When I often think of the word “woke”, I often use it much more like many people use the word “crunchy”. The words are pretty similar in my mind – about meaningless actions that are mostly a form of public masterbation – a way to show off one’s politics and beliefs through meaningless actions.
People who identify as “crunchy” are said to prioritize health, wellness, and environmental sustainability in their daily lives. They buy their way into such beliefs, which they live on their sleeves. Indeed, I think the essence of being woke, putting an image of yourself as one who who enguages in mindless consumerism based on ads, only pretending to prioritize health, wellness, and environmental sustainability.
The thing is that just because a label on a package says something is woke, doesn’t mean it is. A label is something you put in the trash, it gets buried or burned on up shortly after consumption. It’s a pretty meaningless thing. It’s not to say things like organic food can’t be healthy, or sustainable packaging is a bad thing, but in many cases it’s little more then a label or a brand. It’s fake. And in my mind, it’s woke – it’s about taking a stand by buying into advertising that is all fake.
Mendon, VT (May 19, 2025) – Just in time for the long holiday weekend, camp sites on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) will open this Friday May 23rd. The forest offers several recreational opportunities including picnicking, camping, hiking, backpacking, fishing, hunting, boating and biking. The National Forest provides Vermonters and visitors with a quality and memorable experience. In the past several weeks employees and partners have been working to prepare campsites and other recreation facilities for the visiting public.
The Forest Service has listed up to date information on road and trail conditions as well as recreation “hot spots” on its website and considers the safety and enjoyment of all visitors a top priority. Important status information and office hours are provided below:
Important local site information:
Moosalamoo Campground — Currently there is no potable water at the Moosalamoo Campground. People should bring their own water until further notice.
Lincoln Gap Parking Areas – This area will undergo reconstruction in July and limited parking will be available for a two to three week period.
Warren Falls Recreation Site — Improvements have been made to provide safer access to the lower falls and enhance resource protection.
Texas Falls Observation Site / Picnic Area – This site will be closed for an extended period of time over the summer while renovations are being conducted. Please pay close attention to all sign postings.
Grout Pond Camp Loop Trail – The trail will undergo reconstruction in May through June. The construction project will impact parking in the lower parking area and visitors will likely see construction equipment traveling between the parking area and Camp Loop. Walk-in campsites remain open for public use.
Hapgood Pond – Two pavilions will undergo renovations over Memorial Day weekend and in to early June – both will be unavailable for reservation at that time. The bathhouse may also be closed early in the season due to ongoing renovations.
Forest Road 71 – This road is currently closed due to a culvert washout. Staff are developing a plan to repair the damage as quickly as possible. Dispersed camping on this road, as well as Forest Road 86 and Forest Road 83 will be affected by the closure.
It’s 46 degrees outside with a strong wind. Sunny but it’s definately not what you would expect for the second half of May when there are many years at this point when it’s in 80s and muggy. But the muggers are in hiding at least fot a while. Maybe they’re afraid the Trumpster will deport them.
I mean it’s not that cold, ❄️ says the boy who rides his mountain bike 40 minutes to work in middle of January with the wind roaring and mercury in single digit, but what can I say I’m a crazy pyromaniac who wants to buy or build that off-grid cabin so I can burn whatever I want whenever. 🔥 I was listening to the Boggleheads Guide to Investing on my ride in the other day, and they suggested 💰 one way to save money on your commute was to ride to work versus driving or taking the bus, though I’m not sure if that’s true with parts wearing out on bike and bus fares so relatively cheap these days. But you can’t beat the fun and health virtues of riding. 🦵
Bike is riding great, 🚴 though now I’m back to listening to every noise to see if I can guess what will break next. The brakes are good, but those new pads are noisy when stopping hard, like a city garbage truck, even when I clean them well with the brake clean. Front wheel I trued and the back wheel is good but the tire is getting worn but I should be able to get a few more months out of it. My woke bike riding friend, suggests getting thorn tubes, and says his have lasted for 40,000 miles, though I have my doubts especially for mountain bike tires. I want to have something with decent grip on gravel and the light trail riding I do, though I try to be gentle as I don’t want to wreck another wheel right away. 🛠️
Need groceries 🛒as it’s already been a week since I last shopped so I will bring extra bags 🛍️ and stop at Hannaford most likely on the way home. 🍏 Just need to replenish the fresh fruit and veggies along with some frozen fruits and vegetables. 🍓 🥦 Do a bigger shop on Thursday or maybe Friday morning before heading up to camp.
Weekend still looks to be cool 🌥️ and maybe fairly cloudy. I still think I want to get away for the weekend, 🏕️ do some camping, riding, maybe some fishing and just hanging out. I am leaning towards the Green Mountains, though it looks like if I stay farther west, things might be better especially on Friday evening into Saturday. Not going to be a real nice weekend, pretty cold but so be it. I’ll bring the propane heater so I can warm myself as needed and screen tent to avoid the bugs. 🎪
I think I will call 📞 the Forest Service in Vermont to see if Somerset Road FR 74 is going to be open come the weekend as that would be nice to camp there and ride during the weekend though I suspect the Deerfield River would be mad cold to swim 🏊 so I’m not planning that. I’ve been talking about camping and biking there for a year or so now – that was the plan last year but the road was closed last Memorial Day. 🚧
I don’t ride with the earbuds in for obvious safety reasons, but it was going to make me cranky if I didn’t have my tunes when I got into office. Somehow I lost them yesterday, and I couldn’t find them even though I checked where they were sitting in my truck cup holder.
So fuck yes, I am riding to work today. 🚴I could have very much so been back on the road on Friday, had I driven in on Thursday and picked up the wheel after work, but who knows if I would have gotten up to the shop by 6 PM with the traffic with the Corporations Challenge. I just didn’t want bother with it, and I though Saturday was going to be such a shit day that I wouldn’t want to go out and ride or do anything, 🐸 even though it turned out to be a beautiful day. Maybe I just didn’t want to face putting the wheel back together or deciding whether or not to drill out the valve stem hole myself or ask the shop, but it got done. Besides the new rear wheel, I installed new rear brake pads (did the front in February), and bled and topped off the front brakes and cleaned the rotators and pads with brake clean. Should be good for a while though next repair needs to be to most likely replace the rear derailuer which isn’t putting enough tension on the chain though I’ll wait until the chain is due for a change. I’m monitoring that with the chain 🔗 measure tool to recently bought to reduce the frequency I have to replace the cassette.
It’s silly how stressed I get about these 🤪 things. The woke bike shop already had the hole drilled and filled out for the shader valve and it was ready to install. It took my not even 15 minutes to install the hardware, add some more fix-a-flat to the tube, fill it up and be off a test ride. The new wheel rides so much better, and is quieter without the super sloppy wheel bearing and cracked rim. ⚙️ Hopefully I get a few years out of this. I do think now that I’m more confident and knowledgable about wheels, the next time I need to replace, I’ll go online and order a wheel. I’ve been pulling off spokes from the old wheel and saving them for future repairs. 🔧 I might not be a great mechanic yet, but I’m trying to do as much of my work myself, so I don’t have to wait and hand over so many fist fulls of cash to the woke bike shop. 💵 I don’t know if riding to work is actually cheaper then taking the bus, even with the fare when you consider parts, but it’s excellent exercise 🦵and I think good for the mind. People say I’m green 🌎 because I rarely drive my big jacked up truck to work 🛻 but truth is I hate traffic it’s so much easier to take bus, 🚌 or ride 🚲 , even with the transfer between bus and the shuttle 🚀. Hey, got to make up for all that plastic stuff I’ve burnt over the past two decades or so. 😂
So much of the problems is just in my mind. 🧠 I just got to remind myself of that fact. The woke mind virus, which so infects my mind living in Albany is not real, nor is all my delusions and fears. The whole bike thing that’s been stressing myself out for a week and half, was a real nothing burger, it rides great now. 🍔 Hell, if I want to burn shit, plenty of rednecks do that out in country, and in many places, nobody cares. 🔥 Going to have a pretty good fire this weekend, wherever I end up deciding to camp. 🏕️ There is some danger in breaking the law, 👮 but let’s be honest if you’re not smoking out your neighbors nobody cares. Somebody – I think my neighbor was smoking tobacco and weed a good portion of yesterday and stunk to high hell. 👃 I’m fine with smoking weed up in wilderness, giggling with the Dire Wolf next to the waterfall, 🌈 but I don’t love second-hand smoke when I’m not one getting high. It’s just so pungent. 🚭
French toast this morning 🍞 using up some bread I made up last week that was again much too dry and by now had gotten kind of stale. Going to use up the rest of the rice 🍚 and beans I made up last week for lunch. 🧅 I should go shopping at Hannaford tonight or tomorrow 🍌 then I’ll go shopping 🛒 at Walmart for anything else in need on Thursday before heading out for the long weekend. I will probably leave work early on Friday to head up to camp 🏕️, I’m just not at all sure where I’ll end up going. I am so ready to get away from it for a few days! Maybe it was smelling all my neighbors weed this weekend or looking at the big cardboard box the wheel came in an thinking how much fun it will be to burn!
The Memorial Day Weekend forecast looks like a mixed bag 🌦️ not a real washout but certainly cold and not a banner year. Probably real buggy, 🐜 regardless of where I decide to spend the weekend. It always, and definately on the cold side of things. Not sure where I am going, but I do want to get out and have a good fire, 🔥 and smoke some of that stuff that was so nasty when it was billowing in my window yesterday. This weekend wasn’t bad, it was nice at Five Rivers though if I had been smart, I would have gotten the wheel back on Thursday or Friday and been back on the road, as it wouldn’t have been bad to ride Saturday. At some point, I now want to do the Harlem Valley Trail in Dutchess County – near where I was two weekends ago, but maybe not this weekend unless the forecast craps out for the first half of weekend. 🚲 Maybe combine that with hammock or lean-to camping up at Harvey Mountain or Beebe Hill to make a full weekend sometime in the future.
Everybody let’s sing along – The Pope Smokes Dope! And probably smells like cow manure too. I miss Madison County.
