My electrolyte potion still tastes like stagnant pond water. I had one liter the day before yesterday and two yesterday. I do feel a difference. I made one for Shannon and she put a little packet of Crystal Light in it, which I thought made it taste pretty good. I'm going to give it more time before drawing any conclusions, but I'm feeling hopeful. I did have a mild leg cramp this morning so I know my body is still in a loading phase with all these minerals. It's working on it.
These days in Jacob Lake have felt fruitful. Yesterday I spent about an hour and a half solving an issue I've had with my main computer for months. It was intermittently dropping the Starlink wifi four or five times a day and driving me nuts. I went deep down the rabbit hole with ChatGPT and we cleared out a lot of lingering app interference with my network settings. All solved now. I also made real headway with my music setup. More dialed in than ever. Two more stages to add and I'm deliberately doing them slowly, one at a time. I did laundry at a nearby campsite too, best prices I can remember: $2 for the washer, $1.50 for the dryer. A month between laundry days and I barely had a load. Almost all t-shirts, underwear, and microfiber rags.
Route 67, the only paved road in and out of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, opens tomorrow morning at 6am. I'm thinking about setting my alarm and riding my bike over to film them opening the gate. Apparently there are already people down there who found ways around it. There's a lot to learn about this area and we're getting an education.
I put my big drone up yesterday and sent it to 1,100 feet for an overhead photo of camp. Nobody else around here right now.
The moth situation finally got explained. We looked it up and discovered we're right in the middle of their mating season. Lasts only a few weeks. They also only live about a week. That's enough for me. These moths are psycho.
Shannon is a campfire cook. At the end of each evening she puts spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, and whatever else wrapped in foil down in the coals. By morning they're done. It's great having all the wood we could ever want out here, and this wood is as dead as it gets. Lights fast, enormous flames.
I got a Smokey the Bear hat at the Forest Service Visitor Center yesterday. I lost my previous hat a month or two ago, think I left it in a shower stall somewhere. I like this new one.
Today is supposed to be butter weather, which I need. My battery is at 20%, the red zone. I'm cooking daily on the induction cooktop, running music gear, charging the e-bike, running the freezer and fridge, and running Starlink. Hoping for a full sunny day to catch back up.
Shannon has been doing thorough research for the North Rim. Riding around talking to people, collecting maps, taking notes on a clipboard, clicking around online. She's got a system. I like to plan but I'm not nearly as thorough as her. It's great to have someone like that along.
Today marks two weeks since my last supply run and everything is holding up perfectly. Shannon's going into Kanab tomorrow and I've put in a request for a few items: baking soda, heavy cream, and one other little thing.
We're both at 8,000 feet and have had some symptoms that align with the sudden altitude gain. Shannon had a migraine for about three hours yesterday that she's convinced was altitude related. Looking back, that may have compounded my electrolyte situation. Feeling great this morning though.