Mike, Marty McFry and Ben start their final journey on the 2008 road trip.

At five thirty in the morning, myself and Marty McFry rolled up to Ben's house, ready to embark on the final weekend of the SOS tour. Surprisingly, Ben was not only awake, but also standing in his driveway, in the rain.

Neither myself nor Ben are really much of morning people, so i was impressed to see he was off to an early start. Soon i found out, it wasn't that Ben was up early, but that he hadn't slept yet and was technically up late. Groggy and rainsoaked he piled his stuff into the RV and off we went.

I hit the veggie switch, got on highway 84-east and started the 4,523 foot climb up to Mt. Hood Meadows. Around the infamous town of Government Camp the rain turned to snow, and the road from black to white. People pulled over to put on chains, but not Marty.

You might think "A rear wheel drive motorhome? That must be terrible in the snow." However, Marty has his engine mounted in the back, so all the weight on the rear axle allows him to plow through whatever we throw at him. It's a good thing too, because throughout this tour, we've certainly had more bad weather drives then clear days. About two hours after we left, we'd made it to the base of the ski area, where over 200 inches of snow had been carved out to form a parking lot.

Just then the snow ceased and a giant patch of blue sky came over the mountain. We set up the tent up as fast as possible, put out some bars and discussed what the higher ups at Clif Bar might have us do. Hmmm, quite a predicament we found ourselves in. Do we catch the first lift ride up and take some turns in eight inches of new snow? Or do we stay put, give out some bars, and ride later. Just then i remembered all those conversations with Ricardo and Ryan where they would ask, "How was the snow?" and if we said we didn't get a chance to ride they would throw a fit.

Yes, that's the type of bosses we're up against here, and you know what? This spot where the mountain had us park the RV doesn't really get busy till the afternoon anyways. Yeah, we'll stay late and catch the crowds on their way back to their cars, they'll have more time to check out the RV and plus they'll be starving so the Clif Bars will be all that much more appreciated.

Sure, it was all making so much sense as Ben and I rode the first lift up under blue skies.