I Honestly I Didn’t Have a lot of Hope for the Rest of the Week. The first day didn’t go real well. I thought I could replace the lawn chair and maybe the bad battery, although I really wanted to spend time researching deep-cycle batteries before I made the leap and just bought another cheap Wal-Mart Marine battery.
But then the Beauty of November in the Woods Hit Me. This month is not only reserved for the sportsmen in the woods. It is remarkably beautifully especially when the clouds break and its not super cold out.
Made Breakfast up and Got Started on the Day. There was a nice shooting lane in the woods from the campsite, so I set up a political lawn sign, put on my shooting glasses and ear plugs and started blasting away at. I couldn’t believe how fast the shot shells disappeared at 5 rounds at a time in my pump action Renmington 870.
Had My Traditional Camp Breakfast. I am a big fan of scrambled eggs with cheese and sausages for breakfast. I often load it up with veggies although this time I didn’t. Took down camp after having this delicious breakfast.
Decided to Head Down to Pennsylvania. I had originally planned to spend two nights in the Western Catskills small game hunting, hiking and plinking but I wanted to give the deep-cycle a good charge in hopes I could recover it so I would have a decent amount of light the next night without constantly having to crank the truck to keep the lights on.
Roscoe NY is Famous for Trout Fishing but it could also be noted for it’s true scenic beauty. Now I phone in love with the beauty of the Appalachian mountains, how they tower over the land, but I tell you the area around Roscoe really pretty.
These mountains may not be the size of the Adirondacks, but their rounded tops surround the hollows so beautifully.
Stopped at the famous Roscoe dinner for a bit, got some coffee and hopped on the Quickway for Hancock and ultimately Pennsylvania. Stopped at the Rest Stop/Text Stop where there was good 3G service and checked much email and social media.
Thought About Heading Down to Scranton to a sporting goods store to pick up a replacement camp chair and more ammo. Figured ammo would be cheaper in Pennsylvania and a sporting goods store eould have more choices in 20 gauge shot then a Wal-Mart.
Checked out the GPS but saw there was no big sporting goods stores nearby. Decided to f-it and head to Wellsboro PA figuring I could just stop at Mansfield Wal-Mart along the way, get a camp chair and hopefully some ammunition.
Typed into Google Maps to take me to Wellsboro avoiding highways. Took me through some real wild country — not a lot of big farms — a lot of cabins, camps and rundown houses.
Before crossing into Pennsylvania I took County Route Old 17 and enjoyed some scenic vistas, stopping for a while to Instagram. Crossed over to PA and ended up on some real backroads, some twister and slower then I would like.
People Burn Everything in Pennsyltucky. I would not hestitate to say at least 90% of households in rural PA have trash burning barrels and most folks burn their garbage, plastic and all.
Funny to think that when burning barrels have been illegal in New York for 5 years and relatively uncommon and disfavored for 10 years except in the most rural parts of the state.
People in Pennsyltucky also heat with wood and outdoor wood boilers have big piles of brush and generally smoky in the hollows this time of year. For a firebug like me, this seems so liberating compared to the up-tight open burning laws in New York.
Stopped at the Saint Marie Overlook. It was pretty as usual. Took some more Instagram photos.
The More Digits in a Pennsylvania Highway the narrower and twister the road is. The main line one digit roads are as good as any in New York. Most 2 digit roads aren’t bad but when you get on the three digits, the roads are little more then blacktopped cow paths.
The shoulders are non-existent with guard rails extending right up to shoulders. To make things worst, PA uses rumble strips extensively so as you hit them if you try to stay away from the guard rails when driving.
Four digit roads are supposed to be analogous to county roads but as far as I can tell their maintained like town roads in New York.
Fracking Towns seem to have slowed down a lot since the initial craziness when the fracking boom was well underway.
Montrose was still dusty and Main Street was under heavy construction when I drove by. Saw a convoy of trucks hauling water and sand to a fracking site, but certainly not bumper to bumper.
Tonawanda, the city where they send reporters to cover fracking still had the new motels and the oil and gas businesses but it was still quiet compared to 2010. Some signs of oil wealth in the form of big jacked-up diesel pickups but thats not shocking for rural America but for the most part you didn’t see tons of oil wealth.
Ended Up Going to the Mansfield Wal-Mart to get a new camp chair and ammunition. A fairly big Wal-Mart, it had something unknown to a New Yorkers — lots of guns. Wal-Mart in more rural parts of New York will have a small revolving case of long guns plus air guns on the shelf.
But at least in rural Mansfield, they not only have several large cabinets with rifles and shotguns, they prominently feature modern sporting rifles aka AR-15s or as anti-gun politicians like to call them, assault rifles. They have a $500, $750, and $1000 models with things like fancier scopes.
They also sell handguns at Wal-Mart after a PA resident passes the standard instant NICS check like any gun, which seems so strange to New York where you have to go through the whole Sullivan Act pistol permit system. Handguns aren’t super accurate or dangerous compared to long-guns but New York treats them special as they are concealable. Still its great Pennsylvania residents have this freedom to keep and bear arms.
Left with a lawn chair and a 100 round brick of 20 gauge #7 birdshot for $24.50. Still need nore #6 for rabbit and squirrel hunting but the birdshot is cheap for plinking with the shotgun.
Camped at Asaph Run Camping Area in Asaph. Driving through the hamlet, saw a place selling firewood, so I picked up some wood for $5. The Asaph Run primative campsite is $10 night but it gives you a fire ring, picnic table and a pit privy. I had the
Lights Seemed to Work Bettet but still problematic like the previous night. Due to the chilly wind and trouble keeping the lights and radio on, I retired to bed by 8 pm, listening to podcasts into the night.
