Grand Canyon, Arizona | May 27, 2026
Everything I put into my body feels like a treat. The electrolyte water. My coffee. Each thing. The mouthwash I rinsed with this morning tasted like a treat. Something in my senses is heightened. I’m just about to complete five months on keto and it has done something to my body’s taste system. Everything counts more.
It’s going to be a long move day. An hour to pack up, an hour and a half to Jacob Lake, another hour and a half to Page, Arizona. Errands and supplies there, probably sleep in Page, then up the next day and on to Mesa Verde. I had my last ground beef last night. I need the resupply.
Shannon rolled back into camp around 2:30pm yesterday, worn out. Sounds like an intense experience. She’s hardcore. The most difficult stretch of hike in the Grand Canyon.
I’m excited to see what’s next. The weather looks nice when we get to Colorado, sunny in the low 70s. So many things I want to do there, but I’m mindful to keep the slow pace. Infrequent moves, low miles.
My first test of the new short video system worked yesterday. Made a quick 30 second video, blasted it out, it did what it was supposed to do. Now I just need to get better and faster at the editing. I think it’s a good addition to the morning routine: journal entry, then a short form video. Two posts a day, then on to other things. I’ll try to batch the videos so the pipeline stays full.
This first foray into the North Rim was a great success. Excellent and varied campsites on both sides of the park, fully explored the area, got oriented. I know the deal now. I’ll definitely want to come back and spend a month here next year. I do miss camping by water, which isn’t really available here. I think we’ll find some good water in Colorado. Ready for hot springs.
Over the past few days I did some upgrades to the Substack homepage. Magazine layout now instead of just a list. Added a music section. The settings are complicated and not always intuitive but it works well and it’s free. I started using the Notes feature a little. It’s growing on me.
One thing I want to figure out this week is Substack video. I believe I can post a video and make it so anyone can watch the first half, but only free subscribers can watch the second half. Most people will want to read or watch without subscribing and that’s fine, but the whole point of having a Substack is to build a list of people who want to stay in touch. A video incentive can help with that.
Something is moving into my conscious awareness that I’ll try to put into words. I’m shifting my mindset about these buckets, these containers I’ve built to hold my expressions. My mind has always tried to categorize things as I create them, to put everything in the right folder in real time. It can never quite keep up with that task, and I’ve spent a lot of time feeling a few steps behind. I’m changing that. Deprioritize the organization of the output, prioritize the expression itself. The important thing is the expression, not the container. The containers will always be flawed and limited. The container must adapt to hold the expression, not the other way around. This probably doesn’t sound like much, but it addresses a pattern that has been a significant blocker for me.
I know I repeat myself, but I want to say again how much I love the feeling I have in the morning. Excited to get up and live my life. Excited to make my coffee and move through each part of the day. I have a life I feel like I get to live. There’s a real price to pay for everything. The difference is that the price feels worth it.