Labor Day is Here 🍂

Does this mean autumn is officially here? Cool enough this morning so I guess so. Time inevitably comes and goes so quickly with summer done.

I am in the process of once again taking down camp. 🏕️ Piece by piece. I was up pretty early again this morning, still  time is going by so quickly. It seemed like I was just doing the same last week, or two weeks before that or during summer vacation. Three nights ain’t long. Eggs 🥚 for breakfast with all the fixings.

Summer is done. 🩴 Today I will put out in the Sacandaga and probably Kujamunk River for a paddle. I’m debating if I should head home on NY 10 and do a quick evening/afternoon hike up Good Luck Cliffs to watch the sunset. I guess it depends on time, 🌇 my work load and if I have charged batteries ready for the flashlight. 🔦 I noticed on the way up that the lower Old Route 8B bridge is now open traffic for the first time in decades. I didn’t think it would ever reopen. I might drive back that way alternatively along Austin Falls. 🤳 Of course it means for camping that way in the future it won’t be so quiet as people might be more likely to sneak over that way, just like Robert Garrow did fifty years ago.

Everything is wet with the dew and despite being up early, I am taking my time taking down camp. 😰 I do need to get down to Speclator and the library to do some work, 📚 though it’s a state holiday and the campaign committee work is only priority work today. But yeah, got to move forward. Doctor appointment 🧑‍🔬 tomorrow for my yearly physical and then remote work before I catch bus downtown for my Tuesday meeting, followed by the shuttle 🚀 over to Enterprise Drive. I was thinking of going to Vermont next weekend starting Thursday to remote work, but I’m still hoping I can get one of car deals to go down for my old truck. 🚛 I should really just see if I can sell the cap and just take what people are offering, but I still have a bit of emotional attachment to Big Red. I’m worried not running him all the time, he’s rusting up even more, and the engine is wearing out not getting up to speed. There is still scrap value in the truck, maybe I should just take that if I can get rid of cap. Still I don’t know, I’d like at least something out of the old rig, so I can pay for the cellphone booster and maybe a diesel head for my new truck cap. But I’m always so busy with work.

Vermont is a possibility for remote work and camping, and in three or four weeks I want to come back to Hardwood Hill and Perkins Clearing to camp and hike Snowy Mountain bright and early in peak fall foliage. 🍁 Then maybe a weekend or two up at Rensselearville State Forest, followed by maybe heading out to Lost Pond or Cherry Ridge at Charles Baker State Forest for Columbus Day Weekend. 🤝 Definately working that weekend but I can do it remote for sure too. I just kind of want to get rid of that old truck so I can move on with life without thinking about it, but I want to get a fair value out of it and I wish Big Red could give someone else the joy it gave me.

Truth is time time goes by so quickly. Weekends camping disappear in the flash, summers come and go like they really aren’t a thing. I am not going to see my parents this weekend, though I know I am passing on a limited opportunity I have left to spend time with them. ⏳ Mom keeps talking about hoping to live beyond Trump’s presidency, and I know that’s less then 2 years away. She hasn’t said she is in her final years, but it’s obvious. 👴🏻 Same is true with dad. I will probably end up with their old 5-acre homestead and have livestock and not be able to travel, but maybe I’ll get one more summer next year, though no such things are guaranteed. 🐐 These days are special and I know they won’t last.

Still I have much to look forward to this autumn. 🍂 Remote work from camp is a great opportunity, even if ultimately it is still work. And I’ll be busy. I got to get rid of Big Red 🛻 one way or another, even if it’s just for the scrap metal or tax deduction only. People have been interested and given offers, but I am hesitant, and I’ve been slow and kind of busy to respond, in part because I spend my weekends in wilderness, and when I’m done with work, I am just exhausted. Even at camp I’m always tired, but some of it is being up at 5:30 or 5:45 AM, cramming  in a bunch of activity, then coming back, smoking a bunch of pot and pounding a few beers, having a brief fire 🔥 before passing out in exhaustion. Retirement isn’t that far off, I tell myself, and that off-grid cabin. Still there always will be chores. I got move forward, finish 🏁 taking down camp, change, and get to the library to do some work, then go for a paddle 🚣‍♂️ before the day is done. Like so much in life, time is precious.