I am working on a map of how many New York State’s land mass you can fit into other states land mass. I will post later in the week. But in the mean time…
You can fit 12.1 states with the land area of New York in Alaska, 5.5 in Texas, 3.09 in Montana, 1.69 in Minnesota, 1.46 in Minnesota.
In many ways, even if I had the camper shell on my new rig, with the cold, damp gray weather at least to start out the long weekend it wouldn’t have been a good weekend to head out to wilderness.
This week I am going to continue researching camper shells, 🚚 but honestly I will probably end up ordering a ARE MX Camper Shell next Saturday for delivery hopefully during the month of June. I like the extra height, and while it has impact on fuel economy, I don’t think it’s that great. Probably end up with a height a little lower then Big Red, and I’ll have to use the manual car wash, but it’s fine, I’ll also probably not want to run the solar panels through an automatic wash at any rate. I got to think about it some more. Also want to oil undercoat the body of the truck before autumn to help control rust.
The plan is a week from Saturday to go to Ruth’s with the proposed build sheet and price and date out when my truck cap can be built. 🏗️ I feel like I only last did this with my old truck, but it was 14 years ago. Too bad the old truck cap won’t fit on the new truck. I did get a lot of use out of the old truck cap though. I mean I could have gotten Big Red’s frame fixed but I planned his retirement for the spring, as I want to ensure I have reliable truck for travels over the next few years. Maybe a 14 1/2 year old truck isn’t completely unreliable, but also I make good money, and it’s one thing I enjoy spending money. Also will probably go to Salvation Army and Goodwill to look for some new clothes for work, 🧑🏫 as they are quite affordable and often kind of neat and funky looking compared to what you might find on Interwebs or the maul for far more money.
Be a ruthless cutter on things you don’t care about, while spend lavishly on things you do, 💰 is the mindset of the intentional spender. Truth is I do make pretty good money, and while my investments had swollen prior to the situation in Iran 🇮🇷 completely blowing up thanks to the Trumpster, it’s just so much. But also 14 or 15 years, is a pretty long time in a lifespan, you only get maybe 5 or 6 opportunities for just a time period in your life. I bought Big Red when I was 28 years old, I am now 43 years old, and if Old Smokey last just as long, I’ll be 57 when I retire him. Simple math, but it’s also a lot of life lived in the mean-time. 🧮
I don’t plan to start up Old Smokey until Sunday, 🛻 as honestly I don’t love driving that much, and I can ride to Wally World this afternoon to get supplies, and then maybe to Five Rivers 🐸 in the afternoon. Saturday I’ll probably do something similar, but maybe go over to Pine Hollow Arboretum 🪷 and see what signs of spring I can find before going to Five Rivers to read an e-book. 📚 I figure with gas prices so high, and my desire to keep Old Smokey relatively new for now, it’s best to keep him off the road for now. I should also start researching using the upfitter switches to hook up the CB radio and the path to install and mount the CB antenna on the hood. I think I need a different mount then I used on Silverado, but they do make hood mounts for SuperDuty trucks. Going to mount the antenna for the cell booster on the truck cap.
I should be more excited about camping and traveling again, 🏕️ but whatever, it’s more a continuing of what I did before, spending more money, for a high that I don’t even find all that much fun anymore. I do hope to get to Michigan but who knows if it will happen this summer with work, and now gas prices. ⛽ I honestly expect gas to only keep going up, I don’t see the Iran situation ending quickly. Maybe I’m wrong, but probably not. But regardless, I do want to finish building my rig, except for the diesel heater by summer, which I will purchase and set up in autumn for winter camping. I can say I’m kind of bored with that, but I do like fires in wilderness, and winter camping will be so much nicer with the diesel heater. Also Old Smokey has remote start, which means I can just hit a button on keys or use a phone to start the truck, which is great when the batteries run low in the cold or I need extra power for the glow plug on diesel heater. 🔋 But also because I tend to leave the truck parked for long periods of time, remote start allows me to start the truck a few minutes before leaving, giving lots of time for oil to circulate around the engine, and warm up or the interior to cool off when it’s hot or cold out. Even just walking back to the truck from the store, I can start it up so it’s a had a few minutes to run before I shift it into gear. That’s much better for the engine.
People who spout off on the internet about what a piece of legislation does should first read the actual text of legislation, not a press release put out by the Republicans who seek merely to score political points.
Also take in consideration what the constitution says, along with all legal prescendence and laws relating to the proposed law. When you do that, you will see the measure is both completely reasonable, prudent and consistent with existing public policy.
I am not saying the Democrat who sponsors the measure is not guilty in playing into the Republican fears, the press release implies the measure is a lot more extensive then it is in reality. In many ways, if the sponsor had chosen a different title for the bill, not put out a press release, and it had remainined a simple departmental bill put out by a state agency, few people would have ever taken notice, as the measure is consistent with existing public policy, but probably still necessary due to existing constraints in the law.
But yeah, the politicians had to ruin it for the rest of us.
I won’t say which measure I am referring to, but I think I’ve seen a lot of alarming posts about it lately on social media, most of which claim things that are far from true.
There is a loud, persistent voice in the modern financial world—often echoing from the frugal corners of the internet—that insists on the “25-year-old Honda Civic” lifestyle. It’s a philosophy that treats vehicles strictly as liabilities and views any significant automotive expenditure as a self-inflicted financial wound. Recently, I ignored that voice and spent $59,725 on a new Ford SuperDuty. Now, I find myself caught in the quiet tension between the practical joy the truck brings and the cringing reality of its cost.
On paper, the timing was jarring. Between the truck purchase and a market dip fueled by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, my net worth saw a 10% decline in just over a month. While market fluctuations are temporary “paper losses,” the truck is a definitive consumption expense. The cash is gone, replaced by a vehicle that, despite its utility, is ultimately a collection of steel and cheap plastic destined to eventually become scrap. When I added the increased insurance premiums and commercial plates, the “financial hole” felt deeper than I anticipated.
Yet, when I move past the initial sticker shock, a different narrative emerges. I didn’t buy a luxury toy; I bought a 15-year tool. By choosing a heavy-duty work truck and equipping it with a cap, I’ve invested in a platform for a decade and a half of adventures and practical service. There is a specific kind of freedom that comes with a vehicle that truly serves your needs, and that utility provides a level of daily satisfaction that a budget sedan never could.
To maintain my sanity, I’ve had to put the cost into perspective. The total price tag represents roughly the market gains I saw in the final quarter of last year. In the grand sweep of a lifetime of investing, it is a “drop in the bucket.” I don’t have a monthly car payment draining my cash flow, and the truck retains significant residual value for the foreseeable future.
Ultimately, I am grappling with the fact that life requires “things” to be lived fully. We are often told to optimize every penny for the future, but the future is built on the experiences we have today. The SuperDuty was an expensive choice, and the “frugal” version of myself may always cringe at that $60,000 figure. However, as I look forward to the next 15 years of reliability and recreation, I’m learning to accept that sometimes, the best use of capital is to fund the life you actually want to lead.
