It was really shocking how cold we were most of the time in South America. I knew it was going to be hot in Santiago, and it was, but the heat really didn't set in until we were just about within sight of the city. Now I'm back in Oakland, and happened to arrive during the coldest weather they've had in 8 years. The day I arrived may have been the coldest day of the season. I knew there was an approaching snowstorm so I was here all of about 5 hours desperately trying to dig out my snowboard gear and arrange a ride to the mountains. It worked. I rode up with Adam, who I had to meet in Walnut Creek where he works. Since I was driving out of Oakland during rush hour on a Friday evening, I took back roads across the little mountain range to get to Walnut Creek. It snowed most of the way. This is the first time I've ever seen it snow in the greater Bay Area. Sure, I've seen snow on the surrounding hills, but never seen it fall before. And it was a wet snow mixed into a lot of rain, but at one point it started falling so hard the road in one place was white. It was like Mother Nature was saying "welcome home!"

The weekend was awesome. It's hard to describe how anxious I was to snowboard again. I was also worried I might be too out of shape to enjoy it for a whole 2 days. My first run alleviated any fears that I might have forgotten how to do it, and when the lifts closed at 4PM yesterday I was sad, I wanted to keep riding for a few more runs, so I guess I'm not too out of shape after all. I'm sore today but not too bad, and there is a big storm rolling in tonight. I'm going to go find a new battery for my truck and head right back up there! The bikes were delayed somewhere and won't be here until possibly Wednesday. I personally don't care when, it just means more pain in the ass paperwork and shelling out money, but I'm sure Dick is anxious to get his so he can get on the road again and have more adventures that are more interesting than sitting around in Oakland.

Monday March 13, 2006 - 12:00pm (PST)