the downward spiraling vortex I was in (that usually happens over winter when I’m back home in AL) because I had become unmotivated and uninspired, I wasn’t able to make even simple decisions, I didn’t leave the house for days, and wasn’t able to make myself get outside for nature’s healing.
Testing my camperolla set-up out in Alabama
Carlife
One of my goals while being back home for a spell was to get a van and convert it to live in. I had been wanting to get into #vanlife for years as it's the natural progression of my lifestyle: living on the road, traveling, working seasonally, and hiking, all the while not having to pay for housing cause I would live in my van. Plus it pairs well with my views in lowering my impact on the planet (you might think yeah but you’re using gas, but I would counter that with I wouldn’t be on a grid using electricity for heat, lights, etc cause I would be using solar panels) AND with the fact that I could reduce my expenses as I live under poverty level. However, when it came time to purchase the van I couldn’t do it and decided to use that money for something else and to try and make it work with what I have. Which is a 1998 Toyota Corolla that I’ve had since I was 16. Trying to think outside the box I decided to just remove my passenger seat and half of the back portion of the back seat in order for me to be able to lie down completely with my feet poking into the trunk. I had slept in my car many many times and it was always very uncomfortable so this would give me a small bed. My dad stacked up some blocks and put a sheet of wood down that I then covered with tarp and cushions. And voila, my corolla morphed into my #camperolla (which I have since dedicated a whole new page on this website to).
[During my trip I also made 2 video blogs about car camping that have now gotten over 18k views on YouTube. See below]
house-sitting
Prior to leaving I had set-up a house-sitting gig in Durango, CO, through trustedhousesitters.com. I had come across the site at the end of 2018 and coughed up the pricey sign-up fee to join. I had always thought it would be another great way to travel cheaply by reducing lodging/housing costs, much like the workaway site that I joined and used for my Puerto Rico trip a couple years ago. So knowing that I had a place to stay for a few days in Colorado I set off a week earlier to see some sights. [If you’re interested in checking that site out you can use my referral link for a 25% sign-up discount.]
on the road
I set off on my road trip first stopping in my college town of Tuscaloosa and then in Shreveport to pick up a king cake. I decided to take a more Southerly route due to the winter conditions on the interstate through Kansas. Plus it would give me the opportunity to finally visit Carlsbad National Park in southern New Mexico. On the way to NM I slept in my car every night, in a Walmart parking lot and a small park in Texas found on the freecampsites.net site that I always use on road trips. Once I got to Carlsbad Caverns NP I camped for two nights on nearby Forest Service land. To my surprise I learned there was another national park in the area, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which also was home to the tallest peak in Texas, so that instantly became a must-do on my schedule. I write more detailed accounts of those national park trips in separate blogposts found here.
After summiting Guadalupe Peak and touring the Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns I headed north towards Colorado. I stopped in Alamogordo to check out White Sands National Monument and visited PistachioLand where the world’s largest pistachio nut statue is located. Funny enough that nut was the deciding factor to head that way rather than visit Roswell. I got to Durango and house/pet sat a dog and cat in a nice home. Afterwards I hit my first ski resort of the trip - Purgatory - which was having epic powder conditions. Then after a disorienting and embarrassing event where my backpack strap got caught on the chairlift and I got dragged face down for a bit, I slowly got back in the groove of skiing after almost a year off. The 13,000ft elevation and physical toll was surprisingly affecting me and I had to stop constantly during the runs to reign in my beating heart and to ease my quad muscles. I was disappointed that I wasn’t skiing like I had been last season, going non-stop run after run. After 19 miles I called it an early day and left cause my quads couldn’t take it anymore (I use the app Ski Tracks and that’s how I know how many miles, speed, etc).
relaxing in Colorado
While I was in Durango I set up another house-sit a couple days later in Boulder. So after skiing at Purgatory I headed in that direction. While in Boulder I house/pet sat 2 cats for 4 nights at the first house, got to spend my friend Danielle’s birthday with her at a show in Denver, skied at Loveland with Danielle during avalanche mitigation on the nearby interstate, and got another last-minute house-sit for another 4 nights in Boulder. I also spent way too much money on an awesome new tattoo and geeked out over seeing Scott Jurek at the local Trader Joe’s. I love the atmosphere in Boulder and I was reminded of a past house-sit I did there a couple years ago when I was working for the Forest Service. And the reason I ended up getting that second Boulder sit was because I had hoped to drive up to Winter Park but the forecast was for snow all weekend, and I knew that it would be really dicey to drive up and down Berthoud Pass in those conditions in my small car without four-wheel drive or snow tires.
Winter Park
So the next weekend after the second Boulder sit I headed up to Winter Park where I worked and lived last winter season. Unfortunately my roommate from last year didn’t have space for me to stay with her so I ended up sleeping in my car for the 3 nights that I was there. And the first night it got down to 9 degrees (the area is around 8500ft). It was an experience but it wasn’t too bad; I have a great 0 degree sleeping bag. Also, prior to my visit I had found out that the WP lift ticket goes for a steep $179 a day. I never knew that last year when I was working cause I got a free pass. So once I found that out I resigned myself to not skiing cause it was too expensive. Except, I was inspired one morning in Boulder and decided to write Winter Park an email that then morphed into an article that I posted on Medium, found here. Then I sent Winter Park an email with a link to that article basically saying that a former employee can’t afford to ski there. I had hopes someone would respond and someone did. A guy from guest services emailed me saying that he would gladly offer one of his friends&family discount lift tickets to me. Score. But my first day there I didn’t hear from him after waiting at the resort all morning and so I decided to just go out cross country skiing on a trail that I was familiar with from last year. Then I went on a long walk in the snow. I found it difficult to find things to occupy my time and find places to go to stay warm that wouldn’t involve me spending money. I went to the local library until they closed and a coffee shop till they closed the first day just so I wouldn’t be sitting in my car in the grocery store parking lot waiting for it to get dark so I could then stealth camp/sleep in my car at an apartment complex (which is exactly what I did the next 2 days). #carlifeproblems
My luck shifted, funnily enough on St. Patrick’s Day, when I went to a morning yoga session at my former work location. I got to see my former boss and she hooked me up with a discount lift ticket (I hadn’t asked her before because I didn’t think she would have anymore left). So then I had a glorious full day of skiing all over my favorite mountain. It all came back and before I knew it I was going as fast as I could from the top down the five miles all the way to the base. Later that day I saw my former boss again at an art show and got to see her awesome watercolor art first-hand. The guest services guy eventually emailed me with the discount tickets and I gratefully used one the next day. By the end of the second day of skiing I was upset that I had to leave. The more I ski the more I want to ski. I am always trying to get better or to go faster, to do harder runs, and I finally felt in the groove of getting better all when I was having to leave. It just reinforces that for me to be at my happiest I need to be around snow-covered mountains.
there and back again
I left Winter Park and headed for my friend’s ranch in northern New Mexico. Along the way I stopped at a roadside free hot springs and lavishly soaked in the healing hot water while chatting with others. Later, moments after arriving at my friend Lupita’s ranch we rushed off to her friend’s place for Taco Tuesday. The next day I followed her around while she fed the animals and helped her in the high tunnel getting a row ready for lettuce planting. She invited friends and family over and we had a luncheon feast all while recognizing the beauty of bringing folks together to work the land and eat in celebration of the first day of Spring. —I highly recommend being in a garden on the spring equinox as it is very inspiring to see things growing and gives one a hopeful feeling of the future.
After leaving her hidden gem of a farm tucked away in the sandstone canyons of northern New Mexico, I stopped in Santa Fe to experience Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return. I’m not sure where I first heard of the place but I must have seen a picture somewhere that stayed with me for when I was looking at New Mexico attractions later it just kinda popped out at me and I knew I needed to go there. I had asked around to folks about it at the hot springs and then with Lupita’s friends to see if it was worth the $30 entrance fee. I decided it was worth it and I waited an hour to get in. All I knew was that more than 70 local artists had built different installations in it. I walked in to see a two story house. I walked in the front door and didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I was supposed to solve a mystery like an escape room (which I have never been to) or if there was an order in which to progress through the space. And after awhile somewhat following other people and reading random things left in the house I just started walking into the different rooms. Hidden doors led to a whole other world. You could crouch down and walk through the fireplace. You could open the fridge and walk into the bright white light. You could open the dryer and slide down through the pulsing blue lights. You could open a panel in the staircase and be transported into a psychedelic wonderland. I spent hours walking around checking out all the different “rooms” and installations, each with a very different vibe. I left not being any clearer on the story-line of the family that lived in the house or anything about all that, and I don’t think that really matters to experiencing the place. So all I can say is that it was wild, inspiring, captivating, and that you should just check it out yourself. I walked out the doors into the dark night and felt as if I was exiting a portal from another world.
The road trip back to Alabama was pretty uneventful. I had wanted to get back rather quickly as my mother’s last day at work/retirement was approaching and I wanted to be back for that. So I took a route that I had taken a couple times before and just zoomed through along the interstate catching back up on podcasts. The only stop I made was at Cadillac Ranch just off the interstate in Amarillo, TX. I had passed it before but never stopped cause I didn’t realize what it was. I had seen pictures of the tourist attraction and I guess since this trip was full of these tourist spots I decided to go all-in. I walked out into the field and once again realized that I hadn’t done enough research cause I didn’t know that people take spray paint out to graffiti the cars. That would have been fun, but I still enjoyed walking around the cars sticking vertically up out of the ground.
Oh, and just before I got to my granny’s house I stopped to tag the highest peak in Mississippi. I got a picture at the top of the whopping 806ft Woodall mountain. Are we really calling that a mountain? Regardless, I can now check that off my state’s highest peaks excel sheet.
Ski Road Trip was a success.
