Jun 23

Bin 7, Back Upper Left

Telluride, Colorado

Building a voice assistant for van life so I stop tearing the place apart looking for things, plus thoughts on true wealth and the Clear Lake video clicking.

Jun 22

The Clearing

Telluride, Colorado

Emerging from a dark forest into a clearing. The yurt for the summer, a Father's Day call, and a deliberate day with no power.

Jun 21

Holding a Small Bird

Telluride, Colorado

An afternoon energy dip, AI music experiments, secret sauce, the hold-everything-lightly theme, a low battery, and an old friend showing up in Telluride.

Jun 20

The Nighthawk

Telluride, Colorado

A mystery bird turns out to be a nighthawk, the free gondola into a packed Telluride, a $30 wrench, and Grateful Dead memories from 1987.

Jun 19

The Forces of Nature

Telluride, Colorado

A missing wrench, the Clear Lake video goes up, music gear finds a home in the yurt, and a long-held belief about leaving revenge to the universe.

Jun 18

The Vignette

Telluride, Colorado

Fixing a bike tire, Wilson Peak's beer-can fame, and what makes a video worth watching. The speakers finally move into the yurt.

Jun 17

The Glasses

Telluride, Colorado

The Meta glasses finally unboxed: first impression super dorky, portrait-only recording, but the audio is excellent.

Jun 16

The Quiet

Telluride, Colorado

The father-uncle video finally done at an hour and nine minutes. Shannon plotting her route back to Minnesota. And the silence out here: no vehicles, no traffic, just birds and wind.

Jun 15

Shangri-La

Telluride, Colorado

A rested night in the yurt, Shannon's first UFC fight ever, and a day chasing solar panels through cycling rain. Finally tackling the long-overdue brothers interview from Florida.

Jun 14

The Yurt

Telluride, Colorado

Moving into a yurt, mostly for the deck view. Uninstalling Starlink from the van, dozens of trips down the path, a long-overdue gear inventory after two years on the road, and a sunset that made it all worth it.

Jun 13

The Elk

Telluride, Colorado

A hike through beautifully maintained trails, the Friday farmer's market, a 1991 Bluegrass Festival memory, and three young elk grazing in the yard with antlers still in velvet.

Jun 12

Never Going to Die

Telluride, Colorado

Back in Telluride for the first time since 2022, reunited with a friend whose advice shaped my van life. A long-awaited skillet finally arrives, along with a spiral-bound copy of my parents' will and a note: "We're never going to die."

Jun 11

The Deck

Ridgway, Colorado

Third favorite hot springs in the country, soaking till the stars came out. Finally reaching Telluride after six weeks. And a deck at camp that fits the van perfectly.

Jun 10

The Pulse Oximeter

Ouray, Colorado

The fishing expedition video gets a new name, a steep hike from camp at 8,500 feet on new poles, and a memory of running out of breath on a Telluride mountaintop in 2022. The hot springs that brought me back then are exactly where I'm headed today.

Jun 9

The Fishing Expedition

Ouray, Colorado

Van life has a particular tax. Something I know is in here has disappeared into a black hole of time and energy.

Jun 8

Driftin'

Ouray, Colorado

Three days of work went into one song. Drone footage off the Million Dollar Highway, a solid week of editing, and an accidental step into paid subscriptions that's changing the plan.

Jun 7

The Fox

Ouray, Colorado

The game camera finally earns its keep: a fox, caught raiding the trash two nights running. An abandoned mine up the hill, a solar shower filled straight from the river, and a list of tasks too long to ignore.

Jun 6

The Pothole

Ouray, Colorado

Million Dollar Highway drone work, losing signal around cliff walls. Ten-dollar ground beef in Ouray. A pothole on the last stretch into camp and the van sliding toward a drop.

Jun 5

The Lake

San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Flat tire at 1.6 miles. Walked to 12,000 feet anyway. Cody and Jen and their border collie drove me back.

Jun 4

The Aircraft Carrier

San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Gibran on work as love. The aircraft carrier that took years to turn around is sailing. Tomorrow: Million Dollar Highway.

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Jun 3

The Game

San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Slept to the brook, door cracked for the sound. Van vacuumed, energy restored. Brad's campsite road might be impassable. Biking up to check.

Jun 2

The White Powder

San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Tom Petty's Wildflowers, thirty-one years ago today. Silverton, Crystal Light, and eight bags of white powder in the van.

Jun 1

A Reunion

Durango, Colorado

35 years gone by and back in it easily. Drone 12 feet down the main street of Durango. Silverton calling. Then the Million Dollar Highway.

May 31

The Cost of Doing Business

Durango, Colorado

Cooking ground beef on top of the DJ gear. E-bike in the aisle. Firewood on the floor. The Strater Hotel is haunted. Telluride on the horizon.

May 30

The Cold Plunge

Durango, Colorado

Five months of keto changed how my body handles the cold. Hot springs near Durango, a new song taking shape, and a Friday night in a town I love.

May 29

Cliff Palace

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Four Corners underwhelmed. Cliff Palace did not. 65 degrees in Colorado, right in the middle of the butter zone.

May 28

The Stack

Page, Arizona

Habit stacking. The 30 second video. Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde. Rolling toward Durango.

May 27

The Container

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Move day from the North Rim. And something shifting about how expression and output fit together.

May 26

The Ancient Television

Grand Canyon, Arizona

4% battery after an overcast day. A campfire overlooking the canyon. 26 nights since resupply, and a realization about creative infrastructure.

May 25

Base Camp

North Rim, Arizona

Solo on the North Rim. Peaceful day, got in bed early. The van is full, no room for company. Deep ketosis back. A ledge above the Grand Canyon.

May 24

The Trail of Torture

North Rim, Arizona

Shannon departs on the canyon's hardest backpacking route. Trail of Torture leaves new holes in the sweatpants. New Instagram for Chasing the Butter. The sense that this is my time.

May 23

The Haydukers

North Rim, Arizona

Memorial Day brings the neighbors. Clay pigeons loaded with a man's father's ashes. Hayduke Trail hikers 600 miles in say we have the best view on the North Rim. Shannon leaves tomorrow. Five pounds of ground beef left.

May 22

The Burn Zone

North Rim, Arizona

Buffalo on the way in. Then the burn zone. The Grand Lodge is gone, both sides of the road scorched. Our campsite was spared. 10 nights, full setup. Last night: e-bike into the trails.

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May 21

The Volume

North Rim, Arizona

Nobody around means music at real volume. The DJ gear question. Biked the rim trail to a spectacular viewpoint. 12% battery. Plotting a system for the drone footage.

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May 20

It's Just a Feature

North Rim, Arizona

North Rim. Awake at 5am, two hours of thinking. Twenty days out from the last supply run. Thinking about the people I love.

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May 19

Taxiing

North Rim, Arizona

New campsite, better view. Roasted garlic in the coals. The diesel heater is acting up. And the runway is longer than expected.

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May 18

The Foreign Visitor

North Rim, Arizona

Arrived at the North Rim. The canyon is vast. Something ate the potatoes. And last night a feeling showed up that took until morning to name.

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May 17

Into the North Rim

Jacob Lake, Arizona

Packing up and heading into the backcountry of the North Rim. The music is flowing. The battery is at 7%. Adventure time.

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May 16

G

Jacob Lake, Arizona

North Rim pushed to tomorrow. Game camera: moths and joggers. Pack day. Creatine joins the electrolyte potion. The walkie talkie mystery solved. A 78-year-old nomad named G, three marriages, five years of freedom, no regrets.

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May 15

The Walkie Talkie

Jacob Lake, Arizona

Woke to my name on the walkie talkie. It was a dream. Slept through Route 67 opening. On waking into a life you love instead of one you're dreading. Crystal Light solves the electrolyte problem. North Rim tomorrow. Getting more careful about sharing location in real time.

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May 14

Butter Weather

Jacob Lake, Arizona

Electrolyte loading phase. Solved a months-long Starlink drop issue. $2 washer, $1.50 dryer. Moths explained: mating season, one week to live. Shannon cooks in the coals overnight. Battery at 20% and counting on the sun. Route 67 opens tomorrow at 6am.

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May 13

The Moths

Jacob Lake, Arizona

Three-hour Kanab run, burn area both ways, no zero-carb tortillas. Electrolyte potion: salty stagnant pond water. Bug-a-salt gunfight vs. four moths; Shannon's tupperware strategy is probably better. Game camera test: Shannon, campfire, moths. Three more nights, then the North Rim.

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May 12

Practicing My Love

Jacob Lake, Arizona

5:15am, Kanab-bound. Built a music visualizer system, then Signal bugs burned through two days of Claude compute. Three van modes: stealth, monk, full glory. Things work better with a lighter touch. I call it practicing my love.

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May 11

Monk Mode

Jacob Lake, Arizona

Fuzzy onesie, coffee at 7, didn't open the van door until 3. New song out. The wheel with spokes: each stop, pour work in, turn again. Route 67 and the North Rim open Friday. We'll probably go in Saturday.

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May 10

Jacob Lake

Jacob Lake, Arizona

Shannon's 4x4 exit: drone, GoPro, walkie talkies, the works. Drove 4,000 feet up to Jacob Lake. Climbed the lookout tower. Ordered a game camera. The mysterious 2:55am footsteps finally made the case.

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May 9

The Heat

Arizona Strip

Last morning at the canyon. 100 degrees in the van, UV 9, nowhere to hide. Found the adapter under the mattress after a week of searching. At some point I rode five miles around the canyon rim completely naked on the OneWheel and got drone footage of it. That felt like an awful lot of freedom in one act.

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May 8

The Shower

Arizona Strip

Greg's last night. Shannon walked back to his site in the dark with a headlamp and rode the bike home. A teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt in each liter and the leg cramps cleared up. Four months in and still learning. The drone footage here is some of the best I've ever gotten.

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May 7

The Rope

Arizona Strip

950 feet down to the water. A blue rope anchored by a stranger, a two-foot ledge, a boulder that bowed out from the wall. The moment I realized there was only one way out. Two reckonings with mortality in 24 hours.

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May 6

The Wind

Arizona Strip

Wind howling, van shaking, eight feet from the edge of a 950-foot cliff. Making peace with it. The energy cost of moving camp. The view you never get used to. Walkie talkies.

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May 5

The Spot

Arizona Strip

Days of coveting the truck camper's spot. Hard drive saga finally done, DJ gear running. Then the guy moved. Ninety minutes later, the most memorable campsite I've been in.

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May 4

The Condors

Arizona Strip

Three California Condors circled for five minutes, close enough to hear the air. Wind packs up camp. The talking head video you haven't made yet and the vulnerability hangover that comes after. 54 cents a gallon.

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May 3

The Footsteps

Arizona Strip

950 feet down to the Colorado. Watching a truck camper for the chance to steal the ultimate spot. 40mph winds incoming. And those 2:55am footsteps definitely weren't Greg.

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May 2

The Podcast

Arizona Strip

$803 and worth it. New canyon that looks like the Grand Canyon's lesser-known cousin. Greg, who has cracked the North Rim. Full moon rising perfectly across the canyon. Spent an hour listening to what I thought was Shannon's podcast. It was my own phone.

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May 1

The Gum

Southern Utah

Last morning at the epic campsite. Shannon gave me a pack of gum, which felt like the greatest luxury. Then: seven miles of rough dirt, Costco, forty gallons of diesel, and a 50-point turn on the edge of a cliff.

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Apr 30

The Eagle

Southern Utah

Last night at the most epic campsite. Bald eagle maybe overhead. Jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, elk prints down the trail. The prickly pear smells like perfumey cucumber.

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Apr 29

The Butter

Southern Utah

23 days out, 9 past plan. Moved 75 yards to the most epic campsite of the trip. Found hidden Bubbly Waters. Solved the van-parking Rubik's cube.

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Apr 28

The Vista

Southern Utah

Panoramic new camp above Zion. Bittersweet goodbye to 22 days. The vape goes the way of Instagram. Colorado plan locked.

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Apr 27

Move Day

Southern Utah

Move day. Shannon and the ledge. Dance mix landed at the fire. North Rim didn't happen again. Bugsy in the field. Colorado on the horizon.

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Apr 26

The Rain Day

Southern Utah

Rain day in the van. Bike scouting with Jed and Shannon. Drone tracks like a dog. 86 views and the long game.

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Apr 25

Solar Rich

Southern Utah

Package lost to General Delivery. Day 20, personal record, 17 days without the ignition. Solar rich. I fucking love my life.

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Apr 24

Seven Shots

Southern Utah

Video breakthrough: vignettes are everywhere, just turn on the camera. Hard drives full, 5TB incoming. Melanie and her 7-shot Starbucks order.

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Apr 23

The Splinter

Southern Utah

Shakespeare's birthday, Ladybug's sendoff. North Rim hesitations. A splinter video that communicates more than a splinter.

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Apr 22

The Inventory

Southern Utah

Nine shooting stars at 2am. Last fires, camp winding down. End-of-stay inventory. The road opens up again.

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Apr 21

The Bramble

Southern Utah

Czech disco ends in Rammstein. Lost in desert scrub at sunset, compass rescue. Drone in a fanny pack.

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Apr 20

The Practice

Southern Utah

Drum circle on a 5-gallon jug. Bike scouting, drone footage, General Delivery. On practice versus living.

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Apr 19

The Embers

Southern Utah

Twelve at the campfire, six for Codenames. Three new burn holes, one ignited crotch. Nicotine history. High of 78.

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Apr 18

The Kite

Southern Utah

Wind day. Kite trouble. Managing the balance. OneWheel after dark.

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Apr 17

The Loop

Southern Utah

Bad dreams, ghost town, rig tour, OneWheel hooks. High of 56.

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Apr 16

The OneWheel

Southern Utah

Rig tour day. Mesa bike ride. The freezer revelation. Eating like a king.

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Apr 15

Outside Zion

Southern Utah

Day 10 of 19. The campfire is going across the way. The canyon is doing what it does.

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