My gawd that traffic was awful getting out of Albany 🚗 🚓 🚃 🚚 🚗 🚓 🛻
I saw that there was an crash on I-90 on Waze before leaving work and thought about taking the local roads out to Schoharie but thought how bad can it really be? Famous last words as they say.
It was so bad, me trying to be uber cautious, you know driving a still almost brand new 2026 SuperDuty. 💥 But once I got onto the ramp to I-88 I breathed a sigh of relief. One thing that was nice when I had to get over from a nearly stopped lane of traffic near the Schenectady exit, that 6.8L SuperDuty engine can really move if you give it a lot of $4.15 and rising gas. ⛽
The SuperDuty is almost boring on I-88, as the big block doesn’t really struggle the least bit on the rolling hills heading through Delanson and down to the Schoharie Valley. 🚛 Darn thing has so much power and pumping losses, it basically never shift or feels like it’s accelerating or slowing, it just cruises along at a very even 67 MPh or whatever I set the cruise control to without even really going above or below that or shifting gears at all. ⚙️ It’s so nice climbing the hills with ease, and even better going down the steep mountains not having to downshift or worry about the brakes. The transmission automatically downshifts even in normal mode, and those big F-350 disc brakes really feel good and strong all the way down. And if I got them too hot, I’m sure the SuperDuty would warn me of such things. But remember, the truck is built to tow 7 tons if neccessary.
It’s good to get back to Betty Brook Campsite. 🏕️ Hard to believe it was 21 years ago when I first camped here in early summer 2005, after I drove down to Oneonta to look at potentially transferring to that college. I ultimately chose Plattsburgh, but I’ve been coming out here for many years now. Not much has changed over the years, though the Ford Ranger I had back in the day is long gone, Big Red is retired, and now I have the SuperDuty. I remember listening to Obama’s DNC speech out there in 2008, the night before the burn ban took effect in 2009 and people calling in sighing on WGNA – no more bonfires were told. 🔥 Burned a lot of shit since then but don’t tell a liberal.
Finished off the summer squash with eggs and salsa this morning. Had a bunch of coffee, ☕ for some reason I was up at 5;30 AM, had some of that new strong weed, smiling, happy thoughts but yeah, I’m going to hang out at camp for a while before heading over to Looking Glass Pond for a walk and maybe some fishing. 🎣 I do think I want to do Vromans Nose, maybe go for a ride along NY 30, maybe float in the Schoharie in the tube 🏊♂️ and certainly before mid-afternoon head down to Mine Kill and stroll around the grounds before going for a swim. Then back to camp. I do also want to stop at Shauls
It was a cool night. ❄️ By the time I got up to Summit last night it was 65 degrees, and certainly by darkness in camp it was in the fifties. Big fire for a while with the disgusting amount of burnables I sent up in smoke, 🔥 it was good I kept the trash bag so I could use in the bucket 🪣 shitter 💩 as I forgot to bring extra garbage bags. Laid back in the hammock, finished off The Crazies, a book about a proposed wind farm on ranch land in Montana that divided a community, thanks to wealthy neighbors and others who were concerned about the scenic and wildlife impacts of a wind farm in their area. Great story about small town life and the sometimes divisive nature of wind farms.
This morning, taking it slow, went for a little stroll in the hammock and listening to J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elergy. 🤠 It seems like only yesterday I was reading it – truth was it was probably 2018 or 2019 at this point – long before he was Senator or Vice President but I keep seeing it on Libby and decided to check out the audio book and listen it again. I mean it’s pretty consistent with what I’ve heard about Appalachia in the past, sounds like many of the poor country folk I know – farmers, folk who live in the small towns. 🧑🏻🌾 When it warms up a bit and I sober up, I’ll head over to Looking Glass Pond ☀️ but I’m just enjoying the morning sun for now, it’s day off, good to take it slow. 🦥
