Up and going this morning, checking through my packing list and getting ready for a three-night adventure in Schoharie County. Looks like a nice day.
Tired but I am going.โ Lots of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal for a quick breakfast. Some cleaning in the kitchen, a quick Should be a great long weekend, looking forward to hiking Bramley Mountain on Saturday, and all that fresh produce. Of course, gas prices are going up, but I’ll take the bite and keep the SuperDuty gassed up, as early as possible before prices go up much more. I can’t imagine gas will be up to $5 a gallon or higher before the second week of August. ๐ Get’s too bad, the public will be hauling the Trumpster out to the Dumpster, or at least his conspirators in Congress. Hell of it is I voted for this crap. ๐ฉ
Still annoying the issue with the voltage meter, but whatever, ๐ป I think everything else now is working good, and I have wires ready to go when I get the replacement gauge and RC Snubber wired up on Monday. Doing a little cleaning and scrubbing, getting ready not just for this trip but vacation more generally which will start a week from now. โก Still chewing over the dash cam options. I noticed this morning that despite being in my cart, the price popped back up by $20. I can’t justify $250 at this point for a dash cam, even if it’s a nice model. I think I will wait to see when the next sale is, maybe over Labor Day. ๐น I might install the old dash cam from Big Red into the SuperDuty for now, just so I can record things even if it’s not perfect quality due to the lens fog. The model I’m looking at – the Vivfo A119M Pro – is almost a year old, it should be going down regularly in price, not up. ๐คทโ๏ธ
The plan is next Thursday to set the SuperDuty to start up at 6:40 AM, โฐ and be to For the Love of Bacon ๐ฅ and the Rotterdam Gas Station by 7 AM, and then be rolling down to Bainbridge. Honestly, I am not in that much of a rush, it’s vacation, and I will certainly need toilet breaks ๐งป though I’ll try to limit my fluids for the trip out so I’m not so desperately searching for a place to pee especially once I reach Ithaca. Probably stop at Valley View Produce in Center Lisle, ๐ ๐ฝ and then crack open the first beer at camp ๐ป around noontime and set things up, and hopefully be kicking my feet up in the hammock after having zucchuni fried in bacon grease and beer by 1 PM or so, and fishing by mid-afternoon. It’s funny I started to do vacation leaving on Friday to avoid traffic, but over the years, I’ve started adding on more days, though not as many as I did last year.
Leaving work right at 5 PM today to drive out to Schoharie. ๐ฃ๏ธ Schedule a remote start for right at 5 PM so by the time I reach the truck, the air conditioning will be blowing, engine warmed up for climbing tha First Street Hill and merging onto I-90. Probably going to do the Thruway which I hate at rush hour, but whatever. ๐คท๐ปโ๏ธ I’ll drive carefully, the new truck has excellent brakes. Once I get to Rotterdam things get a lot quieter, ๐ง though I’m sure I-88 is all torn up as it always is. Get set up around 6 PM or so, have a relaxed evening in the hammock with a fire – hoping to get some pallets to chop ๐ช this morning on the way in – and then tomorrow hike in the Schoharie Valley, float a bit in the Schoharie Creek, hit up the farm stands, and maybe end the afternoon with a swim ๐โ๏ธ in the Mine Kill Pool. Tomorrow driving down to Bramley Mountain, to see the new fire tower there. Just a quiet, relaxed weekend ahead to test out my gear before summer vacation. Address any deficiencies in packing and gear before vacation, though the nice thing about the Finger Lakes is at least there is Walmart, Tractor Supply, Tops, and several other stores within a short drive to get things I’m missing.
The long-range for vacation week looks excellent, ๐ปlots of seasonably warm but not excessive hot days with ample sunshine and not a lot of threat of rain. Maybe even a bit cool in the evenings, up on the backbone, should bring lots of jeans and long sleeve shirts for sitting by the fire or leaning back in the hammock, or laying out on the grass at Foster Pond watching the shooting stars. ๐ Listening to cows moo. ๐ฎ Now I did want to get out to Michigan but did you see gas prices lately? โฝAnd it’s so much more of an easy drive out to Watkins Glen. ๐ And it will be nice at the pool and swimming in the lake.