Its been amazing weather even though most of the leaves are done in the High Country but also quite quiet without the crowds. And it doesn’t get dark until around seven here but the mornings are quite dark too. But I’m enjoying it.

Good morning! No idea on the day lol, I’m on vacation. Those camel 🐫 milkmen with their fast letdown can do their thing without me commenting. 😂 Partly cloudy and 56 degrees in Canaan Heights, WV. There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. No need for the propane heater either this morning or even last night.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 70 degrees at 3pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 27th. Maximum dew point of 55 at 5pm. South wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1963. There was a dusting of snow in 2005.❄

Going to be another absolutely beautiful day in West Virginia today. ☀ Riding my bike about 7 miles along the Canaan Loop Road today to the Table Rock trail, 🚲 which is a mile further to a scenic rock ledge high above the Red Run and across from Mozart Mountain with the Otter Creek wilderness in the distance. Photos 📸 at some point but probably not today, see the next paragraph lol. I could drive the road but it’s narrow and steep and probably rough – and I figure I would likely see far more on the bicycle where I can stop 🛑 wherever without worries of leaving my truck parked on a blind curve. Alternating driving and bicycling slash hiking from camp every other day. 🚶

I wouldn’t mind getting back to camp ⛺ fairly early mid afternoon and laying back in the hammock and reading 📖 for a while. Just some quiet 🤫 time in the wilderness. There is so little traffic on the road and I need some down time on my vacation. Then maybe around dusk, 🌆 like after dinner, I’ll ride up to the top of Canaan Heights and watch the sun set as I ride back to camp.

I haven’t done so good uploading photos 📸 to the blog this week as often my cell service is weak and it requires a better signal 📶 then on Facebook. I have posted a lot more on Facebook and will post more when I get back home. Same thing with blog updates. I’ve been busy and cell service is so patchy. I was surprised that even in the village of Davis I have only one or two bars off service and it’s not reliable for uploads. 👆

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 35.4° from the due south horizon (-35.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:50 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (248°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (254°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:29 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 1 seconds with dusk around 6:57 pm, which is one minute and 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-southeast (115°) at an altitude of 19° from the horizon, 227,069 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:01 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 68 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over today.

Yesterday rode all around Blackwater State Park, the Blackwater River single track from WV 32 to the park, looped back through the village and did the part of Camp 70 Road not in the Little Canaan WMA. 🚲 While Camp 70 Road is closed to bikes for the season, due to hunting season. Lots of great views l my other camera. Colors are faded but the views from the park 🏞 and Lindy Point was great. 📸 Sat down at the river front park, and then got a few supplies and head back to camp ⛺.

The only grocery shopping options within 35 miles of Davis is Shop and Save Express and Dollar General 🏪 – that is roads with many hairpin turns, no matter which direction you go – Keyser WV, Oakland MD and Elkins WV are the nearest towns with a full size supermarket each about equidistant from Davis. Surprisingly though Shop and Save Express may be small by modern standards 🛒 (1/3rd size of the Greenville Tops) but it’s clean, modern, decent selection with lots of produce and reasonable prices. In general, groceries are a fair bit cheaper in West Virginia then the same in New York. Certainly much better than what you would find in the Adirondacks. 🐮 Got the milk, ice, paper towels and coffee ☕ I needed so so I wouldn’t run out before the trip is done.

Last night was a beautiful moon lit evening. 🌃 Rode about 7 miles round trip on gravel then back another 1/2 miles on the Allegheny Trail to one of the sods, 🚲 turned off the light and looked at the stars for a while. ✨ It was a great evening, stayed up to half past ten 🔟 which is super late for me but the mornings are super dark in West Virginia.

When I got back I fried up pumpkin – oatmeal biscuits with lots of pumpkin spice and ginger 🎃 which was a nice treat to end the day. 🍪 Laid back for a while in the hammock before retiring to sleep for the night.

Tonight will be mostly clesr 🌥, with a low of 46 degrees at 6am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 16th. Maximum dew point of 54 at 6pm. South wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 58 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1952.

In 1962, in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Adlai Stevenson shows photos at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council proving that Soviet missiles are installed in Cuba. 🚀 Sounds like scary times.

I tell you all day yesterday with all that garlic and onion rice 💩 I was blowing up bathrooms left and right. I kind of overdid the spices on that one but it tasted so good when I was tired and hungry 😋 last night after drinking 🍻 a beer. Oh well I’m on vacation. I sought out porta potties rather than inside toilets 🚻 for just that reason. It was fine and now I’m over it.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, rain showers in the morning then becoming sunnier sunny, with a high near 69. Maximum dew point of 62 at 11am. Sunday, showers likely, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Chance of precipitation is 60%. But by then I’ll be back in Penna on my way back home. Typical average high for the weekend is 57 degrees.

I am thinking Asaph Run campground on Saturday night ⛺ and then riding as much of the Pine Creek Rail Trail 🚵 I can before I have to leave, probably by around two. Which will become three. 3⃣ But the thing is I will be tired 😴 by then and with the early sunset and deer 🦌 in rut I don’t want to drive too much in the pitch black. I have clothes set out for work on Monday so I should be good on that front. Of course it depends on how wet Sunday turns out to be. ☔ I’m fine with driving in the rain but biking in the rain is less fun. Plus driving in the rain 🛻 after dark is something I would like to avoid.

Looking ahead, next Wednesday is Average High is 55 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 5:50 pm with dusk at 6:18 pm. Not many more days of riding the bike 🚲 home from work. 🏢 On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny skies, and quite warm, with mist in the morning and temperatures between 69 and 54 degrees. Albany hit a record high of 78 back in 1950.