AOL Ripoff

Had AOL on my laptop for a while, so I can access the net on the road. Started out with the free month plan, then was paying 25/month for unlimited, finally 15/mo for 6 hours. Since the access numbers in the 'Daks are almost always long distance, I would sometimes pay an extra 10/min for their 1-800 service. It was a real rip, so I decided to cancel. When I called them to cancel, I told the man, very pleasantly, about just how useless AOL was for the 'Daks. Except to connect to the net, I never used AOL for anything else; their browser bites and who needs another email addy when I have about 14,900 extras of my own. Then, I told him I used Road Runner at home and had no need for the AOL bunny slope community. Then he tells me, that since I was a Road Runner customer, that AOL was free! I blew over a 100 on that useless crap when the whole time it was free. The moral of this anecdote is that if you have Road Runner, then AOL is free.

Back in Old Forge

Took the Thruway to Palantine Bridge, Exit 29. Took NY 5 all the way through to Herkimer to get on NY 28. Westbound people should get off at Exit 29A, Little Falls, to get to NY 28 north. It's a four lane highway from Little Falls to Herkimer. Also, NY 28 north is about 3/4 mile east of the Herkimer exit, so you'll save on the miles too. Rail buffs love NY 5, it goes along the Mohawk Division of the NY Central RR. One of my friends says I have too much time on my hands if I like to watch trains.




Looking East on the Mohawk Division Mainline at the West Canada Herkimer Creek bridge, on the Herkimer-Montgomery County Line

Furry Little Friends

in Old Forge. Right after I took this shot, I got the Eagle stuck in the snowbank, right in front of the OF town garage. The crews quickly dug me out, thanks!

I drove up to Old Forge via the Thruway, 1-90 west and NY 28 from Herkimer, Thursday the 15th during the ice storm. I had no problem, getting off the Thruway in Herkimer was the best thing cause people are dumb on the Thruway. NY 28 was fine from Herkimer, and as I drove up the road, I realized just how lacking NYRoute28.com was; It was always the poor step-sister to the other two. I hadn't been that way in years and it was fine, except that I had to break the ice off my windshield every 10 miles. People up here were too scared to drive so I had NY 28 pretty much to myself, which is great. The snow removal there was barely adequate, nothing compared to NY 30 or the High Peaks routes like US 9, NY 3, 73, 86, where they keep the roads bare. My cellphone got left back home and I didn't call my motel buddy in Old Forge, so when I pulled in they already turned in. Not wanting to wake them, I camped out at Nick's Lake DEC campground, in the back of the Eagle. It wasn't cold but the ice and wind made it uncomfortable. An ice laden branch hitting the roof made me levitate an inch or two. I was happy for morning, as I drove down from McCauley Mountain in all the brand new heavy snow and ice. As I was working my way along the River road, I saw those deer, so I pulled over too suddenly and got my beast stuck; yet again wasting some town crews' time, about 3 minutes, to free here. I was so happy to get my room and warm up and shower. My friend Joe ran high speed into my room, it was heaven along with HBO!

Had some password problems with Blogger

Which I finally resolved. So now I can post again. I had this blog for as long as I had NYRoute30.com and I would really miss it if I couldn't figure it out.

Got Firefox!

Finally bit the bullet and took the free plunge to Mozilla Firefox browser. What an easy painless download and installation. Using it now. Checked out my ANCA work in Netscape today and the stupid html commented tags were throwing errors that IE 6 would never do. Really smooth, it imported everything from IE 6!

I grew up on IE 6, and it is the most forgiving browser for bad JavaScript and html. But it is ponderous and vulnerable to security issues, which never bothered me. But this Firefox is winning me over. Though any good webmaster should check his work on at least one Mozilla based browser, now I have two.

Hills Behind My Stand

Got 2 Turkeys in Melrose, Rensselaer County

I was visiting an old farmer friend, we use to rent from his nephew. He always let me hunt his small farm. I checked it out earlier, using a very mud and water logged route to a nice little grove of wild apples on the upslope of this field and bog. Real heavy clayee sucking mud it was from all those freaking October rains. So I came back about an hour later and parked closer to the meadow and grove. I set up a little base alongside some thick, sideways growing apple trees. My boots and socks were wet, so I spread my mat out and took off my footgear to dry off a bit, plus I had some dry socks. I got my camera out too.

So, natch, as I am sitting there scannning the bend in the track and tree line I see some racoons? Racoons, cats, sheeet, they're gobblers and I'm shoeless. So I ducked down and dragged my boots on and tried to hide the stuff as I lay prone infantryman style behind a small hummock, in full camo now. I called them a couple times but they just moved back out of site. So I doubled back to my base, hid everything, which was just precaution and laced up my boots and went with just the basics. I tacked up the hill through the apple trees and made it to the tree-fence line. Following the cover there, I worked my way to the bend. Snapping the safety off on five special 3" turkey loads, I rounded the bend and there was the biggest flock of turkeys I've seen in a long time. Standing, I got up closer and pumped 2 quick ones at head level. The flock scattered minus two birds flopping around in their death throes. So I blew off the first guy's head and did the secong manually; at 85 cents a shell, hell yes. Cleaned them in the driveway at home, what a pain!

Call of the Turkeys

still doing some turkey hunting in Albany County southern zone.

Exit 30 High Peaks

The way to Lake Placid and Keene Valley

Snow

it was snow for the upper Daks. over a foot in the high peaks last week and when we drove through the pass to Ticonderoga on NY 74, it was a sample of winter. Went all the way up to St. Albans Vermont in Eileen's car to pick up this tranny I bought for a Subaru. The Quebec junk yard undercut everyone in the US by $450 so we went with him when he dropped it off for me in VT. QC, CA is a good place to go for used parts, especially with free continental calling. Got some dynamite pics from the shop on Lake Champlain, see front page of ADKI87.com.

It's Fall Now!

With all this rain, snow and cold, you know it. Looks like it's going to be a tough winter. Went out last night and built a fire and slept out in a remote part of Albany COunty. It was realy cool and bright once the fire died down and it cleared up. No bugs, so I slept under the stars. For all you outdoor types, Albany County, while being part of the Catskill-Helderberg, not the superior Adirondacks, foothills, is full of state forests for hunting, snowshoeing, camping, cross country skiing all through the south western part of the county, like Rensselaerville, Berne.

Free Email Accounts

with @adirondacknorthway.net extensions, just email me with username and a pw, use link on top of page for squirrelmail access, ditto for the nyroute30.com site, same deal but with a @nyroute30.com domain extension.

Now No.s 1 - 2 on Yahoo, MSN, & Google Search for keyword "Adirondack Northway"

Yes, after being buried in Google last month, at one point #80, I am number one with AdirondackNorthway.net for search string "Adirondack Northway" on the search returns. Wouldn't one figure that a website utterly devoted to the "Adirondack Northway" would pull #1 on "Adirondack Northway" for Google and MSN Searches, #2 on Yahoo Search?

Yurt Raising

The lady who runs the most unique resort in the Adirondacks needed some help to erect her newest lodge, a 30' diameter yurt. The Mongols used yurts, they look like little circus tents. These are kits with insulated platforms. It has a pretty heavy duty wall fabric wrap-around plus an openable skylight. She rents out tree houses, cabins and yurts with no electricity but wood heat, gas stoves and battery/kero lamps. This in the off the path part of NW Fulton County, Bleeker. It was a big hoe-down with a combo of her guests, neighbors, fellows in Adk trekking meeting to put this big conical thing uo

Mission Statement

I started these websites to combine some Adirondack adventures with some business. I do try hard for the business. If it was only business, I could do better at almost any job. It's doing what I like; web design, exploring, camping, the Adirondacks, and checking out all these places of business and other nooks and crannys all through the park. And the best way to do this is to drive around and solicit business. Plus, that means you meet and interact with people. If it was all the Benjamins I ain't making, I wouldn't do this. It's fun and rewarding. For example, I have to pick this transmission from a Quebec junk yard, up in NW Vermont. So, now, I will circle Lake Champlain to the north on US 11 and hit all the towns on the nrothern plateau like Moerrs, Champlain. Places I have pages but no content. Plus, I haven't been north of Exit 39 yet, in the lifespan of this site.
I am meandering, the mission is to patrol and report about the Adk north country on-line,

After the Rains

During all this rain we had, i got a nice flat, a broken off cotter pin this time. I plugged it right on the axle on Albany-Shaker Road with my plug kit. At least the cop stopped to throw some light and talk to me. None of the Capital District troglodytes driving by could be bothered to at least ask, as opposed to the 'Daks where almost everyone would have stopped. Next day, I went to Walmarts for tires. The jerks there take about 2 hours to mount and balance 4 tires, giving me all sorts of grief about how tight my lugs are. At first they refused to take the lug off, claiming it might break, they don't fix lugs, yadda yadda corporate bs to the maz. I wasn't going to stand for this nonsense, I just took the wheel off last week and didn't want to hear any of Wal-Mart's corporate drivel. So I got right on the case, but ended up blowing another $15 on a set of new lug nuts, which wasn't such as bad idea. Kicked ass and took no prisoners on two new website jobs, a brand new one for capital region mica task force & the new look for Adirondack North Country Association

Skool Daze

I was subbing in this area middle school, Spanish, which I am barely proficient. But since it was 8th Grade, I was the "expert". The regular teacher had hand lotions and ferbel dolls for the kids to use. I quickly put the kibosh on such nonsense, especially the lotions and cream crap. What are they trying to do with our kids? Make them all thumbsucking drones? Today I am old Cohoes High, doing Regents Chemistry for an old teacher, much more straightforward.

Converted the NY 30 site to PHP tonight

that's HTML with brains, now, all my headers and footers are one file and I can have a nifty time/date. It also makes the page ready to be hooked to a database. Always save your html pages as php pages, almost all servers can handle it. Regular old html will work fine as php, and it makes it easier to upgrade to fancy php scripts, go to http://php.net/. It's all open source server stuff, available on almost all servers. But it will make upkeep easier.

Tupper/Saranac/Plattsburgh

After Old Forge, I headed back north to my old stomping grounds in the High Peaks. I called this really beautiful lady, Nadia, who I only met over the phone and email, and met her in person. She offered to feed and put me up for the night in true north country hospitality. She runs a craft program, her site has resources and marketing programs for crafts folks and retailers.

Then I took NY 3 up to Plattsburgh for some Northway business. That is truly a lonely and good road, like Northern Maine. Hit all the places by Exit 37. Got some good probable and made a sale in Ausable Forks Village. Took the really treacherous back route around Whiteface, ostensibly to avoid Placid traffic, through Franklin Falls. It was exciting but there were a lot of wet leaves on the road, fall is here!

Old Forge to Tupper

This weekend I really worked hard. Started in Northville for NYRoute30 and went like a banshee all the way to Old Forge for NYRoute28. Blue Mountain Lake has a BBQ fish fry place, some guy from North Carolina patched a trailer to a cabin and runs a little restaurant right there on NY 28 & 30 just east of the stop sign. In Old Forge, OF, I camped out west of town off the old road grade, now snowmobile trail. It was okay but yesterday Ranger Rick paid me a visit, told me to clean up(as if someone had to remind me) and I was camped to close to the trail. At least he didn't harp on the latter point. A lot of bear hunters were out in OF. Hung around the indispensible all night Fastrac gas station/convenience store. Met a lot of locals and tourist. They are a lot friendlier in OF and NYRoute28 in general. My url posters get ripped down in 2 days in Lake Placid but the ones I put a month ago up in OF and environs are still there. But I wish friendliness translated into more business. I canvassed 50+ places. Now I am at the Park Motel in Tupper Lake and am heading to Saranac Lake.

Gonna Hit the Road

Got stuff patched up here for a while, put a wheel bearing and shocks in a friend's car today. To all my AdkNway customers: The server it was on was crapping out, Canaca told me they replaced it, but that's why it went from #1 in Google on Adirondack Northway to #67. That killed my traffic. 20K in August and less than 8K for September so far, They replaced the server, they say, and gave me a free week's rent. Google re-indexes every week or two so it should bubble back up to 1 or 2 soon. A freaking .PDF file from a technical factory that has directions with "Adirondack Northway" printed on a map pulls #1 on Google, oy vey! I got a bunch of good freebie links, like the Frostbites and the Mountaineer, that will help! But on Yahoo Search however, it still pulls #1 on "Adirondack Northway"!

I am discouraged and I am going to whine

I got some good news, 40,000 hits on NY Route 30 last month. I worked the phones yesterday, mainly trying to get some old timers to renew, no luck. Then this jerk, who agreed to my $200/year website deal earlier this month, welshes on me without telling me after I called him to tell him to check over the info that I laboriously entered. He says he can't use it now, as if his place isn't running at 10% capacity. Fool, the website isn't for you to use, it's to get customers to visit! He really pissed me off. I put all this work into his site and he doesn't have the wherewithal to tell me he doesn't want it. I had to bite through a 3/4" pine board to keep me from giving him the tongue lashing he so richly deserved. Or some other disreputable people, with whom I made a no-money link swapping deal, can't even take 15 seconds to post my link on their site after 3 months, but will take the time to critique my site.

Now, I get to go back to subbing school and other thankless crap where I have to deal with semi-literate baboons who do their best to waste school district money on their fraudulent education! At least this one student that I got for Physics tutoring, a college one, seems motivated. Believe it or not, I like to feel that all my efforts aren't wasted.

Gas Prices Dip

the other day I was filling up at Exit 8, the sign said $3.19⁹ but the pump said $3.15⁹. So I figured they were planning to raise it so I got on it. When I got back to my car after paying, it was set @ $3.09⁹. If I had waited 5 minutes I would have saved 6 cents/gal. Now, it's at $2.99⁹ around here and falling some more, thank God! Been working on some local accounts and websites, as well as some old fallback jobs like tutoring and subbing. Even at $2.99⁹/gal, it cuts heavily into my margin.
Last trip I concentrated on the High Peaks again, got free rent for some web page help, sort of like the journeymen of yore. Keep on trying, especially trying to hype my wilmington-whiteface.com, without too much initial success, but I'll keep it going too regardless. Checked out some 5 star places in Placid, did I feel out of place. But I got the marketing guy's # and called him on a business day. You'd think someone whose main job is checking out promotion and advertising would take the time to even check my site out, nope! Guess I wasn't a member of the right yacht or polo club for his taste. Quit Whining and get back to work, illegitame non carborundum!

Inlet on NY 28

West to Old Forge this Time

My last road trip was an extended one. I started out in Tupper Lake, went back to Lake Placid, then ended up in Old Forge, working on my NY Route 28 website where I hadn't been in over two years. Placid was hard work, but it's good to have a place with so much packed together for easy travel, I wore out the legs instead of my car which is okay. I even covered Wilmington - Whiteface area and built a new website just for them Wilmington-Whiteface.com which redirects to Adirondack I also made a $20 helping some guy with a leaky heater line, which made that day. I spent one night in this hostel in Placid, but it was too uptight a place. Though a shower in the morning was a big help. Every night I camped out it was damp and rained lightly a few times but at least the old tent held. Then after attending the air show in Saranac and wasting time looking for biz there, I decided to head west on NY 28, which would give me a chance to hit NY 30 too to Blue Mountain Lake. On the way, at my motel website customer's in Tupper, I got some more work making it Canadian friendly and putting a French page in. I did okay, Old Forge was very busy and a lot different. Whereas the Eastern Adirondacks is very cosmopolitan or feeds off the Albany region, the western part feeds off of the Utica - Syracuse = Rochester part of the state. More laid back in some ways. Also got a bunch of new pictures. But the last day in Old Forge it rained the whole day almost. That part of NYRoute28.com laid dormant for the longest time and really needed some work. For too long, it was a backwater.

Smokey, My Favorite Llama

Vermont, Massachusetts and Other Dumb Stuff

Yesterday I went to Great Barrington to see my niece start off at Simon's Rock College, an artsy place that takes high school juniors. Berkshire County is a prettified country estate, real yuppified and cultured, full of all sorts of art like Shakespearean theater and Tanglewood, so Simon's Rock fits in perfectly.

Today I went up to the southern Green Mountains in Vermont: Arlington and Bennington. There is great swimming in the clear mountain streams. I picked up a boat load of trash at the local swimming hole in the Kelly Stand. It sickness me to see the amount of garbage the pigs leave behind. I especially hate bottles: lowlifes love tossing them into the all rock swimming hole. This is unusual because Vermont does have a reputation for being clean and litter free. They should uniformly raise the beverage deposit to 20 cents, that will cut down on the trash and help out the guys on the bottom who collect them for a living. Also, I finally got to use VT 279, the new cutoff from NY 7 to US 7, which allows through travelers to bypass the snarl in Bennington.

On the way there I listened to good old Equinox, WEQX FM 102.7. They are a great FM station with a good progressive and a signal that carries to Schroon, Albany, the Catskills. But why listen to alternative rock anymore? The genre is downright flabby: there is no great ballads, thundering guitar lines, good vocals, complex and enjoyable melodies and rhythms. It seems it's composed of lame guitar lines, horrible whiney vocals and self conscious, alienated lyrics of amazing vacuity considering this genre boast people who are "intellectual". No punk rage and anger, no heavy metal thunder chords, no fusion complexity or innovation, no real protest songs like Vietnam era rock; it's social commentary is so post modern and oblique, you don't ever get it. Does anyone out there still want to play good music with uplifting lyrics, good vocals and instrumentals and a beat you can dance too or hum any more? No wonder why fossils like the Stones can pack a major house while most of alternate crowd can't fill the local bar.

Night Camp Shot

Latest Hassels in Schroon

My fave campsite was taken by a whole clan of campers, they really moved in. I was pissed but it's state land and it's first come, first serve. But if they trashed the place out, I'm going to be really angry. So I was at the swimming beach by the Falls today, cooling off. There was this "normal" downstate family who parked their SUV so it almost blocked the trail to the falls. The wife and the brats were sitting inside with the engine running, tinted windows up and the a/c on while hubby went back to the falls to fetch his canoe. So, while walking around the SUV to get on the trail, I clumsily clunked my head on the his roof carrier that was sticking out a foot on each side of the roof. Since the windows were closed I just walked away, thinking nothing about it.

So after my swim, I got changed and was just about ready to leave when two state troopers pulled up behind me. It seem like the witch wife had a hissy fit when I accidentally clunked my head, thinking that I intentionally slapped the car, so they did the typical all American douchebag maneuver and called the police. I explained that to the trooper, after he gave me the third degree. But he couldn't leave without lecturing me that she did the right thing and it's his job to question the heck out of me and if someone slapped his wife's car, he would be really concerned(as if I slapped it or it was his wife). I really bit my tongue, holding back the choice comments about a downstate bitch who sits sealed up in their car with the a/c running (something I really despise) while her husband lugs the canoe by himself. As well as arrogant, smug cops who had to make sure that, even though I did nothing illegal or reprehensible, it was okay that he took all of our time and energy to hassel me, as if I had nothing better to do with my day. Whatever happened to apologies, is that too much for such super public servants? Though I must say the female trooper, who was backing him up, was a lot more polite and reasonable.

PS: I even offered to help the guy get the canoe on his roof as well as picked up a bag of trash left behind by the usual slobs, but no trooper pulled up to congratulate me on my good citizenship for those acts.

Car Care Tip

I like to put Vaseline in the spark plug wire boots before clicking them on the plugs, so wires won't seize on the hot plugs and tear apart when you try to take them off. Also, it makes it easier to seat the wire right on the plug and prevent moisture infiltration. But I haven't had any Vaseline handy for a while, so I substituted wheel bearing grease. Big mistake! The grease forms a hard layer that inhibits the spark, causing misfires. I tried all sorts of stuff for a while: new plugs, fuel injection cleaner, etc. But the other night I found a jar of Vaseline on the road and all of a sudden it occurred to me what the problem was. So I cleaned up the wires and put a little Vaseline. Presto, the misfires vanished and the gas mileage went way up.

More Fun

After whipping old Bess back into shape, I headed up north again. Really did a good job of whipping that campsite along the Schroon River into shape too.
Always leave the place neater than you found it and you will be welcomed back. I took out bagloads of trash and found an old fashioned milk bottle too. Hit all the towns on Champlain up to Willsboro and backed to North Creek too. The weather was beastly hot, except at my campsite which seemed to be cooler and less buggy than anywhere else. Great swimming too, in the deep pool downstream from Schroon "Falls". Met the neighbors too, good folks

More car hassles

Since I can't find a reasonable repair manual for the junkbox, I ordered this All Data account for a year for the Eagle. Trouble shooting some more confirmed that it was the fuel pump. Thank god Geon came up with a pump for $75, about 1/7 the normal list price of the non-available dealer pump. So tomorrow, I drain the tanks, thank god Jap cars have drain plugs, and pull the tank. Hope to get some re-enforcement. Soon, I will be back on the road and out of the Albany hell hole!

Well, the pump didn't cure the problem. I never checked for a spark, rank amateur! The distributor was shot, but thank god I bought it less than a year ago so Geon took it back and gave me another. That worked! But the plugs were shot and a wire broke, but I discovered an extra set of wires and plugs in the garage! Now it runs better than ever after I reset the timing.

Car is being uncooperative

I was doing the brakes yesterday, all four disc. The rear rotors were really pitted and couldn't be turned, but at $80/piece special order, I decided to suffer with the old ones. It's just the rear brakes. After I finished, I went for a drive on the lower Northway to break the brakes in a bit: speeding up to 70 then braking it down to 55. I got about 3 miles when I lost all power, no gas getting to the motor, so I ditched it at mp 6.4, right before the nb Alt 7 West entrance ramp. I walked a mile along the shoulder south until I could find a spot in the fence line where some trees grew through and I could hoist my big bod over the fence. Then, there was the hour and a half wait at Wal Marts for Eileen to pick me up. What a zoo scene it was in front: these cheer leader moms had their progeny mob both sets of doors with big jars and cans, beseeching patrons for $ for their cheerleading outfit. The moms wanted the brats to pull in $1/minute, soliciting at its finest.
So later, after Eileen picks me up, we use her AAA to get the Eagle back home. I then pulled the old fuel filter out and it seemed plugged so I went to bed happy, after a good shower, thinking that a $20 filter will get old Bess back on the road. So today, I road my bicycle down to the parts store and picked one up, but no dice. I think it's the pump, but considering that car was sold as a Plymouth and Dodge Colt Vista, Eagle Summit and Mitsubishi Expo at the same time, there is no good repair manual for this odd ball junkster. So I guess it's the pump, @ $200. Tomorrow, I will see if there is the usual Jap car access panel, in the back, to get to the fuel tank so I don't have to pull the whole tank, unlike crummy American cars.

Actually, I had a good time.

I found a cool place to camp near Schroon Falls. The waters in the lakes and rivers are now warm enough to swim, which really came in handy in this weather. I had some good luck and met some interesting folks, One lady in Newcomb really helped me out: she ran a B & B for people and horses, she kept them in the barn of course. She is setting me up to talk to the local chamber folk. So even though I didn't make a sale, I had a good time talking with her and watching her put the horses in the barn. It's not just the money that attracts me to this work. I also got a good swim in at the town beach, which is really nice, though technically it was closed. There was some NASCAR dad standing in the water up to his hams watching his kids play in the sand in the water. Dork, put on your suit and go for a swim with your kids too! My main problem was the weather: it was too hot and hazy and really screwed up the good scenery shots. By the way, the Northway is closed between Exits 23 & 25, check my site!

Fascist Nannies Rule

The latest series of brutally obnoxious public service ads concern the latest DOT inspired police dragnet of the heinous criminals who don't wear seatbelts. I think the seatbelt laws, initiated by the chief fascist nanny of them all, Mario Cuomo, back in 1994, are the penutimate expression of fascist nannyhood. Fascist nannyhood is the unholy collusion of doctors, mothers, safety wonks and cops. They work on the principle that your personal health and safety is so important to them that they would beat, jail and fine you until you accept their cowardly neuroses. Somehow, the government, led by people who feel that they have to monitor your life, has assumed the role of everyone's hysterical mother. Instead of having and raising their own kids, they have adopted all of us involuntarily to be in their family. Don't get me wrong, I always wear my seatbelt. But I never felt that I had to impose by caution on others. Also, the government has some role: they mandated that the automakers install seatbelts; good, now they feel obligated in making us wear them; bad. Of course, the liberals are al for this, the conservatives are too chicken to buck their wives and the cops love another chance to pry into people's lives and make people miserable with a good excuse so fascist nannyhood marches on. Pretty soon, those that eat too many eggs and hotdogs and not enough vegetables will be jailed for their own good. Blubbering wives and indignant coronary doctors will testify at Senate hearings about these fat abusing junkies and the grief they caused. Good lord!

Went up the Northway to Exit 18, Glens Falls. Crowded on the road, everyone streaming up north for the Memorial Day Weekend. Didn't get any business but got some good pics and info on exits and rest areas, which I posted already. But I built a good database access page for wordensafety.com this morning and not only does it work, but it kicks butt! In Glens Falls, I followed the signs to the Queensbury Hotel, expecting to find some simple tourist place. But it's actually a pretty decent old fashioned downtown hotel circa 1920, but with an indoor pool and grand ballrooms. I talked to some shift manager, but I had fun connecting to their wi-fi network and surfing in their huge lobby. Glens Falls has the worst traffic pattern and lights for a city so small. Even the road that connects it to Exit 18 is utterly substandard side street quality road. On the way back, I was cruising the right lane at 66 mph @ 2900 rpm's when some old fool in a Buick tried to merge into me at Exit 14, Saratoga Yaddo and Racetracks. But being a Buick, I was prepared for his knucklehead move. Funny, but he didn't look old but more like some pompous fool. Remember Jer's Rule #12 of the Road: Buick and Caddy drivers are the pits and it's best to avoid them like a plague!

Got to get out of this place

Been subbing school, the ultimate job for college educated losers. Most of the time it's okay, but it is 99% babysitting. I got to get out of this rut. Even if I work some basic job in the 'Daks or just keep the website rolling along. I mean, I'm too old for this kind of stuff anymore. Well, at least I am all geared up with a new camera and business cards. With the topo software I can cut a topo map of anyplace in the US. No more Topozone or cobbing off of other maps.

Hello Again

Hello Again

I worked my butt off the last day. I went up to Warrensburg and camped out overnight in one of my hidden spots. That is a spot where I can drive in some secluded place, usually a clearing for lumbering that isn't posted, and camp out. It must be quiet but easily accessible by my Eagle. This one is near the Glen and is quite secluded. There were a a couple of blowdowns I had to clear, which more than anything, means no one has been up there since last there! These spots are my private: I keep them clean and never let on the spot to any one else. The last thing I want is a bunch of slobs abusing the place and getting things posted and blocked off or attracting troopers or wardens.

Warrensburg has always been a tough. I spent days there ever since I started NYRoute28.com and have a total of three spots in the whole area. People are tight! It's not like they are broke, W-Burg is right off the Northway, which is part of my new website, Adirondack Northway dot Net. I tried to sell some space on my Adirondack Northway dot Net site in Saratoga, but all those fancy places are a little bit out of my league. Too many preppie suit types. It isn't easy, but even though I make zilch, I spruced up the site with a bunch of better jpegs and topographic maps, after all it isn't all about the $. But I was in pain, so after meeting a couple of previous customers in Indian Lake, I beat a hasty retreat back to Albany. Still getting the hang of my new Olympus zoom digital camera. I got it on clearance for $150 off, then when I went back to Office Max to get my new business cards, I saw they had a coupon for another 20% off, so I talked to my manager-friend and he let me get another $43.50 off. With the way things are going, I need to save every nickel, screw business deductions, if you aren't making money, deductions mean nothing.
I put a page in for Stony Creek, at least I got a chance to thank the locals and highway crew there who yanked my van out of the snow in the winter of 2003

Launching New Website

Got my new website going, the I-87: The Adirondack Northway, actually it's been around over a month. Yahoo had a sale on domain names for $5/year, couldn't resist. The Northway, besides having Exit 4 2 miles from home, has about 100x the traffic as the other roads. this time I am doing it with PHP and an online database with tos of topo maps and pictures, using my experience from my other endeavours.

Well, Thanks for the Mail

I mean I started this blog over 2 years ago to go with my Adirondack Trail project and never did much with it after I let things lapse for a while and went into urban-suburban vegetation mode and stopped haunting the woods. Then in the space of less than a week, I get three emails from my blog readers. That made me feel good, I didn't think anyone read that old blog, but I was wrong. For an update, I was up in the 'Daks mainly on business last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Heck, I managed to meet my expenses and a little more, even a couple for the NY Route 28 site. Incidentally, I bought the domain, nyroute28.com to and redirected it back to CentralAdirondackTrail.com. Now it has symmetry with NYRoute30 site, wow! I am getting a new site going, this one focusing on the Northway, which is only 2 miles from home. Hopefully, it may bring some real money so I don't have to work this crummy job I have getting paid peanuts to do utterly boring MS Access work! I like being on the road, meeting people and getting into the woods, Maybe I'll spring for those snowshoes or new x-country skis this weekend and get out again and have some fun. My wife hates the winter so I'll have to go alone or find some new folks. Hey readers, keep the letters coming and I'll try to answer your questions and email you some pics!