Weather

Rain. We got rain. Not very much rain; just a few drops; but they were REALLY BIG DROPS.

That’s in Basalt (Colorado). In Texas, on the coast, Port Aransas, where our RV lot is, they got eighteen inches in two days. The ponds filled up. Then they overfilled. We hear our lower patio was under water. They’ve been pumping the excess water out into the drainage system for the highway that runs past.

What do you think?

What do you think about hydration?

A couple years ago we were at the rim of the Grand Canyon, getting ready to start down. It was early, we had water to carry and a little bit of food, we were ready. Met a young guy also getting ready. He was guzzling a gallon jug of water; said he was hypersaturating so he wouldn’t have to carry water; said he learned to do this in survival school in the military.

I suppose this could be a legitimate strategy, but it just doesn’t sound right. Can you really super-saturate your body tissues? Wouldn’t you just absorb what you could and pee out the rest within the first couple hours? (Not even considering the recent reports about throwing your electrolytes out of balance by over-hydrating for exercise.)

What do you think?

I'll drive

I’ll drive a few miles per hour over the speed limit, but I have my limit. My limit is as fast as I can feel comfortable driving past a police car without hitting my brakes. Which makes for a strange commute to Aspen.

The road between Basalt and Aspen is busy. It’s busy all the way from Glenwood Springs and points west, to Aspen. The little fifties style house on the small lot across the street from the Physics Center in the West End just sold for 2.5 million dollars. They knocked the little house down and they’re building a spec house on the lot. It will sell for 7 million dollars. People that work in Aspen don’t live in Aspen. The road between Aspen and everywhere else is busy.

The old two lane highway has been expanded to four lanes. One lane in each direction is designated as a carpool lane during rush hours. The interesting thing about their carpool lanes is that they made the right lane the carpool lane, so single drivers like me are required to drive in the left lane. That results in me, driving four miles per hour over the speed limit, in the left lane, pulling a train of single-driver cars in a hurry. The hurried drivers behind me are forced to choose whether or not to break the carpool rules and pass me on the right so they can proceed comfortably above the speed limit again in the left lane. Most choose to go around.

I’m okay with puttering along at the speed limit in the right lane and having faster drivers pass me on the left. It’s hard to drive in the left lane, holding up traffic. It’s a strange commute to Aspen.

Aspen

A week at the Physics Center. The lunchtime walk through the meadow, down Castle Creek to the Rio Grande Trail along the Roaring Fork.

Got a Swainson's Thrush.

Along the way

How Taylor spends her Saturdays.

Basalt

Sometimes we leave a small footprint. Last time we tanked up was crossing the New Mexico border into Colorado. We stayed a week in Cortez, did a job. We did another job in Cortez the next week, moved to Durango, did another job, moved to Ridgway, did a job in Montrose, moved to Montrose and did a job in Telluride. Left Montrose this morning and stopped for fuel on the way out. Took half a tank.

Haven’t done the math, but we’ve left behind a lot of resource consumption (water for a house and big yard, gas, electricity, city commute…) in exchange for some diesel fuel. Seems like a fair exchange.

Drove north to Grand Junction, west to Glenwood, southeast on Highway 82 to Basalt. Centrally located for a series of jobs mostly here in the Roaring Fork Valley: Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, and Aspen. Nice weather; a little hot. The Roaring Fork and some really nice walking trails are just a few coach-lengths behind us.

Americas cup update

Dramatic pre-starts, lead changes, equipment failures. The Swiss boat leads the New Zealand boat 4 races to 2 in the best of 9 series in Valencia. It could all be over today, except today's race is in postponement for low inconsistent wind.