Notes

More rain and wind last night β˜”

That was to be expected and I spend the evening in the truck cap, reading and listening to podcasts.

I set up camp πŸ•οΈ fairly early in Brookfield yesterday, as I didn’t feel like loading and unloading my bike 🚲 to ride and despite ample sunshine 🌞 that wind was roaring away. But after I got camp set up the sun and higher temperatures made it quite nice and I went for a ride down to South Brookfield and started up. Collins Road but turned back after deciding that it was clouding up and I wanted to get back to camp before the rain to make up some chicken soup. πŸ”

Today I’ll take down camp and maybe do some riding at Alfred Woodford. 🚲 A lot depends on the weather and the time. ⌚ I want to get home relatively early to unpack and then head out to folks house πŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘¦ for Sunday dinner. Tomorrow it’s back to work.

If not for the wind 🌬️

I’m just not ready to accept November but I think these four or five days in the wilderness are helping.

I woke up early around six o’clock and started breakfast 🍳 under the lantern and electric light πŸ’‘. Apple pancakes and coffee β˜• 🍏, the sun rise with the clouds was kind of lame. Going to head out fairly early as I want to set up camp in Brookfield and have an early dinner before the rain β˜” comes. Maybe I’ll do some of the Chenango Canal or my bike 🚲 or ride around Hamilton though truth be told I just kind of want to hang out at camp πŸ•οΈ.

Taking down camp once again. πŸ¦† Duck hunter left the lake so maybe I’ll go for a ride or walk 🚢 around the lake but it’s kind of cold ❄️ with the wind. I probably should just head home today but I don’t so the next stop should be Brookfield. I could ride the Chenango Canal Trail again but I’ve done that a few times or explore Hamilton but I kind of just want to spend the day hanging out at camp. I don’t know, I’m kind of tired. Horse 🐴 camp is in the hollow so it’s less likely to be quite so windy but I definitely see the rain coming by evening in the east. But it will clear out by morning if I want to ride again tomorrow or just take a leisurely drive home 🏑 and get cleaned up before visiting my folks on Veterans Day.

The trip so far has been good, πŸ˜€ I’ve enjoyed seeing some new places – namely Otisco and Skeantales Lake and the farm country out that way with the big dairies. πŸ„ Lots and lots of cows from all that silage and grass grown in the fertile soils of Southern Onondoga County. Otisco Lake Causeway was okay but the Hinchcliff Preserve was neat and then I got to watch the sun set πŸŒ‡ over Cazenovia Lake. And then came back to camp and had a fire πŸ”₯.

My take on Trump now that he’s President again… Worth a try not that we have much choice 🐘

You hear some of the liberals, and they’re like it’s a dire emergency that President Trump was elected. Things are going to be so bad, democracy is going to end, liberals are going to be sent to concentration camps and don’t forget the planet is going to die with no climate change action not that much occurred under the Joe Biden administration.

I voted for Trump. A lot of my friends did too. I’m a Democrat but I crossed party lines in this one race, as I think he’s kind of novel and if anything is a much needed shock to system with all the crazy things he says. Plus I think he will be good on gun rights, and fair policies when it comes to second amendment will encourage a whole new generation of gun owners and responsible sportsmen who will be actively involved in conservation.

I like many others don’t believe a lot of campaign rhetoric that Trump spouted to get elected. But only time will show how much he pushes for and how much actually gets done. He can stock the government with loyalists and those who share his policy vision – indeed he should be vigorously fighting for the policies that the voters want – but ultimately laws and constitution may get in his way and he has to maintain public support. Even the Republicans in Congress, who mayΒ  sympathize with Trump on many issues, ultimately care about one thing – their re-election.

Liberals often act like the MAGA movement and supporters of Trump more generally are a cult but they’re not. They may like his locker room talk, hisΒ Β  rhetoric about blowing up the system but most of them aren’t big fans of an over bearing government. Opposition to tyranny is a big part of MAGA and they’ll only support the president elect if he gets conservative things done and doesn’t implement government policies that infringe on their rights.

I’m sure Trump will put on a big show over the next four years and then he will be gone for good. But it will mostly be a show, trying to cover up for his fundamental incompetence. It’s just not possible to roll back prices half a decade, nor is it possible to place absurdly high tarrifs on imports without hurting domestic manufacturers or the economy more broadly. I’m sure there will be immigration raids, much publicized but they’ll be relatively small and inconsequential. And it will prove to be a lot harder to lock down the borders as the president may want as most immigrants have a right to be here, or at least a good case to ksir in front of a judge of that right.

We will see. We don’t have the power to change the will of the American people as decided by the election. We just have to live with the consequences for good or bad. And remember it’s only four years, new ideas are worthwhile to try and maybe it will or will not work out for the best.

For a long time I’ve been much too fascinated by Ostico Lake Causeway πŸ›Ά

Finally made it there. No public access to the east side of the Causeway, public access only to the shorter western side. It’s pretty much just a boat launch, but I’ve always been interested in the fake Finger Lake, which really is swamp and muck lands drowned by a City of Syracuse water dam after the city’s industrialization had fouled Onondoga Lake, plus they sought out a reliable gravity fed water supply.

Was it anything more than a highly developed lake with relatively few good public access points besides the narrow causeway? Yes, and difference in water color and texture really isn’t as pronounced as aerial photos suggest. Still it was interesting to check out.