Leadville, Colorado | July 1, 2026
I decided to head back to Telluride last night. Made it two hours to Leadville and stopped at 7:30pm. The closer I got, the more smoke filled the sky. My friends were evacuated from the spot where I camped with them a few days ago and are now on what looks like a school’s soccer field, with American Red Cross workers set up in the gym serving food and coffee and providing cots for people displaced by the fires.
Driving through Leadville
I spoke with some Red Cross workers about the best route back to Telluride. Don’t take 70, they said, new fires are popping up constantly just west of Grand Junction. Don’t take the forest roads by Crested Butte that I came up on. The only way they recommended is south on 50. The road into Ouray is closed entirely. They told me about the CO Trip app, which is the best way to track road closures in Colorado.
I was running on little sleep, up late the past few days and waking early to get things done. I fell fast asleep soon after arriving and saying hello to Shannon, Brad, and Mindi, and slept until 8:30. Still four more hours to Telluride. Steven says there’s no smoke in the sky there right now.
Yesterday was a successful day for errands around Denver. Got the custom tinted prescription lenses for the Meta glasses all sorted. Should have them back in a couple of weeks. Found a guy who fixed my other sunglasses that have been broken for about six months. He had a big machine with eyepieces like a microscope, looked through it, and welded them while I waited. Took care of my eyeglass prescription, visited a dispensary, filled up my water jugs. High tide in the van again, loaded to the max. Denver is a great town for errands.
I’m eager to get back to the yurt and get cracking. Excited to put together all the new storage solutions, set up the gear, make some music, edit some videos. Can’t believe it’s July already. Today marks exactly 3.5 years without alcohol and exactly 6 months on a ketogenic diet.
I got new pillows from Ikea to replace my old ones. Tried out a couple dozen in the store and these were the ones I liked best. Never spent $70 on a pillow before, but I justified it by reasoning that I spend about 8 hours a day with my head on one. That’s a pretty good case. Tried them out last night, slept great and extra long. I think they might still be expanding.
Fun getting the extra unexpected visit with Shannon. Tomorrow she makes the trek back to Minnesota in the Blue Bubble and will be off the road for several months, including a backpacking trip to Scotland.
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Definitely a nice, unexpected, visit! 😍