I made it home last night at about 11:30pm. Had to get up early for work the next morning. Kind of hard to get back into a normal schedule again but I'm still buzzing from what ended up being a kick-ass trip. Saturday morning I did end up going snowboarding with My cousin Brian and his wife Kyre. They hooked me up with a brand new snowboard to ride and I was able to take it home with me. Thanks again!!! We rode for about 4 hours through the middle of the day at Snowbird just outside of SLC. After finishing up and getting ready to drive again it was about 4:30 in the afternoon. I ended up driving 8 hours that night and about 13-14 hours on Sunday to make it home on time. It was a LOT of driving!
Speaking of which the whole trip from Milwaukee all the way out west and back with various stops ended up being 5,500 miles. I added up my gas receipts and they totaled to be just over $500. Not that bad.
Other trip costs weren't that much either. I only had to pay for a room on 4 different nights. I didn't go fancy so they averaged about $50/night. The only other costs were food, a few tolls, state beach admission (only $20 for 2 days), and that's about it. So for a two week road/surf/skate/snow trip well under $1000. I'd say that's not a bad deal...
Thanks to all the cool people I met/visited along the way! Chris, Will and Sheila, Joel and Rebecca, and Brian and Kyre...

Happy New Year!

The plan was to make it to Salt Lake City last night but I ran into a snowstorm. I stayed at the High Desert Inn in Elko Nevada. I had some dinner at a nearby casino and played some video poker. Didn't lose any money so that's a good thing. The next morning I only had about 4 hours of Driving to do. At the halfway point are the Salt Flats in western Utah. I stopped for a bit to check em out. I recommend it to anyone if you are ever in that area. It's like being on the surface of another planet.
So after that I only had a few hours of driving left. I was in a hurry to get to SLC and was speeding just a little bit (84 in a 75). Well I ended up getting pulled over by highway patrol. I handed over the necessary documents and waited and waited. Then the officer opens the back door of his car and brings out the dog. They do a couple laps around the car and then he sends the dog back to his car. He then asks me if I have used marijuana recently or have drugs or weapons in the vehicle. I couldn't believe this was happening. He asked to search the inside of the car. I was somewhat reluctant, but I didn't have anything to hide. After he finished his search he sent me on my way with just a warning to slow down a bit. Kind of a surprise that I got searched but I cooperated and all I got was a warning to slow down. I guess it's better than a speeding ticket.
Staying with my cousin in Utah tonight. We are going to go snowboarding in the morning. Then it will be a race to make it back to Wisconsin by Sunday night. There probably won't be any updates until I get home because I've got a lot of driving to do...