Glorious day in Durango. I was up super late last night establishing a workflow for editing the Hi-Fi Lonesome songs. Got it dialed in. These new songs are some of my favorites. I'm going to think on them for a while before posting.
I'm loving this town. The weather couldn't be more perfect, 61 now with a high of 72. We wandered the downtown area most of yesterday. I rode the OneWheel around, rode the bike around, walked around. Great shops, great energy. I'd been considering hiking poles for about a year and finally pulled the trigger yesterday. Nice ones, telescope down to a compact size, will hang easily somewhere on a wall in the van. I also got a new SPF hoodie with a zippered pocket and better neck coverage than the ones I usually wear. The hood sits snug around the face in a way that actually makes it usable.
The space situation in here is becoming absurd. Last night I cooked on the induction cooktop balanced on top of my DJ gear, e-bike standing upright on its kickstand, a box of firewood on the floor. Complete disarray. I keep thinking back to the earlier days when I had a quarter of this much stuff in here. It was lovely being that spartan. But pretty much everything in here is something I love and use, something that adds to my quality of life on the road. I'm going to make it work. When I build some new shelves and flip-up counter space, all should be well again.
Today: grocery run, maybe laundry, get rid of trash. And I'm going to see someone I haven't seen since my college days. Looking forward to that. Then we're heading to an area about half an hour away to look for a spot by some water where we can stay for a few days. I'm craving one place for a week. My mind is absorbed in these projects and I'm longing for more structured time to work on them.
We explored the Strater Hotel last night, an old Durango landmark. Every detail looks like it's from the late 1800s. I got lost in there. It's a rambling maze, apparently haunted. Little barcodes you can scan with your phone for points of interest. Scan one spot and learn that a section of door frame near an elevator used to store pistols. Find a hidden panel in a wall that opens to reveal an intricate dollhouse. That kind of thing.
Telluride is beginning to emerge on the horizon. I expect I'll be there by the end of the week. Several packages waiting, a friend I'm really looking forward to seeing. That's always been a favorite town.
I was laughing at myself last night as I cooked ground beef on top of my crazy expensive DJ gear, stepping over firewood, bumping into the bike, trying not to spill anything. An absurd number of things going on in a tiny space, an impossible number of roles the van is accommodating. I was laughing at the absurdity of it, yet I love it so much. It's the cost of doing business. And that particular business is doing particularly well. I welcome it all.