I would be taking the SuperDuty to work today and then heading out to Schoharie this evening, and taking off Friday. But that was not to be.
I guess I don’t have an excuse not to ride the bike π΅βοΈ to work today, there is some air quality alerts out there from the wildfire smoke but with the lower dew point and better atmosphere today, the skies aren’t so yellow and dirty π like they were yesterday. I didn’t enjoy the heat wave being in Albany for it, but it was mid-week so it would have been tough to gotten away during those days.
Caught the earlier bus home again last night, π may I’ve been over-estimating the accuracy of the bus schedule and not realizing that if I hurried from the shuttle π to the local I could catch that earlier bus, though I think some of it has to do with the construction. But if the bike is working well enough, I’d rather do the bike thing rather bus and pay the $2.60 to the bus company. At least now that I have a Navigator card πͺͺ and that’s much easier then the phone app. Plus I always feel so pumped after biking to work. πͺ And if it’s nice enough at the end of day, maybe I’ll ride straight out to Five Rivers and spend the evening there reading until dusk. πΈ Before long, we will be losing daylight quickly in the evening. Ain’t that the truth? August, days loose their lenght quicly.
Maybe next week can be the short week for heading out of town. ποΈ π₯Ύ But this week I can list Big Red π» on a few more sites and see if I can promote him. That one guy is looking at the truck on Sunday, and maybe we can come to a deal. I will get a gas can full of gas to put in Big Red and get windshield fluid to top off that reservoir, and then also top it off in the SuperDuty. I wouldn’t mind getting rid of the truck this weekend, though I want to get a fair value, as everybody who is interested in the truck is a broke welder with no money, and it’s a pity party for a lifted truck. It’s going to cost some money to pull the bed and patch the frame, but if you have equipment and skills, it’s a strong runner, and with some bondo and paint, you could have a nice lifted truck with a mid-rise camper shell for $4,500. Or whatever we can negotiate it to. I also might get a for sale sign, and put it on my parents lawn, as they are on a fairly busy rural road.
Then in two weeks it’s summer vacation. π©΄ If Big Red doesn’t sell by then, it’s fine. I’ll take him off the market, park him behind the barn until after vacation, so I’m not dealing with the truck sale during vacation. It might get more attention on listing and passers by to take the truck off the market for a two weeks and then put it back on the market. π΅ I get paid right before vacation, so I’ll have money and my high-interest savings account will with that additional investment reach the number I want it to reach before going back fully into the stock and bond market with my bi-monthly contributions. I’ll get at least something for Big Red by the end of summer, even if I do have to come down in price. I kind of do want to help out some of my friends and colleagues from High School by coming down on price a bit, but it’s also a business transaction, and I want to recover at least some of final value of the old truck. π© Worse comes to worse, there is always the scrap yard or donating the old truck, but clearly people are interested, even if they say they can’t afford $4,500. π§π»πΎ I kind of sniffle at that number, after spending $59,750 with taxes and fees on the SuperDuty plus $5,500 on the new truck cap, $600 on the bed liner, $1,000 on insurance but not everybody is mid-management or worked for so many years to build up a decent amount of savings and investments. I live in a really run down apartment, no air conditioning, heat at 48 or 50 degrees all winter, no home internet or trash pickup, and I take the bus or bike to work. π€ Owning a somewhat nice work truck is one of few luxuries I have after many long weeks working excessive hours both at the Capitol and out in the field often in less then nice places like Niagara Falls, Cazenovia and North Syracuse. Actually the later two were kind of fun, but when you work so many hours, you don’t get a lot of time to play.
Honestly I have very little plans for summer vacation, πβοΈ though ultimately I think I am heading out to the Finger Lakes for a week and half in two weeks. Chicken Co-op Road, Watkins Glen and Ithaca, riding roads and trails, maybe a day trip or two to Elmira and Pennsylvania, ride some of the bike trails π², kayak, swim, read, hang out. Not the great Michigan Trip but I ran out of time to plan that all out, and money was tighter then I would have hoped. I haven’t taken those days off, but so far it looks like best week on the calendar to get summer vacation done before things get crazy with campaign data work π§π» come the autumn. And then I’ll be back from Finger Lakes and it will be the second half of August, maybe a chance or two to get to Potholers and Schoharie before Labor Day Weekend which I’ll likely spend up in Speculator.
Facebook has been showing all me these land sales and cabin builders lately, π and I can’t help but flip through and look at cabin shells, log cabins, and all kinds of rural and lands homesteads without that horrible plastic vinyl siding. And I got looking at Potter County PA forums where people are quite happy to use their burn barrels for their ordinary house trash, save up a load of recycling cans and glass, compost and feed food scrap,s, go to dump a few times a year, and don’t get all uppity about some stinky toxic smoke. π’οΈ Real rural life, I keep dreaming on. π But at least many weekends I still get out the wilderness even while I stick in Delmar and Albany for the work. πΊ The money is nice, but urban life kind of sucks even if I can ride my bike to work. Come after Labor Day, I’ll probably work remote many Fridays and Monday, probably a lot of time from camp up in the Green Mountains, β°οΈ or maybe Rensselearville and back to Speculator for peak autumn weather. β½ Of course who knows how expensive gas will be at that point, though with the summer driving season ending and pressure on the politicians with the autumn elections coming, gas prices will likely trend down. π«³ I do idolize the rural poor more then a bit, but that’s probably because I’m a pyro, who gets tired of navigating past the enormous garbage heaps and air pollution of the cities, and somehow the homesteading life with the goats and cows π seems so much more sustainable. But I do like my big trucks, says the boy with an F-350 and a lifted Silverado, I can not lie.
