Made it to Telluride. The drive from Ridgway took about an hour, though it felt heavy on fuel going uphill most of the way. I haven't been here since March 2022. It's great to see Steven, his wife Hana, their little girl Rumi, and their dog Bezzy.
Steven had a Sprinter van long before I did, and he was instrumental in my decision to get the AdventureWagon kit for the inside. That's been such a great call over these nearly seven years. High quality, and it's adapted with me perfectly all along the way. Long conversations with him back then shaped the particular vehicle I ended up with, which has been completely life-altering in all the best ways.
I'd stayed at the hot springs deep into the night and was exhausted by the time I arrived. We had a brief visit and catch-up, I got the tour of the house, and before long I needed to lie down. Not before Steven handed me my packages, though. The long-awaited Zwilling 12-inch skillet, the same one that came back undeliverable in Hurricane, Utah back in mid-April. A very generous birthday gift from my parents, and what a saga trying to get that pan. It's going to see a lot of use, starting today. Also a new pistol grip air compressor inflator, something I've been looking forward to for ages, and a new inner tube for the bike tire waiting at the post office.
My parents also sent a spiral-bound copy of their latest will, along with a note: "P.S. We're never going to die!" I hope that's true, because I don't know where I'm going to put this large and important document. I'm grateful they've put such attention into these details. A lot of people I know have lost parents who left without sufficient preparation, and it adds a whole other layer of heartache. I'm blessed with a great mother and father. When I first decided to leave my comfortable home and go live in a van, they didn't know what to make of it and were very concerned. They get it now, and they've been very supportive.
I've had to make peace with the fact that the van doesn't travel showroom-ready anymore. There's just too much stuff, all of it useful. When I move from one place to another it's in move mode: stuff on the bed, stuff on the floor, stuff on the passenger seat. So when I pull up to a friend's house and they want to see the van first thing, it looks like someone shook it like a dice tumbler. That's this life at this particular moment. In this season the van is truly designed to live out of rather than in. Before too long I'll build more places to put things, and the AdventureWagon L-track will make that easy. New shelves and flip-down counters will just pop right on.
I'm not sure what's next. I want to visit more with my friends here, maybe connect back up with Shannon tomorrow. I'm feeling the pull to drop anchor somewhere and free up time for video editing and a series of projects. There appear to be plenty of wild camping spots in the surrounding area. What a difference being here in summer. Last time was the tail end of ski season, deep snow everywhere. It's beautiful now and the weather is perfect. Steven says it's unseasonably hot, but it feels temperate to me. 51 degrees with a high of 70. Pure butter zone.
Steven is an exceptional creative mind and has made some of my favorite music for years. Here's his latest, recorded entirely on a vintage cassette 8-track from the late 1980s. While I'm moving toward the AI stuff, he's going the other direction. Original and masterful. Love it.