The last two months of 2015 have been full of changes, and we're just now settling down into a routine that might give us some time to update this website every now and then. We wrapped up our time in New Zealand at the end of October with one final road trip back to Christchurch and 30 hours of flights back to New Jersey. We spent a few weeks in the Garden State recuperating from all of the travel, and one long weekend bartending for the food truck festival at Laurita Winery before loading up the truck to head out to our next adventure.
On November 16th we embarked on a 6 day, 50 hour road trip 2/3 of the way across the country, passing through 7 states on our way to Telluride, Colorado. After losing all of our kitchen supplies off of the roof of the truck on our last major road trip we ordered a new rack for the roof of the cab so we could re-arrange all of our belongings. It arrived in the afternoon of the day we planned on leaving without any installation instructions, so we didn't manage to get on the road until well into the evening. We drove just a few hours to Amish Country in Pennsylvania then slept for the night in the parking lot of a hardware store.
On November 16th we embarked on a 6 day, 50 hour road trip 2/3 of the way across the country, passing through 7 states on our way to Telluride, Colorado. After losing all of our kitchen supplies off of the roof of the truck on our last major road trip we ordered a new rack for the roof of the cab so we could re-arrange all of our belongings. It arrived in the afternoon of the day we planned on leaving without any installation instructions, so we didn't manage to get on the road until well into the evening. We drove just a few hours to Amish Country in Pennsylvania then slept for the night in the parking lot of a hardware store.
We woke up the next morning with a horse and buggy parked next to us, and spend the morning exploring some of the little shops around town before we went for lunch at the Rumspringa Brewing Company in Intercourse (yes, that's the name of the town!). Rumspringa translates to "running around," and refers to the time that Amish youth spend exploring the outside world before they decide whether or not to commit to officially joining the Church and living the Amish lifestyle.
After lunch we left the farmland behind and stopped briefly in Hershey, Pennsylvania to check out the Hershey museum and buy some giant Reeses peanut butter cups before continuing on the road. Our late departure from New Jersey really threw off our schedule, but even though we passed through Wayne, OH at nearly midnight, we still got to stop by my Aunt Lois' bakery for a quick visit and the worlds best sugar cookies.
After lunch we left the farmland behind and stopped briefly in Hershey, Pennsylvania to check out the Hershey museum and buy some giant Reeses peanut butter cups before continuing on the road. Our late departure from New Jersey really threw off our schedule, but even though we passed through Wayne, OH at nearly midnight, we still got to stop by my Aunt Lois' bakery for a quick visit and the worlds best sugar cookies.
We drove as far as we could manage into the night, so that the next day we would have as much time as possible to spend at Starved Rock State park in Oglesby, Illinois. The area right along the Illinois river is rich with Native American history and is criss-crossed with hiking trails that lead to huge sandstone canyons. Although the fall is typically too dry for the waterfalls to run there had been a recent storm so we were treated to amazing cascades in every canyon that we visited. It felt great to get out of the truck and stretch our legs and we spent the better part of the afternoon exploring all of the trails. On the way out of town we stopped at a little bakery called Two Girls, One Cupcake that specialized in all kinds of quirky cupcakes and was guarded by an enormous pink yeti at the door. That evening we stopped at the Worlds Largest Truckstop off of I-80 in Walcott, Iowa for a traditional trucker's dinner (fast food) and a stroll around their truck-accessory store that was so big it had 3 18-wheelers parked inside as displays. The Worlds Largest Truckstop also had a chapel, a movie theater, a gift shop, full shower facilities, 2 arcades and parking for 900 trucks! Needless to say we drove on to a quieter rest-stop before calling it a night.
The next morning I woke up early to drive the rest of the way into Omaha, Nebraska where we had plans to tour the Joslyn Castle, a 4-story 35 room Scottish Baronial mansion built in 1903 by some distant relatives of Steve's on his dad's side. George and Sarah Joslyn were entrepreneurs and philanthropists who arrived in Omaha with just the clothes on their backs, and ended up becoming the richest people in the city in the early 1900s. When they died they left their estate to the City and it was used for years as the headquarters for the Omaha Public Schools before being restored by the Joslyn Castle Trust. Since Steve's relationship to the Joslyn's practically makes him the Prince of Omaha, the nice ladies in the office gave us the opportunity to join in on a private tour free of charge.
The mansion is full of such incredible details... beautifully carved exotic (and in some cases extinct) wood, intricate tile mosaics, ornate stained glass, fireplaces, chandeliers, technological advances that were cutting edge in the early 1900s, towers, greenhouses, gardens, a ball room and at one time a whole room devoted to a massive pipe organ. Restoring the wallpaper in just the entrance hall had cost well over $200,000. The whole house was an amazing work of art and engineering. After our tour of the castle we headed to the other side of the city to see the Joslyn Art museum, built by Sarah Joslyn in 1930 as a memorial after George's death. After our long day we met up for dinner and drinks with an old friend of Steve's that he hadn't seen in almost 10 years before getting back on the road.
We spent the majority of the next day just trying to make it through the rest of Nebraska. Its not as bad of a drive as Kansas, but it's a close second... just a long flat straight road. The highlight of the day was stopping at California Hill in Brule, Nebraska. It was climbed by thousands of covered wagon emigrants heading west on the Oregon trail between 1841 and 1860. Apparently the wagon ruts are still visible today, but the ground was too snowy and muddy for us to make out much. We finally crossed into Colorado and stopped in Ft. Collins to visit our friend Craig from Alaska and spend the night. The next morning we fulfilled our annual road-trip tradition by stopping at Voodoo Donut in Denver before pressing on across the state and arriving in Telluride at 8pm.
We had a few days to settle into our (very small) room in company housing and two days to ride the mountain before we had to attend "snow college," the final stage in the interview process to become snowboard instructors. On the finally day of college we received our job offers as part-time instructors, Steve was assigned to children and I was assigned to adults. We then spent 4 days training with the two best instructors on the mountain before having almost two weeks off before we started work. Just before the busy Christmas season we were given the opportunity to shadow another instructors lesson before being thrown into the deep end at the busiest time of the year.
Since two days a week at ski school would barely even cover our groceries, both of us also spent our early days in town looking for night jobs. I got hired on as a gondola operator 3 nights as week from 4:15 until 12:45am, and Steve got a job with a local restaurant as a busser and food runner. Since we were both working double shifts on Christmas we celebrated quietly on Christmas Eve with an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. So far the early season snow has been amazing, and it looks like el-Nino is going to give us the best snow season either of us has ever seen!
Since two days a week at ski school would barely even cover our groceries, both of us also spent our early days in town looking for night jobs. I got hired on as a gondola operator 3 nights as week from 4:15 until 12:45am, and Steve got a job with a local restaurant as a busser and food runner. Since we were both working double shifts on Christmas we celebrated quietly on Christmas Eve with an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. So far the early season snow has been amazing, and it looks like el-Nino is going to give us the best snow season either of us has ever seen!
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