Day: December 23, 2025

It was nice riding in today to work on my mountain bike. Light dusting of snow, flurries. The evening though I got pelted by some sleet riding in the wind and dark but it was fine, the local bus got me home. Saved a buck thirty bus fare by only riding one way, plus enjoyed the beauty of the rail trail.

With the holidays, 🎅 my office is closed through Monday. I’ll go in next week on Monday, but I’ll probably leave early on New Years Eve to take Big Red out for one last spin, visit Walmart and then park him in his final resting spot at my parents house until spring, when I can pull off and unpack and camping equipment and see if I can sell or scrap him.

But in the meantime, tomorrow morning I want to run to Walmart 🛒, get supplies for camping and continue to stock up so I have as much supplies as possible before Red is done and going there will only by bike. Then I am driving out to Mom and Dad to join them for Christmas Eve Dinner. 🤶 First time we’ve been together for Christmas in two years as last year I had COVID and the previous year Mom had the flu and I spent Christmas at the State Horse Camp. 🐴

Plan to head out camping early on Christmas Day, get a good fire going up in woods, 🔥 and enjoy the beauty of Christmas in the wilderness. Looks like we might have a decent amount of snow on Friday, and while I would like to stay until Sunday in the woods, it might turn to ice on Sunday, so it be best to come home on Saturday. I don’t want to camp too far from plowed roads, just in case we get a lot of snow, so I’m digging through the deep snow. Not going to worry about idling and wearing down the engine, or burning too much fuel up, ⛽ as Big Red’s final day is less then a week away.

Internet advertisers have discovered I’m interested in underbody coating methods and sprays. 🖌️ Basically the only thing really worth it is regular lamoline coatings, sheep oil from the advice of my friends and what the internet suggests, but rust is a big problem around here, and there are certainly coatings out there, some better then others. But a lot of scams too, really the factory zinc application is what matters in practice. GM doesn’t do a good job at it, but a few years earlier Toyota was really bad, and Dodges and Ford used to famously bad. Man I can remember how rusty at least the rocker panels and rear quarter panels used to get on the old Dodges. I think they’re a lot better now. Fords use a lot of aluminum body panels, which don’t have the rust through holes, and frames are decently well dipped, but it’s tough here in New York for at least pickups, though it seems like Toyota’s and Honda’s little cars don’t show much visible rot even if they are bad on the underside. Honestly, I don’t think I would object that much to my truck smelling like Fluid Film.

Well I’m going to head under my covers in my bed and heated blanket to get warm. ♨️ Soon enough I’ll be doing my only chance ot winter camp, before that’s done for the year with Red going into retirement much too soon. 🛻 He’s been a good truck, but yeah, let’s be honest, that Red F-250 regular cab long bed 4×4 has my name written all over it. While not the most popular Ford, a number of dealers have them, and if I have to order one or get a ride to some hick town 50 miles away to take delivery in April, so it will be. I was looking at my neighbor’s little Toyota Tacoma, and it’s not for me. Maybe if I was a little guy, made less money, or didn’t spend many weekends each year camping out the back of my truck, I’d think differently.

Merry Christmas!