Maybe you’ve heard the story of the person who hears a flood is coming and stays, explaining that “God will take care of me.” This same interaction happens a couple more times, the last where the individual is on their roof and declines a space in a boat for the same reason. It is the last because the poor soul dies. Per the tale, upon meeting God, the question of why didn’t you save me gets asked. The reply is, “I sent a warning, a boat, etc.”

That I’m not right now riding the South Boundary Trail has parallels. I’ve ridden the last few days in a row and know I’m tired; we didn’t pack at all last night; I dinged my knee yesterday; I received a text last night telling me that the shuttle would be an extra $25 since no one else signed up; and, finally, this morning’s text let me know the shuttle company’s driver is not available. Mme Awesome met a local last night who may know someone with a 4×4 to get to the top, and yet perhaps I need to let this one go.

We left Taos after a hearty breakfast, water refill and ice acquisition.

Along the way we smelled something that you don’t want to smell when in a car. We stopped at a small place to “look under the hood,” maybe to catch a not nice gremlin or something.

Not long after another person showed up and I asked his opinion. Though he claimed to not know much about cars, he politely looked at the engine, smelled and shrugged. As it turned out, while we may be peers for automotive investigations involving sight and smell, he did know a local mechanic and gratefully we followed.

Mr. Mechanic pointed out that one of the belts had some burning. Unfortunately that town didn’t have any parts and we were directed further to Alamosa to a garage. All old skool directions, such as “right at the Loaf and Jug.” Like a rally maybe.

The Alamosa mechanic there showed that one of the pulleys was worn out and thus probably the root cause of the worn belt. He didn’t stock this stuff and suggested we visit a nearby Napa parts store.

A short drive later we learned they’d need a day to get the pulley or until mid next week to get a pulley with the attachment bolt. We needed to be in Crestone and assumed we could get what we sought there. The Napa guys did also helpfully point out the power steering fluid was low. I managed to fill it up and away we went.

Now in Crestone, we are over an hour from any garage. Tomorrow I’ll call and see what can be done. There is a nice ride in Del Norte and the garage is close to the trailhead. Fingers crossed.

Sunset in Crestone, CO

When I transformed our budget cooler into a Yeti, the instructions said insulation on the bottom is far more important than the top. Certainly after a hot day’s drive, the bottom of what is in the truck is trés warmer than its top.

Per my understanding of thermodynamics, this heat is due to radiation from the road to the underside of the truck and then conduction to the cooler.

I’ve moved some spare pieces of closed cell foam that we carry for leveling the stove to be under the cooler. If the ice lasts longer, perhaps I’ll move the bottom piece from inside the cooler too so we regain that 1/2″ of space. We’ll see!

A few years ago we bought a QNAP 453 drive enclosure. One of the features is we can access our data remotely. Wouldn’t you know that we are in desperate need of some photos and, like magic, they are available. Special thanks to M TF for physically powering on the device.