The sun and the blue skies are a mood booster when you wake up smelling beer and clams, sweat and cow manure and mud that is splattered all over. But the sun will try out everything. Not sure if I will get out for a paddle on Seneca Lake though based on the forecast this might be the nicest day with the least amount of wind and choppiness on the lake.
I will have to get cleaned up after the zucchuni pancakes 🥞 and coffee. ☕ I totally abused the caffeine yesterday but it was so cold and gray most of the day I broke out caffeine pills 💊 with the cannabis for a europhoric experience. But it messed up my sleep last night along with getting a flat tire and dropping my cellphone 📲 in that cow 🐄 pasture full of curious Holsteins. And it all fueled my anxiety, which didn’t help as I heard more chunks of sheet metal fall of my truck in a pile of rust as I slammed the door last night as mud and dampness clinged onto the truck all night. Rot is starting to creep into the frame which is more alarming in my mind but I hope to make it through summer vacation and preferably the winter with Red. 🛻 I can probably survive winter without a truck, I don’t have to do winter camping 🏕️.
And of course you know the first thing that popped up social media this morning was the post about the wonders of driving 🚘 a 20 year old Honda Civic around. Just think about the benefits of buying a $10,000 junker rather than financing a $80,000 car at 5 percent interest and investing the difference in the stock market index fund at 8 percent annual return. As if a car was just something you drove to the grocery store and to your suburban office building 🏢 and you’re time at the mechanics shop was free and unlimited. In some ways I wish I could have gone to Michigan this year but it wasn’t going to happen with Big Red 🛻. It might have made it or it might not. I don’t know it’s a coffee and caffeine ☕ induced haze and anxiety. Fortunately I’ve turned off Zillow and I should stay off Facebook but I’m sure somehow the real estate board which find a way to ruin my vacation by reminding me how foolish it is to rent. 🏘️ Renting means you’re paying your landlords mortgage and a ten percent profits! Just think of all that equity in that plastic house with trash pickup and a high speed internet and enormous TV in every room! You need a 96 gallon garbage can and a fake recycling bin, not hogs and a burn barrel. 🛢️ Don’t you want one of those plastic suburban houses you can drive your 20 year old Honda Civic sitting in bumper to bumper traffic to your suburban office building while choking down a McDonald’s grease pit breakfast? 🍔 See what you need is BETTER HELP,🤪 fortunately the podcast I was listening to last night as I couldn’t sleep 💤 didn’t have that advertisement every five minutes.
As the morning progresses it becomes more pleasant and my fears 😱 drift away. I’ll get camp squared away and locked up in a bit and I guess the kayak 🛶 back on the roof of my truck and head down to the Watkins Glen Seneca Lake Canoe Launch. Depending on how choppy it is I’ll paddle up to Hector Falls or maybe just around the lake. The Watkins Glen pool opens at noon 🏊 to 5:45 pm after which I will get my Glen Dairy Bar 🍧 fix for the day. I need milk, maple syrup and cider vinegar. Then watch the sun set over Seneca Lake. 🚲 I’ll bring my bike and tube ⭕ but I doubt I’ll ride or float today in Seneca Lake. The tire still needs to be topped off my bike but I’ll do that later. I’m not sure if I’m feeling like going to Pennsylvania to ride tomorrow though it might be a good day for that. Maybe it’s my auto anxiety. 🧠
My remaining Hoopla borrows from July returned automatically yesterday. 📚 I still have my 10 August borrows to use up before the end of the month. I figure get one book out at a time and read it 📖 until it gets closer to the end of the month and end of vacation. Somehow I’m so strategic with my Hoopla borrows knowing the hard monthly limit when I get so many out from Libby and don’t care. Hoopla has a much better selection and the books work so much better when I’m places without cell service. 📱 Truth is that after vacation I probably won’t be camping for a few more weeks and even then it will just be Rennselaerville State Forest where I have cell service. And how much can I read in a month? 🌲🌳🌲
Well I’m making progress at cleaning up and securing camp. 🔐 Shaved and got out my bathing suit though I need a change of clothes after swimming 🏊. Perfect day for heading out at Seneca Lake – even on the Backbone there is only the slightest breeze and that’s unusual. All next week is going to be much breezer but sunny and cool. And that means I also have all of next week to enjoy hanging out at camp. Every day of vacation doesn’t have to be go go go. It can be relaxed. But today is a good day to paddle so I should get on it.