The expenses that I dread and absolutely hate paying the most are the little things. Like paying the full $2 to ride the Bus Plus downtown because my cellphone wasn’t working on the day I dropped the SuperDuty off to get the bedliner put in.
Another 70¢ isn’t going to put me in the poorhouse forever, I make good money, but I was still pretty upset about it on the day that I spent $621 to have them spray my truck bed with some plastic, covering the gooseneck bolts, for a better camping experience. But I didn’t complain about that.
Or today, I was annoyed how much the price of cookies went up when I purchased them for the team. $10 fucking bucks for two boxes of bakery cookies, each box only had 6 admitly delicious and well liked cookies in it. Made me team happy but I cringed about the expense, even though I make that amount more then 10,000 times each year.
Then the quick link broke off my bike, leaving me stranded, and having to take the Bus Plus to work form Rail Trail, and then take it back downtown and then local bus home. There goes another $3.90. Assuming I can’t build a chain out of parts I have – or another old quicklink I have around – I’ll go to bike store and get one for $5 or $10. Another expense. As I look my $60,000 SuperDuty truck, which I don’t regret buying that much despite the high cost of gas.
I was thinking how I am thinking of scaling back my summer vacation and doing future trips, with the high gas prices after buying a SuperDuty. But then I realize the SuperDuty gets about the same gas milage as my lifted truck, but with many more creature comforts. And it rides so nicely on the rural highways and has great features like hill descent and dual alternators and remote start for a ton of camp power. But gas so is expensive, don’t you know. Yet, in context $4.50 a gallon gas is only a $1.50 more then $3 gas, so when I burn through 10 gallons on a 150 mile trip, it’s only going to cost me $15 more. Rather then $30 dollars, it will be $45 dollars. And aren’t I still getting a lot of joy out of the trip? It’s not about commuting. Still the nickel and dims chew at my mind.
These little things annoy me as I feel like Is shouldn’t have to pay them if life only went a little smoother, inflation not so high. The thing I hate about nickles and dimes is they can grow so ordinary, become background noise and add up quickly. Everybody thinks about buying a $60,000 SuperDuty, but not so much about that extra bus fare or that $5 quick link. Yet, it’s so frustrating, to see my future being chewed away bit by bit over little expenses, even if I do make good money and can afford these bull shit expenses.
This isn’t what is happening with Mr. Kelly. In this case, Mr. Hegseth is sending a message to all military retirees: If you cross the Trump administration in public, we will come after you, and you will pay a high price for speaking out. This administration has used and abused every tool it has to coerce businesses, universities, law firms, nonprofits, political enemies and private citizens to do as it desires. Now that coercive power is being used to intimidate military retirees, starting with Mr. Kelly.
In south-western Franklin County there is a state forest with approximently 12,00 acres of land, and almost 12 miles of truck trail. Most of it is wooded and moderately hilly, with acres of swamps and rivers, with substainal access via truck trail.
There are three campsites along Conservation Road, with one at Iron Bridge on the Deer River. This is a popular site, one with limited nearby firewood. You probably could drive to another portion of the forest, chop up some wood, and drive back so you have enough for camping.
Name
Latitude
Longitude
Avery Lot Site
44.7352235914112
-74.4550802614741
Conservation Road Primitive Campsite
44.7265204084443
-74.4838001692901
Foot Bridge Site
44.731452233788
-74.5090540850248
Horse Assembly Area (Two Sites)
44.7507488855137
-74.5131752114971
Iron Bridge Site
44.7190820582264
-74.4799989894277
Larch Site
44.730415232034
-74.5048391659423
Number 7
44.7335461250466
-74.5028504711799
Site 10
44.7315799764063
-74.5021705324054
Site 6
44.7271320391316
-74.4853763854447
Site 8
44.7297640340073
-74.4938030505511
The site is number 5, although I was only able to find sites one and two nearby. The other ones must be on other roads. I didn’t drive all over Deer River State Forest, due to the noise the hubs where making on the truck, worrying me about a potential breakdown/failure with the bad hubs.
Parts of Conservation Road where relatively rough and potholed, but compared to some of the other roads it wasn’t all that bad.
At Iron Bridge, there is a popular swimming hole. I went in both in them evening to cool off and in the morning to bathe.
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