October 5, 2019 Night

Good evening! Partly clear and 50 degrees at the Allegany National Forest. There is a south-southeast breeze at 13 mph. . Chilly night, I’m glad I bought firewood for sure. I probably could have gathered wood but by the time I set up camp it was getting pretty dark.

Chilly night for sure. Glad I have a fire. Regardless of where I stayed tonight I was going to be in Pennsylvania – if I had stuck to my original plan I would have camped at the County Bridge Campground but with my plans to stay in Pennsylvania multiple nights I drove all the way out to the Allegheny National Forest where I can have a campsite all to myself and not have to worry about making too much noise or smoke with my fire. West Virginia via US 219 is still a possibility but first I’m going to wait out the rain at the Allegheny National Forest. Technically I can stay at this campsite all week, I could do that, I’m undecided. Going to take it one day at a time and make decisions come Monday. New River Gorge seems unlikely but maybe possible. I think they may have to wait until 2020 or 2021 but that’s just next year. So who knows! I could see doing my West Virginia trip in November 2020.

Tomorrow I’ll fine firewood for Sunday and Monday night. I fully expect the next two days to be fairly rainy and gray but so be it. I’ll probably pitch a tent tomorrow so I can warm up next to the heater when it’s raining. Might go for a drive tomorrow just to top off the batteries as I’m not expecting much solar through Monday.

Today was cold enough I left the truck alternator connected all day to the accessory batteries. Didn’t smell any sulfurization and honestly the alternator dropped the voltage after several hours of driving. It never got above 55 degrees according to Big Red’s DIC. That said, I did drop the voltage low enough that the low voltage disconnect did kick in briefly so I ended up starting my truck briefly to restore the lights. I thought about installing a override again to the low voltage disconnect but that never happened. I removed the switch after my last wiring project with the truck.

It’s wasn’t a bad day but it’s an awful long drive from Albany to the Allegheny National Forest. It wasn’t a bd trip except for the part through Binghamton when there was just a lot of busy traffic although it was moving. I ended up stopping both in Cobleskill and Oneonta in search of mantels for the lantern but ultimately I found them in Oneonta. They don’t sell them at every Walmart. In the future I’ll just have to plan ahead and order online. The lantern is still burning rather yellow – I think the generator tube in it that pressurizes the gas is clogged with dirt. I wonder if I can order the part online. I wish I had brought carburetor cleaner – I have some at home, if it continues to smoke and not burn real bright I’ll have to look at that. I have such problems with camping gear getting plugged with dirt – propane lines and everything else it seems. That said, ever since I used the other type of filter with the propane heater it has been quite reliable and the stove is good since I replaced the burners. I do use my equipment a lot – but happiness for me is nights in the wilderness.

Such a long drive out here. A swear after driving all day I start to get a bit delirious. I find my attention drifts away from driving. Fortunately in bum fuck Pennsylvania traffic is pretty light and cops are far between. At any rate I made it hear safely. If I had followed my original trip plan I would have cut two hours or more off today’s drive camping At County Bridge Campground, that ten dollar a night primative campground outside of Troy on the way to future Interstate 99 and ultimately West Virginia. But I don’t like staying at campgrounds, especially with others around as I like having fires and listening to music that oths may not care to hear.. Wilderness camping is a blessed experience for sure. It’s not only free for the site use but is free in the sense of freedom. Much like my off grid property some point in the future.

Tonight will have a chance of light rain after 5am. Mostly cloudy , with a low of 49 degrees at 9pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 23rd. South wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1965.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon with 63% illuminated with the moon setting at 11:43 pm. The moon will rise at 3:15 pm. The is next Saturday with mostly clear skies. The sun will rise at 7:17 am with the first light at 6:49 am, which is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 12 hours and 26 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of light rain before 10am, then showers after 10am. High of 65 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 1st. Maximum dew point of 57 at 5pm. South wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 65 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1900. There was a dusting of snow in 1954.

Tomorrow I probably will string up a tarp and pitch the tent in preparation of the certain rain . Ironically it looks like West Virginia might only get clouds and a few drops of rain rather than the soaking rain they need badly. But the Allegheny National Forest is due for a good soaker. But if that happens I’ll have the tent set up which will keep me dry with a good book to read. I got four of them out of the library on Friday. Even if it’s cold and pouring rain, hot tenting will be nice. As I previously said I’ll probably go for a short drive tomorrow – maybe just to Jake’s Rocks to bring up the voltage on the batteries on the truck. Not expecting a lot of solar tomorrow.

Looking forward to a quiet day in the Allegheny Wilds tomorrow with a good book. Life has been so busy lately and the quiet tomorrow will be good, doing a bunch of cooking on the camp stove. Life has been so crazy lately I’m looking forward to the quiet.

In four weeks on November 2 the sun will be setting at 6:09 pm, which is 42 minutes and 2 seconds earlier then tonight. I’m not sure what to think about November although some of my favorite camping trips happened then. In 2018 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 64 and 48 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 53 and 35 degrees. The record high of 82 degrees was set back in 1950.

Looking ahead, Northern Zone Regular Season is in 2 weeks, Election Day 2019 is a month away, Small Business Saturday is in 8 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day is in 2 months, First Day of Winter is in 11 weeks, 4:30 PM Sunset is in 12 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day is in 15 weeks and 5 PM Sunset is in 16 weeks.

It’s almost eleven. While it’s nice sitting by the heater I should think about bed.