OPENING WEEKEND!

Just had to let y'all know that we're not going stir-crazy anymore .......

THE MOUNTAIN IS OPEN! COME SKI WITH US!

Kelly

Pray for SNOW!

It's the off season here and it seems like the mountain will never open. Zach is on call now, so really all we're waiting on is the snow! SNOW DARNIT!

The bus is still not winter ready ... we have to insulate it some more, but we know that once the ceiling is better insulated it will hold the heat longer. We still need to put up some skirting and insulate the water tanks and pipes, too. Between the wood stove, the furnace, and the insualtion, we should stay warm this winter! The folks in town are all looking out for us, too. We appreciate this little community and are looking forward to another ski season here.

Zach, Black Dog, and I have been playing disc golf in the snow this last week (which can be a little difficult!) and are watching lots of movies to pass time at night. I just signed up for a craft market the second week in December, so I'm going to be making lots of Montana-themed holiday gifts for folks to buy! I'm also learning how to drive the green Subaru (finally, I'm told), so that's pretty exciting. Zach is waiting for another good storm so he can go ski in the backcountry ... all we're doing right now is waiting! But the mountain opens on Thanksgoving and we both will have our passes on opening day, so when Nov. 26th rolls around, no more waiting! Only skiiing! Skiiiiiiiing!

Thank you all for your kind comments and for your interest in what we're doing. We appreciate all of you!

(And BrYan, you're totally right ... we're nuts!)

Kelly and Zach

Back in Big Sky

We slacked and we know it. When we got to Glacier in mid-October, the weather was cold, windy, and rainy. Needless to say, any pictures we might have taken would have turned out like crap anyway. We spent almost a week just outside of the park visiting with Zach's awesome sister Anna and then headed back to Big Sky. We totaled 26 days on the road, $771 in fuel, and visited four states, two national parks, and lots of state parks. We covered a lot of ground, traversed many different bioregions, and had a wonderful time! We hope that you enjoyed our pictures and will continue to update through the upcoming winter.

Since we've been back in town, we've had a little weather shock ... it snowed four out of seven days in the first week! We experienced some frigid night temperatures (19-20F might be the coldest so far with the worst-try negative 30!-on its way!) and realized that we were seriously unprepared. So on that note, we bought some insulating fabic that is NOT messing around (Warm Window is what it's called) and made curtains for all the uninsulated windows, got some firewood from some of our friends, and busted out the fleece pants. A 40,000 BTU Atwood RV propane furnace was quickly ordered, insulated piping and floor registers quickly bought, and Zach installed the whole shebang in two days. And guess what? IT WAS 50-SOMETHING DREGREES TODAY! We were in T-SHIRTS! Haha. It turned out for the best, though, because we could then open the windows and let the furnace get it's new&funky smells out. So it's "Mud Season" here in our little mountain world ... and we are anxiously awaiting it all to freeze over and SNOW so we can go SKIING!

Here are a few random shots since we've been in town ...

Four inches of snow in the canyon! More on the mountain!

Taking care of business

BD has to wear booties outside when there's powder or mud

Moose!

CENTRAL HEAT! The only way we're going to make it through a MT winter in the bus!

Ducting under the bus ... super insulated piping, ya know?

Sunny afternoon ...

... which means no more clean cars ...

... and DEFINITELY no more clean boots.

Can we go skiiiiiiiiiiiing yet?!?!?!?!

Kelly and Zach