Watkins Glen State Park

Good afternoon! Out hiking in Connecticut Hill WMA on this final day of July and last full day of vacation. 🚶🏻

I guess as they say, all good things must come to an end. 😔 But at least its a glorious day and a glorious end to vacation. 🏖 Super clear, beautiful country I’m in for sure.

Mostly sunny and 65 degrees at the Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees.

This morning, I was thinking I could just lay back in my hammock and look at the beautiful blue skies ☀ all day with a book 📙 listening to the birds 🐦 and cows chew their cud and softly moo 🐮 but I’ve spent too much time during my vacation doing that, which is super relaxing but makes the time go by much too quickly.

But alas I’m moving, out hiking in the mountains. 🗻 Exploring Connecticut Hill WMA, once owned by the State of Connecticut and a vast public hunting grounds, the sound of the guns 🔫 silenced until autumn 🍂 🦌. Need to enjoy my last full day, there is time back home to lay in the hammock and read 📖 like during a future trip to the Adirondacks.

That

Today is the last full day of vacation. 🏖 I decided to make eggs 🥚 over a charcoal fire this morning. 🍳 The slow cooking of the charcoal plus the smoke makes things so good. Peppers I got from the farmers market in Auburn, eggs from Wally World, sausage and cheese. 🧀 I wish I could have gotten fresh eggs, I should have stopped at a farm stand along the way but I didn’t.

Last night I was tired 😴 so I retired to bed 🛏 in my truck fairly early. It was a nice day but lots of hiking and swimming 🏊🏻‍♂️ so I was tired. Had macaroni and cheese with diced tomatoes 🍅 and ham 🍲 for a filling meal for a somewhat chilly night. I had a small campfire 🔥 for a while last night to warm myself and burn up the accumulated garbage 🗑 from camping the past few days.

While I tried to keep the anxiety monster 👹 at bay yesterday, as I’m on vacation and trying to relax, both my credit and debit cards 💳 were denied at Walmart yesterday when I went shopping and bought styrofoam bowls, 🥣 along with cheese and diced tomatoes. That was annoying but I expect to have $100 in cash left over so I’ll at least have gas money 💵 to get home 🏡. Might be just a Walmart issue, I find my credit card 💳 doesn’t always work there but I don’t want to be locked 🔒 out and not have money ⛽ to get gas for the return trip. 😲

That said, I’m running a little low on money 💵. My bank account 🏦 is looking depleted after paying rent and the bills, I’m only $150 above the minimum for free banking. I can hopefully get some more money to put in their after I get paid on Tuesday. ☺ And put any residual cash from vacation back in the bank. Next month is a three paycheck month which will help but I also may need to reconsider my budget. But I really hate to steal from my future 🔮, but I keep expanding my weekly savings and maybe I’ve gotten to the point where my budget isn’t based on reality. Got to live today.

Spending time in the woods 🌲 and in the small town with all the hicks, cows and manure smells 🐮 makes me so dream of my future. It’s vacation now but I so eventually want to live off-grid simply in a small town like Watkins Glen or maybe more in the mountains ⛰️ but where I can own hand guns 🔫 without having to ask permission of the government, open carry and I can burn my trash rather than spending pointless time washing out plastic containers most of which are going to the landfill at any rate. ♻ Where I can heat with wood rather than dinosaur 🦕 bones and make all my own electricity rather then send checks to a multinational corporation that burns fracked natural gas and send me a bill weeks later. And not have to face 😔 all those urban problems. Kind of like vacation but permanently. 🚜 I fucking hate living in the city and in New York State where all my freedoms are restricted. 💰 But I sure like chasing that money I can save and invest, money that doesn’t exist but in the big city.