September 16, 2025 | Page 3

The other day I was out walking on a chilly early autumn afternoon outside of Manlius Center and I smelled wood smoke – that wonderful smell of cooler times to come in small-town America.

While wood is mostly just a supplemental source of heat in these more suburban areas it is a necessity for many farms and rural homes that rely on it as a primary source of heat. And it’s a wonderful thing.

It makes me dream about the days to come – not just when I make it to my long term goal of owning an off grid cabin – but also the more short term goal of my road trip and camping in mid November once this election cycle has come to an end as they always do.

Nice long November nights curled up by the fire are always nice, especially if the stars are out and I can also warm myself by the propane heater. Nice evenings to cook and relax. Something so relaxing about having a nice fire.

Indeed there is something nice about the warmth of a woodstove. Beyond November I may be cold in my apartment but the money saved today is money saved for a better tomorrow. I look forward to the days to come.

For the first time during an odd-year since 2015, I will be not going to West Virigina this year. I know I said that in 2021 and ended up going for a while and burned up my wheel bearing to boot after a few nice days at Camp Run but this odd year I am totally serious about not going to West Virginia in favor a shorter trip up to the St. Regis Canoe Area in the Adirondacks.

There are many reasons. For one, I feel like I’ve spent enough time poking around Canaan Heights, especially after 2023 when I set up camp on Forest Road 13 and stayed there for seven nights, spending only two nights away from camp when I overnighted one night at County Bridge Campground and one on way back to New York at Long Pond. I know I would’t take I-81 back through Penna again with all the traffic. County Bridge Campground now requires reservations in advance, including an extra out of state fee and a reservation fee, which makes it far less of a bargain for a primitive campground.

But another is that Big Red is getting old and there is no guarantee of a reliable ride much less a worrysome trip. Simply said, I don’t want to get stranded 500 miles from home. Plus with the stock gears and only slightly better brakes, the lifted truck is such a dog on the hills and hollows of West Virginia. The beat suspension almost guarantees it would be be a shit ride both down there and back to say nothing about the washboard roads.

I do hope next autumn in November – probably Veterans Day Week to get down to West Virginia for a week. After the election and all the craziness. The tourists will mostly gone but if I go all the way to South Western Virginia to see the New River Gorge there will be some color left. And by then I’ll have my new truck and it should be well broken in after the Michigan trip in the summer.

I’m not sure why I like West Virginia so much. Yes the hills and mountains are impressive but also so much is the public views of the state. The blank faces when I tell people I’m going to WV. What to buy coal? Hang out with a bunch of rednecks and poor people? Plus it’s an excuse to drive through Penna. Rednecks are fun people, they burn a lot of shit.

Day: September 16, 2025

Wonderful Wood Smoke

Goose Pond

Isle of the Onondagas

Muskrat Color

Puff balls

Susquehanna Junction, PA

No to Almost Heaven this year