I was like fuck at 1 AM this morning when I briefly woke and turned on my phone to see if I could stream WAMC for a while to get back to sleep. How am I going to pay my bus fare from the ADK Off Road to downtown without a phone? My bus pass is expired and I only have the app. It’s fine, I pawed around my wallet, found $3 so I should be good. I knew my phone was going to renew soon but it did not auto renew which is annoying on a terrible on a day. I think I can find the spray-in bed liner shop without directions, as I know about where it is on Central Ave.
Up and going. 🥱 Blueberry pancakes with some lime juice accidentally dumped in the mix are cooking down on the stove. 🥞 I didn’t tell my colleagues I would be in late but hopefully I shouldn’t be in too late but if it looks like it’s well after 9 AM when the bus drops me off downtown, I’ll find some free Wi-Fi and send an email that I’ll be running a few minutes late. I am hoping once I get in the office I’ll be able to get on my StraightTalk account and get things straightened out in a few minutes. I had thought about riding 🚵♂️ all the way from Niskayuna to Menands but the thing is the bike path is several miles north, and the best bike route involves Albany-Shaker Road which isn’t exactly a good ride at rush hour. Truth is I hate driving, 🛻 and while it will be fine, and I need to get the bed sprayed before the cap is installed, it just seems like such a chore to fight rush hour traffic, then ride on Central Avenue to the Express Bus, catch that downtown, paying cash as my card 🪪 is expired and phone dead, then do the reverse this afternoon, leaving work early, and picking up sometime between 5 and 6 PM.
Yesterday when I got home, both windows were open the SuperDuty. 🪟 Apparently I figured out how to open the windows remotely from my key fob. I was playing with it and I might have done it from work, though I don’t think that works over the internet. 📶 I think more likely I left it my pocket or while I was unlocking my house door. I don’t know, at least I know about the function on key fob. It’s fine, I just don’t want to accidentally open the windows on a rainy ☔ day. Freaked me out briefly, as I thought my new truck might have a smashed in window or something. But whatever, just another thing to attack my brain. 🧠
It will work out, the reviews are good at this shop 🔧 and they for many years were the Capital Region Line-X dealer, which is often consider a top notch product. I’ll confirm about them removing all the bolts before spraying, in case of future repairs though I’m sure they do that. It will get paid for today, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for the truck cap to arrive. I’ve already been thinking about my first few trips – maybe a weekend trip to Cole Hill for hammock camping and then in early June doing a three-day extended weekend trip where I hike Bromley Mountain Fire tower in Delaware County south of Bloomville, ride some of the Catskill Scenic Trail and visit the John Borroughs Historic Site with my big Ford SuperDuty. 🏕️ Do some camper shell camping up at Burnt-Rossman Hills and ride some of the dirt roads on my bike. Maybe spend some time down in Roxbury just poking around.
Truth is it’s just more financial anxiety. 😁 It’s silly, I make good money and the SuperDuty is paid for and now all that’s left is the truck cap and few hundred at most for miscellaneous upgrades for my camping gear and underbody spray and a diesel heater come autumn 🍂 . Traveling is what I love to do and if it uses about the same or only slightly more gas then my old lifted truck, whatever. I got triggered once again on one of the financial advice pages, when renters were being mocked by some landlord once again. I just hate the idea of how renters are looked down as poor desprate people with no other options. I could buy a pretty nice house with cash 💸 with the prices locally, if I wanted to sell off some investments. But some of the off-grid cabins and prices in a place like Allegany County are just amazing.
But I don’t, as I like being able to ride to work, and I don’t want to spend my weekends and vacations hauling slop out to pigs, 🐷 but still have no freedom to burn whatever shit I want 🔥 or shoot guns whenever, like you can in remote country that would mean a rediculously long commute to my city job in Menands. And still have to deal with all the New York State building code shit at least for new construction. Really, when you compare the cost of utilities, fuel (even that 25 year old Honda Civic the internet loves), and property taxes, renting seems like a very affordable consumption expense. And I still have the money to invest and grow, so that when I buy a very affordable cabin in a remote wild country 🐐 in a place I would actually want to live. Land and even off-grid cabins are remarkably affordable in a place like Allegany County, NY or even just south of border in Penna where you can in most towns burn whatever and gun restrictions are far looser. Southern Ohio, West Virigina also are very affordable. 🏡 But that has to wait until retirement, as I need to be close enough to the city to make money.
INSTITUTE, W.Va. (AP) — A chemical leak at a West Virginia silver recovery business on Wednesday killed two people and sent about 30 others to hospitals, including one in serious condition, authorities said.
The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility, Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said.
I ran over to Glenmont to wash off my truck before the bedliner is applied tomorrow. My truck is too big already for the automated car wash locally, so it was off to Glenmont, of course part of the way illegally taking Old Glenmont Road – No Commercial Vehicles Except Local Delivery – but whatever. I hand washed the truck, getting the mud out of the bed. Should be good for getting the bed liner applied tomorrow. Before I hand over the keys, sign the paperwork, I’ll confirm they remove all bed hardware before spraying – I’m sure they do but it’s better to be clear.
Pulled the Marchese Ford decal sticker off the back of the truck, as I hate when dealers slap their branding on their truck. It was just a simple vinyl sticker, not the obnoxious raised lettering and other really aggressive brandting dealers plaster all of their trucks. Pealed off just fine, with only a little bit of glue that game off with a sponge. After I got home, I decided the next step was to remove the Marchese Ford license plate holders. Not that have anything old Dan Marchese, he was reasonable to deal with despite some of the sales tax games and commercial plate games, but I don’t feel like I need to be promoting his business. Plus I plan to have DePaula Ford do recalls and basic maintance during the warranty period, so why antagonize the shop, not that they likely care, as business is business. I tried from from DePaula but they had no interest in seriously working with me, even though my offers were reasonable. Gassed up the truck, figured with uncertain gas prices, and summer coming, best to keep a full tank.
Other then that it was a good day. It’s nice driving the SuperDuty, I realized the hood isn’t as high as my lifted Silverado but with the XL Off Road short valance, and the SuperDuty cab height and decent clearance, its’ more then good for my needs. I really don’t see myself lifting a three quarter ton truck or going beyond the stock 33-inch off road tires. I’m mean it’s already big enough that it can’t fit in the standard car wash, and it will be virtually the same height as Big Red once have the ARE MX Cap, solar panel, and racks on it. Lifted trucks are kind of a headache, but I do like the high up solid ride of the SuperDuty. I think with the heavier weight and frame, the kayak will ride much better on this truck, as will the cap even when I do add that second solar panel. Shouldn’t have any issues climbing or descending those big mountains in West Virigina or wherever I travel. And I think the gas milage will ultimately be very similiar to my old rig.
I’m tired after the late last night, going to get some sleep. Want to get up by 5 AM tomorrow so I can have a good breakfast, shower, load my bike up. I set the truck to start the engine at 7:40 AM in a Ford app, and then that should get me to Adirondack Off-Road a little after 8 AM. I can either take the back streets over to Sand Creek Road and then Albany Shaker Road, or maybe I’ll bike/walk down to Karner Road Bus Plus Station, and use the bus to get downtown. Depends on the traffic and how busy things are in the morning with the roads. I like riding, but I’m not going to get myself killed in rush hour traffic.
