Looking east from the top of Black Mountain, at the many peaks that make up the Lake George Wild Forest. Many of these peaks are privately owned, with hunting camps on them, and some used for timber resources. Somewheres in between the peaks is Brant Lake and Horicon.
Today is the last Friday of February, with the month drawing to a close. There is no reason I have to get a truck in month of March, but I think it makes sense before the springtime inventory drop and so I have time to order a truck cap for my new rig.
Truth is despite what you might think, I’m really quite undecided. 🛻 I could get my old truck back on the road, get a 20-year old Honda Civic, get a SuperDuty, or a Toyota Tacoma. Or no vehicle at all – truth is the further I get away from driving the less I want to do it any more. I really don’ t like cars, all the stress, expense and hassle of owning one. But I thought you were so set on buying that goddamn gasser F-350 with the FX4 and STX packages and the long bed. I was going to call and ask the dealership to check if the trucks I’m interested are still on the lot, get a salesman’s name and see if they could meet me on Monday, but I’m leaning towards Tuesday morning, so I’ll make the call on Monday after checking inventories 🔎 and March Madness 🏀 incentives. You know, where they blow those trucks out of your ass. I eat a lot of pinto beans yesterday, but I didn’t have much gas. They’re so good and cheap in those 4-lb bags you get form Wally World.
Still I think about the cost of all the fuel, the various mechanical issues including catestrophic lifter failure and TorqueShift tyranny disingeration, 💣 bad steering shafts and under-carriage rot. Every time I open my social media posts, there is another reminder of some problem somebody is having with their Godzilla truck, as that is all the trends on my social media feed lately. Smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon. 😀 Drive to camp, smoke weed and ride my mountain bike. And after months of studying the art of negotiation from both sides, and how dealers can rip-you-off or ghost you, I am just nervous about the battle ahead to get the right vehicle at the right price. 💵 I know it’s not all a scam, and I can get a fair price, and if some dealers don’t want to work with me, guess what I don’t want to give them my hard earned money. Dealers, even drug or auto dealers, are people too, remember. 🤝 And it’s not like Godzilla trucks don’ t often get very heavy use and abuse, and the long-term non-extreme use data is still pretty limited as the engine has only been out for about 5 years now, but it’s a lot less mechanically complex then most of the turbo engines now.
Terrible thing about it is the process is almost kind of unreal, 🚘 in the sense that everybody is talking about auto debt, and I’m like over the past month and half, my net worth has increased almost enough to cover more then half of cost of the truck, though a lot of it is locked up in retirement accounts and doesn’t include capital gains tax on withdrawls, and is only on paper. 📊 Which of course means the downside could be far larger on paper, when the market declines, though I’ll still be buying more investments, and dollar cost averaging over time will move me forward. It’s going to suck the next time we have the big market decline and my net worth declines by 1/4 million or 1/2 million, making the SuperDuty look like child play. 🤓 I just keep geeking out on personal financial and market advice to feel less guilty, while everybody keeps nagging on me for leaving in a dumpy apartment and riding my mountain bike to suburban office campus with acres of parking, when I could own a 20-year old Honda Civic and a plastic house without smelly buck goats 🐐 or a well-blackened burning barrel for the garbage out back. 🛢️
I left work right at 5 PM yesterday 🚲 🚗 and the traffic was so awful on both Second Avenue and McAlpin Street as I fought my way home, weaving in and out from what seemed like far more parked cars with open doors and traffic rushing through downtown then a last remembered. 🫦It just was a stressful ride home, no close calls or mistakes, still I not fun. It will so much easier when the Rail Trail is free of snow, and I can safely and serenely ride through the quite of the gorge. I was so happy to reach the quiet residential streets for the last part of the ride. I couldn’t believe how truly heavy traffic was last night, it really was a headache. 👀
And yeah, yesterday I was kind of fucked up in the head, 🤕 because for some reason beyond my understanding I saw the weed sitting on my shelf, and decided to take a toke, which immediately put me into a deep haze, so I ended up popping a handful of caffeine pills 💊 and quietly walking into the office with a big grin on my road-salt encrusted face. 😀 Watching as the wheels of passing cars looked to be rather strange angles in my brain, studying those F-350s as the rolled down the road. I shouldn’t have done it before riding to work, but that fudge coffee ☕ was so tasty in the office and after two additional cups, I drank some water 💦 and by evening slept actually quite well, though I was super on edge all evening after th at commute. I shouldn’t have left right at 5 PM but instead let some of that traffic filter out of the city.
I heard the heat pop on when I was cooking breakfast, ♨️ and I was surprised and rushed to turn off the heat, thinking it was being wasteful to heat my apartment, even with just gas heat, when I’m heading out for the day. But the reason the heat kicked on is it’s only 11 degrees outside. But I thought today wasn’t going to be so cold. It’s not, it’s going to warm up but this morning is mad cold ❄️ even if it is sunny and clear. I am so ready for spring. 🌸 More apple 🍏 pancakes 🥞 for breakfast today with lots of shredded carrots and spices. It’s going to be yet another cold ride into the office today. 🚴 But then maybe 50 degrees on Saturday! Good weather for a ride to Wally World to buy groceries 🛒 and maybe out to Five Rivers to see Meads Cows 🐮 and maybe the birdies. 🐦
