Slept on a bare mattress last night. In all my clothes. Exhausted. It's a good feeling to be that tired at the end of the day. It suggests you gave it everything.
First thing this morning I opened the door and checked the game camera. Something had gotten into my trash overnight. It had been hanging on a magnetic hook on the outside of the van, which has never been touched in years of doing exactly that. The game camera was right next to it and captured nothing except a single photo at 11:30pm, just trees. Shannon yelled over that something had clawed at her spaghetti squashes cooking on the coals. Around sunset we'd been hearing loud crashing in the woods just outside camp, something breaking branches and moving around. I never saw what it was. I'll put the camera in a tree tonight and see if I get a better angle.
We rolled out of the campsite around 9:30am into Silverton. I did two loads of laundry, $13.25 total. I don't mind the laundromat. I recall spending years living in a house looking at people at the laundromat with a subtle judgment I didn't even realize I was making. Like I was somehow at a more desirable station in life. I'm not proud of that. But it's funny how we go about surviving within this system while quietly judging others for how they're doing the same thing. I've developed much more compassion as I've aged. Mostly through being honest about my own shadow. We've all got one. Best to make friends with it. Meanwhile, I like the laundromat. I don't have to own all that equipment. Fifteen dollars once a month and then on with the adventures.
I flew the drone over Silverton and got good footage. Had coffee at a little diner while Shannon ate. Nothing on the menu for me so I walked around town. Found a bike shop but they don't carry the tube size I need, and apparently nobody in Ouray, Montrose, or Telluride will either. Ordered one from Amazon to my friend Steven's P.O. box in Telluride. Found a dumpster for my trash. Supply chain is solid.
The Million Dollar Highway was incredible. Plenty of turnoffs to manage the drones, but I had my hands full. Flying the drone while driving the van on that road was a lot to manage. Each flight I sent the drone up knowing there was a real chance I might be looking at it for the last time. The big drone went first. Longer battery, handles wind better, but it kept losing me around bends where rock walls would suddenly block its line of sight. I'd find a turnoff, use the remote to get it back in sight, and start again. When I filled the big drone's internal drive I still had battery left but had to pull over for 20 minutes to transfer the footage wirelessly. Sat there trimming my fingernails. Then as we descended into Ouray I put the little drone up. It did great. It's a better overall drone than the bigger, older, more expensive one. Better for most of what I actually need.
The descent into Ouray is lovely. A charming little settlement in a small valley immediately surrounded by mountains. The town itself is near the top of my list of favorite western towns. I walked around and stuck my head into some shops. Found a fancy meat and cheese shop that sounded keto friendly. Full of things I'd love, except I don't eat processed meats. They did have fresh ground chuck that looked exceptional. Ten dollars a pound, the most I've ever paid for ground beef. I decided to live a little and got a pound. Cooked it last night and it might be the best ground beef I've ever had. Something different about it. The shopkeeper said it's local. Maybe that's all the explanation needed. Worth every penny.
We found a campsite about four miles outside town, the last two down a dirt road that degrades as it goes. I stopped on a steep hill where things looked worse ahead, steep dropoff on the right. Shannon was already through and radioed on the walkie talkie that she'd found a good spot. I put it in four wheel drive and proceeded. I was filming with my iPhone when the van angled uncomfortably far to the right and the wheels started spinning. I hit the brakes and felt myself sliding back toward the cliff. Got out and walked around. A deceptively large pothole with a massive rock lodged at the top, making it nearly impossible for a wheel to climb out. The only way to avoid it was to put my right tires right on the edge. On the left side a big mound would tilt the van uncomfortably toward the drop. Heart racing. I made it through.
We're camped right on a river. I did some research and it sounds reasonably clean. There's an abandoned mine just upstream, which isn't ideal, but I didn't turn up any specific warnings and the consensus is this stretch is cleaner than many areas around here. I won't use van water for showers. I'll fill the solar bag from the river instead. Free unlimited showers. I took my laser thermometer down yesterday: 50 degrees. Haven't found a deep enough pool for cold plunging yet but I will. It tumbles pretty hard downhill, more of a big creek than a river.