As we move through the 9 o’clock hour, we are at about the freezing temperature. I got somewhat of a late start this morning as I was not used to waking up to the cold and having to climb out of bed to turn up the heat. Camping can spoil you.

It was a beautiful trip up through the Adirondacks on Friday. I haven’t been up to Plattsburgh in years and haven’t driven the Adirondack Northway in late fall on a clear day in years. The Greens and Northern Adirondack Mountains were crystal clear, driving along the Northway. If there were more legal spots to stop along the Northway and I had more free time, I would have stopped and grabbed more pictures. Photos are nice, but I always have memories too.

Without my phone working I didn’t have have Waze, so no advanced warnings of police traps. I normally rely on the Waze speedometer, as the truck’s speedometer is off, especially as you increase in speed. I blew past of famous police traps in Keeseville, as you descend past Pok-o-Moonshine, around 64 mph on the Big Red speedometer which is over 70 in real speed. I saw cop glance at his radar unit but he didn’t stop me. I eased off the gas for the rest of the trip.

Finally make it to Plattsburgh a little after 12:30, then stopped at Gander Mountain to look around in buy some 20-gauge deer slugs. I knew I wasn’t necessarily going to drop a deer while I was up there, but figured it would be better to have them not. I was annoyed that they asked to see my drivers license and took down my license number when I bought them. Its just kind of creepy, especially as Cuomo hasn’t implemented his ammunition database, as I don’t really like the idea of government or a private business keeping track of what I’m buying. I don’t have to give them my drivers license to buy almost everything else like beer and cigarettes, especially now that I look well over 21 years of age.

Stopped at Plattsburgh State and walked around. Even with my jacked up truck, finding street parking was not difficult on Drapper Ave. There always seems to be parking there. A lot has changed and a lot has remained the same on campus. There was a new building on Drapper Avenue, which made me almost miss my turn to that road. Hawkins Hall is mostly the same. The Hudson Hall Annex is new but that was under construction. They are demolishing and rebuilding the elevated walkway around campus. I was hoping to stop by the Political Science department and see some of my old professors but the department was all closed up. They may have been teaching classes. It seemed like there was a lot more African Americans on campus then I remember from back when I went there. They recruit from all over the state, and recently have been offering free tuition to local students who have an ‘A’ average. Snapped a few pictures for memory’s sake.

Stopped at the Plattsburgh Municipal Library so I could get on the wifi to try to switch over phone to an old but partially working phone. While the StraightTalk website was up, it took a while to figure out how to make it work for that purpose. At first I could not figure out how to switch to an old phone, but eventually got it to work. Killed probably another half hour doing this, and by the time I was back to my truck it was quarter to 2 PM.

I had previously planned to leave Plattsburgh no later then 2 PM. This would get me to either the Deer River area or CC Dam Association / Brasher State Forest camping areas before 4 PM or somewhere there around depending if I had to make any stops. I did have enough time for a quick trip over to Point Au Rouche, but by then I was pushing 2 PM so basically I went to the beach, walked out on it too and snapped a quick few shots. Not having my phone to give me directions, I wanted to make sure I left plenty of time to get up there, lest I get lost or have to drive in the darkness. I was finding my way exclusively by memory of six years ago and the times I’ve made maps of state forests and studied road maps. Fortunately I have pretty good map memory.

NY 190 was as boring and congested route as always. There was two different speed traps on the road but I limited my speed and kept my truck a safe distance from cars ahead of me which were constantly stopping and turning. The sky turned gray over this super boring road in Indian and wild hillbilly country out by Altona. The wind and then snow squall picked up. It was frigid by the time I arrived in Malone. At least the snow wasn’t sticking at that point as the mercury still read about 35 degrees.

To be continued. I’m near my destination stop.