Early mornin’ rain to start out vacation it seems 🌦️
It looks like the drive out to start summer vacation will start out in the rain, though it is mostly supposed to pull off by mid-afternoon by the time I reach the Finger Lakes. I guess I could put off my summer vacation by an additional day, but does seven hours of vacation time really matter that much? I best be on my way in early morning rain.
I have packed my clothes, the propane, the heater and some of the gear last night 🧽 and did some scrubbing around. I wasn’t going to bring the heater but it’s going to be cold and wet tomorrow afternoon as I set up camp, and several mornings are expected to be in the forties and low fifties and if there is a breeze up on the backbone, it might be a bit cool. ♨️ Often during my Labor Day Weekend trip I bring the heater, but it does take up a lot of space and it’s just more stuff to pack and unpack, especially if I bring two coolers to make sure I have lots of space both for beer and food. 🍺 Almost forgot my tackle box, it was in the attic but I got it out as I plan to spend some of my days fishing 🎣 and cooking it up at camp. 🏕️ Good stuff.
Driving to work today, 🛻 as I want to grab my laptop and not bring it back home on the bike, plus I have a few supplies I want to get on the way home, plus maybe gas up Red ⛽ so I don’t have to stop tomorrow beyond getting bacon 🥓 at For the Love of Bacon, sweet corn and peppers 🌽 at that farm stand outside of Caroline and maybe clams s🦪 at Wegmans in Ithaca. Truth is even though I’m planning on 13 days at camp, 🏕️ I just kind of want to get out there and set up so I can relax and be away from all of my problems for a few days. Honestly not a good day for riding in and I figure I’ll have to get used to driving to work as the express bus next Friday. Maybe sometimes I’ll do the local 🚍 but it sucks, it’s slow and the times do not work well with the transfer to the shuttle.
Going to be my longest vacation ever, 🏖️ but I also have so little planned for it. It only became long because I couldn’t take other days off due to staff being out, the Labor Day holiday and because I’m not planning a trip to West Virginia in October for a few different reasons – my truck is getting old, the campground in Penna I used to overnight in has gotten more expensive and is by reservation only, and I want to do an extended-weekend trip to the St. Regis Canoe Area and the Adirondack Rail Trail 🍁. Next year in November after Election Day, when I have my new rig built, I might do West Virginia but a lot depends on the weather.
I’ve been looking a bit at the Chevy Colorado ZR2 trucks, 🛻 mostly because I saw an ad for them and was checking out the specs. Bunch of guys in the print shop have them along with the Tacomas. Not sure if I would go for a Chevy at this point over a Toyota – I have real questions about American quality these days – but maybe it’s Trumpster but also I think American manufacturers have started to phone it in 📞 since the pandemic and with tighter emissions and material costs. But it’s interesting to look and learn about what the current generation of compact trucks are like. Need a six-foot bed for camping and will want to get a camper shell. I want something that is easier to drive, more fuel efficent but also off-road capable for getting back to campsites, can take a cap for camping, has a trailer hitch primarily for a bike rack, but also can eventually be used for hauling feed, small livestock and supplies back to the homestead. 🐐 Everybody says prices are going up next year with tarrifs, but I’m not sure how much of that is reality and how much is marketing.
The tarrifs could be struck down by a court or repealed by the President if they are found to be too inflationary. And prices may fall if the tarrifs push the economy into the crapper. 🚽 Politicians generally aren’t sucidal, and 2026 is an election year. Plus even if prices are up 10% next year, or $5,000 compared to autumn, avoiding a winter’s worth of road salt and deprecation makes it worth it, as I get more use out of my existing truck. ☃️ I figure get as much useful life out of red in shit winter weather.
I don’t like the expense 💵 as it will eat up a lot of my cash savings, though I’ve been meaning to put that money to work beyond a CD or savings account for some time now, but I knew I would néed to have it for a truck so I didn’t put it in the market. Even if I do end up spending $50k or $60k on my next truck, I figure this vehicle will most likely serve me through my retirement in second half of my fifties, and by then I might need a bigger truck if I am hauling a lot of livestock, equipment or water to homestead. And I won’t be commuting at that point and probably not traveling either. 📈 I might want to start building up my high-interest savings account again, though I feel like if interest rates are likely to only fall in the coming months, and they may fall below inflation.
But first work today, 🏢 finish packing and then vacation. It’s fine to look at trucks while I’m on vacation, besides reading 📖 and maybe seeing if I can meet some new people on Facebook Dating ♥️ and around the National Forest. It’s a good time to meet new people and catch up on old friends, as a lot of people are working to reinvent their lives in their mid-forties. All and all, I really am not planning anything ambitious for vacation, 🏖️ Thursday or Friday I’ll go to Watkins Glen to swim 🏊 and maybe paddle 🛶 on Seneca Lake. Then maybe Saturday looks good for the Pine Creek Gorge in Pennsylvania before the days get even shorter, as it’s a long day trip. Sunday looks like rain, and good for hanging in camp. Going to be a long vacation, and while I packed a lot of clothes, 👚 I do expect I’ll need to one day go to the Watkins Glen Laundromat mid-next week and wash clothes on up. I guess it depends a lot on weather and how dirty things get. Going to be cool, so I packed many pairs of jeans to wear. 👖 Not going to shower or change before heading out to camp tomorrow, as I see no reason to do that. There is the Guilderland Comphrensive Plan hearing tonight, but I think I’ll pass on that as I need to finish packing and cleaning, 📦 as I really want to be on the road before rush hour tomorrow.
A peaceful, easy feeling as a while away the hours prior to vacation 🏖️
I stayed over at my parents house last night after coming back from Schoharie around 4:15 PM. Maybe not a perfect weekend, I would have rather had more space up at camp and no neighbors, less humidity on Saturday morning and more sun and warmth on Sunday afternoon at pool but on the whole it was a fun weekend even if the band was bad and car show was a bummer.
I am feeling relaxed after a good weekend. 
I thought Big Red was well behaved, no real issues beyond t the regular complaints, groans and somewhat sloppy handling of a 14-year old getting beat up old jacked up truck. I’m ready for good, quiet, trouble free summer vacation up at Chicken Coop or Potomac Road. 13 days this year with the extra days I added on plus Labor Day. 
But I think it will make it through summer vacation most likely. If not I’ll get it repaired and/or rent a car. I am going to set up at tent at camp for storing boxes, gear and dirty clothes. 
Honestly, I worry too much and so much of my problems are just in my head. 
And when I realize that, take a deep breath it’s great. It will be so nice once I arrive at the Finger Lakes, get unpacked, get the hammock out and relax with a cold beer.
Landlord is ripping the windows out and replacing them in my apartment. 🪟 Not sure what was wrong with the windows upstairs, maybe he was concerned about the moss that was starting to grow in the frame and it potentially leaking into the building frame. I don’t know but he was working on it over the weekend and replaced one of the windows and is chip-sealing where I normally park. I’m not going to worry about it, I do want to so more cleaning before vacation so things aren’t a mess when I get home, but I had no notice until Saturday evening that he was going to be buy to work on the building. I kind of more wish he would replace the front door and downstairs windows, the door is all rotted out and those windows definitely leak air downstairs. Hopefully he will be done by the time I get home, but maybe not if he’s milking cows in the afternoon, but I want time to get packed tonight without having to work around people swapping out windows. 
If he wants to tear at the walls of my apartment or make other changes while I’m gone that’s fine, especially if I he could replace the rotted out door and not jack up my rent further. 
Looks like it will be a cool but sunny for vacation. 
I am debating if I want to pack my propane heater. It takes up a fair amount of space in the truck, and it’s just one more thing to pack and unpack and lock up at camp, especially if I want to bring two coolers. It would be good if we have some cold rainy days, 
especially I think Wednesday is going to be cold and rainy to start out the trip. But the space issue is a bit of a worry, especially if I were to have a breakdown. 
Truth is though I’m over that, I got things checked out, but you just never know. And it’s one more thing to keep track of at camp and lock up each day before I head out. It could be cool especially up on Hector Backbone, but it is still August.
I am thinking about getting clams on the way out to the Finger Lakes 
as with it being kind of a cold and rainy day to start out camp, boiling down clams in beer with maybe some of those mini onions and fresh sweet corn 
and any other veggies 🫑 I get at farm stands on the way out there may be an excellent way to start out vacation, even if I am setting up in the rain. I would like to leave before the morning rush, and be able to be in the hammock camp all set up by 1 or 2 PM at the latest. Then maybe after some clams grab my fishing pole 
and see what I can catch in Foster or Potomac Ponds. I just want some peace and sanity in my life – a deep breath and not living my life constantly in fear of daemons that only lurk inside my mind.
Thursday I might loaf around the National Forest with my bike 
and fishing pole as it looks like Friday would be best day this week to go down to Watkins Glen to swim and maybe paddle on Seneca Lake if it’s calm enough. 
Maybe eat a bunch more clams and sweet corn. Float on one of the ponds, 
see if the snapping turtle bites at my shorts too much. Listen to cows. 
Read and relax. Just try to get my sanity back, read a bit, stay off the internet maybe a bit.
Why my next truck will likely be smaller 🛻
For 13 1/2 years I’ve been using Big Red as my primary vehicle — that is for camping and traveling, though in the city I use buses or walk to get most places except maybe for the weekly or these days every-two weeks grocery shop. I like Big Red, but I realize even if I do keep it in good repair, it has a limited useful life.
Having a Big Jacked-Up nice truck is fun when one is young. You should do it once, if you have the money. But I am no longer in my late 20s or 30s. Priorities change. I don’t want to spend $50,000 on a new truck, nor do I want to spend money on big tires or a lift kit. It’s not that I don’t have the money, but I’d rather allocate the money to other things in life.
The big truck is fun, but it’s costly. Repairs are more with a lift kit, as are the tires. Bigger tires, bigger engine, heavy uses more fuel, which became an issue in the past year when gas prices pushed past $5. But even when you don’t worry that much about fuel — as I drive recreationally — a big truck kind of sucks.
Big Red is a bitch to drive around parking lots, through narrow city streets, and anywhere there are a lot of other automobiles, like at repair shops or even the dealership. Big Red keeps me away from crowded trailheads in back country, as he’s too difficult to park. Even many smaller campsites are tricky to park in at Red.
Nowadays, my priority is more towards owning my own land and early retirement. A big truck is fine, but I would rather have land where I can shoot guns, have fires and livestock. Out in the woods, where I’m free to do what I want without people bossing me around. I’m trying to grow my wealth, not spend it all. As I want to have more options on where and how I live my life, especially as I head into my 50s, which likely whatever vehicle I get next will go with me into.
I haven’t decided for sure if I am going to get a truck next. I’ve thought about electric vehicles or even a sedan, to save money. But if I want to do more camping in a truck cap, then I’ll need a truck. And probably 4×4 to get on the rough, snowy roads I like to traverse. I really don’t want to spend a lot of money, as inflation has made everything so much more expensive, and money spent now is money that can’t grow in the markets.
The found THC in his blood so he must have driving stoned when he killed all those children the school bus 🚸
That’s what the click bait headline blurted out.
But anybody who knows anything about drugs knows that is not how cannabis works. THC is a fat soluble chemical like dioxin, it binds tightly to fats in the body and can be detected long after exposure. This is why it’s so hard to chemically test drivers for intoxication as THC in the blood stream can be detected as much as a month after consumption, long after any intoxicating effects exist.
It’s actually kind of interesting how dioxin and THC are related – their binding mechanisms to fat are similar and the result of the decomposition of certain chemicals after exposure to moderate amounts of heat. Both are carcinogenic and cause cancer too though like anything with cancer it’s one risk factor in many. But that’s beyond the point.
There isn’t a lot of scientific evidence that residual THC as found in the blood bound to fat is acutely intoxicating. But does it have other more subtler impacts? I’ve wondered that a lot. There is little evidence that cannabis is addictive anymore then any other pleasurable activity though it is known in heavy long term usage to dull the minds, especially of the youth.
But can it also make more subtle changes to the brain chemistry? That’s more of a mystery because the human mind even in the modern times remains largely a mystery to the advanced science of today. I know I have really gotten into wildflower identification and pictures this year and really enjoy deep rich colors. While cannabis certainly enhances this by increasing focus and perception on color, I think the impacts are far longer lasting. Is it because of perception gained while high or because something has changed in my brain? Maybe I’ve always been taken aback by beauty but now I find it much more necessary to study the wildflowers and nature every day.
The Sunday before vacation in Schoharie ☀️
Cool but pleasant this morning…not humid this morning but it’s expected to warm up in a bit. I took down camp a few minutes ago and now are out for a walk at Looking Glass Pond.
I ended up hanging out at camp 🍻 drinking and then reading 📖 and listening to music until I don’t know 10:30 or so by the fire. Lots of produce to cook up. It was a nice evening but it seems like I just set up camp. I never did go and visit the other campsite as after dinner I was pretty drunk after washing down a lot of leaks and zucchuni 🧅 with beer. Bunch of sweet corn 🌽 too. I should have gone and visited last night but with the sun, alcohol and beer I was pretty darn tired after a brief fire 🔥 admittedly mostly to burn accumulated camp garbage like corn cobs and plastic wrappers.
Beautiful morning at Looking Glass Pond 🌻 🦋 saw a monarch butterfly and hiked back to the lean to on Burnt Hill. It’s actually a bit cool for swimming 🏊 though by mid day it should be good for floating and swimming. ⭕ They say thunderstorms ⛈️ are likely in the afternoon but that’s to be expected on a summer afternoon.
I realized that I forgot a few items at Shauls and want to get more of their amazing cherry tomatoes 🍅. I am eating good from Shauls. But that said, come Wednesday when I head out to the Finger Lakes much more good to eat. Then I will change into my bathing suit 🏊 put in at Max Shaul Campground to float a bit, then I’ll head to Mine Kill Pool for the balance of the day before heading out to the folks house to visit and Sunday dinner. 🍔
It will be so nice to have a campsite for 13 days when I head out to the Finger Lakes on Wednesday through Labor Day. 🏕️ Not having to set up and take down camp. Get a nice set up done, hang out and relax. Enjoy the time on vacation, some days head into town for adventure but also days spent doing things not far from camp. 🎣 🚲 It always seems like I’m rushing to and from camp, one adventure after another. Have literal days where I can just hang out and read. 📖 I’ll bring the kayak 🛶 and tube out to the Finger Lakes but I don’t have to paddle every day at any rate. I will take the kayak off my truck and keep it locked up at camp most days.
Looks like rain showers for driving 🚘 out to camp on Wednesday but I think I still want to go out then. ☔ I might get clams 🦪 and sweet corn 🌽 to start out the trip plus bacon 🥓. I didn’t yet open up the grass I got on Friday, I’ll hold off until the following week at checking out one of dispensaries in Ithaca. I’m just tired of working all the time, 💾 it’s like drinking out of the fire hose at work but then again I find ways to keep myself busy by developing new services and processes. 📚 But I also just want more time to read 📖 up at camp. Not be racing 🏁 each day to a state park 🏞️ to see just yet another waterfall or swimming pool. I’m not saying they’re won’t be hours of fishing, hiking or floating in the National Forest though.
One of the things I want to do is ask questions and listen to people on vacation. 👨👨👦 It sounds werid but I’m increasingly interested in meeting new and interesting people. 🆕 As much as I enjoy the wilderness 🌲 and my fires and freedom 🔥 I think there is much to be learned from others. I also want to sit down and play with Facebook dating to see who I can spark up a conversation with from my hammock up at camp. 🩴Being in my forties I realize it’s a great time to meet people who are either divorced or looking for a new direction in the second half of their lives. Myself included.
