Finally made it to the Finger Lakes National Forest which is exactly my reaction when I pulled to the roadside desperately to piss in my wheel well as all day I’ve been peeing. I didn’t think I drank too much coffee this morning but those peaches and other farm fresh produce I was snacking on my ways to the Finger Lakes National Forest kept my bladder full and looking for trees, rest rooms and stops. Didn’t help I got stuck in bad traffic in Ithaca with construction and a tourist bus that used the back bumper of a flatbed trailer to stop and oh, yeah no power in East Ithaca or working traffic lights. Plus besides all the bathroom breaks, shopping at Walmart in Oneonta and an amazing farm stand in Caroline that made me wish I hadn’t gotten so much in Oneonta. Regardless, lots of good eating over the next few days.

Good evening! Partly clear and 79 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 66 degrees. The muggy weather ends tomorrow around 11 pm. 😓 Kind of buggy with the heat and humidity, though I expect things to improve come tomorrow. The real question is how wet will tomorrow be. Not sure, the Finger Lakes this year haven’t been as wet as Albany but not quitgy dry spell like Western New York. Seasonably wet you might say.

Got the big ol campsite ⛺ I wanted on Potomac Road. I admit I kind of raced the last two miles up here after a leisurely drive as I wanted to ensure I got the site I really wanted including swerving to dodge a pothole on the road and maybe even cutting off a driver a bit in determination to get the site though I doubt they were looking to camp here. I did see a camper van who was obviously looking for this site around 4 or 5 pm but I was here by 1:45 and it’s first come first serve. I took Friday morning off for a reason, lol. I really like this site as it’s farther off the road, well shaded but also where my truck is parked in a sunny field. No cell service at camp 🔕 but I look at that as a benefit because I like the quiet 🤫. And my radio 📻 is broke so no endless hours of talking heads 👥 discussing Jason Aldean’s Try that in a Small Town. I don’t need that crap or the endless stream of emails 📧 and notifications on vacation. 🏖

Spent the balance of the afternoon unpacking, organizing and setting up camp 💼 so everything will be perfect 👌 for the next nine days. Did a lot of cooking – chicken, potatoes, onions, peppers and other things for lunch, then a similar thing with frozen samon for dinner. 🐠 I have so much good food to eat it’s hard to know where to start. Diet, lol. 😂 Actually truth be told, I don’t have any cookies or junk food, just solid quality minimal whole fruits and vegetables 🍏 that I’m cooking and eating this week. Had a beer 🍻 but only one and no more then two each day if that all. Had some fresh squeezed lemonade 🍋 with stevia and used the rest of the lemon with the salmon. Yum, I’m eating good. 😋

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 67 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 67 at 9pm. Northwest wind around 7 mph becoming south in the evening. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 68 degrees. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1987.

My phone shows a chance of rain ☔ late this evening, so I’ll put away anything I don’t want to get wet before bed like my hammock and store my clean clothes in the cab of my truck to ensure they stay dry. I have a tent 🎪 set up for the dirty clothes, boxes and other camp supplies I’m not immediately using, mostly for organizational purposes. I think I need to get some crates for storing food, like I use on the back of my bicycle 🚲 especially as I have so much fresh stuff that I am not keeping in the cooler as I don’t have the space and I don’t think it strictly necessary but I worry about bruising and disorder in the reusable shopping bags 🛍.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 82% illuminated. At 8 PM, the moon was in the south-southeast (158°) at an altitude of 17° from the horizon, some 233,176 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by January 21^st. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Strugeon 🐡 Moon is on Tuesday, August 1. The darkest hour is at 1:14 am, followed by dawn at 5:23 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:56 am in the east-northeast (63°) and last for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Sunrise is 59 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:36 am with sun in the east-northeast (70°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 21 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 3 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3pm. 🌦 High of 73 degrees at 12pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 14th. Maximum dew point of 71 at 12pm. 🏖️ West wind 9 to 15 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. It was sticky. The high last year was 89 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1894.

I am not expecting a real nice day tomorrow 🌧️ but I got books to read 📖 and podcasts to listen to and I’ll spend a relaxed day around camp doing some good cooking 🧑‍🍳 healthy ingredients from the bounty I got at Walmart and that farmers market. 🌽 I have a ton of delicious Vadella onions 🧅and lemons, 🍋 and so much else from grapes 🍇 to strawberries 🍓 that I won’t go hungry and if I do I have more salmon, fresh spinach, rice 🍚 beans 🍱 and hot peppers 🌶️. Nice days I’ll head into town or other activities, 🏊‍♂️ rainier stormy days, I’ll tool around the National Forest with Blackie my mountain bike 🚵, hike into the back country and do some fishing 🎣.

In four weeks on August 25 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (286°) at 7:55 pm,🌄 which is 38 minutes and 26 seconds earlier then today. In 2022 on that day, we had hot, humid, mostly sunny, rain showers and temperatures between 87 and 60 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 81 and 60 degrees. The record high of 99 degrees was set back in 1947. Too soon, I’m not willing to think about summer coming to an end on vacation, lol.

Looking ahead, Average High 70 🎑 is in 5 weeks, September 🍎 is in 5 weeks, Labor Day Weekend Begins 👨‍🏭 is in 5 weeks, Autumn 🍂 is in 8 weeks, Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ is in 17 weeks, December 🎄 is in 18 weeks, Bill of Rights Day 📜 is in 20 weeks, Days are Getting Longer ☀️ is in 21 weeks and 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 5 months.