Spokane, WA to the Pacific Coast back to Albany

Well, my last post was the 18th, from Spokane, WA. The next day, I delivered the Subaru to the owner at the airport, got paid, then drove off to the coast in a car Eileen rented. It was a V-6 Pontiac G6, actually a really good little car, with plenty of two lane passing torque. We went to the pacific coast via Yakima, where we passed the enormous Columbia River Gorge. West of Yakima, the heart of the Palouse, we took US 12 through the Cascades via White Pass and Packwood. In Packwood, I saw my first elk as a whole bunch of them saunteered into town for some grazing. I'd show you some pictures but my laptop's on-off switch is broken and all the pics are on that drive. Also in Packwood, you can see Mount Ranier. Then we pushed on to the Pacific Coast, getting there about midnight. The beaches there are public highways, but watch for drifting sand. We found a state campground close by and got a tent site. Then after 1.5 days, we split, went to Seattle and then caught the redeye to Albany via Pittsburgh at Seatac.

From Albany to Spokane, Washington

We finally left on our little business/travel trip to Spokane, WA. We drove this car that my friend Grumme sold on Ebay to some professor in Spokane. We left Tuesday night and 2800 miles later, on Sat evening, we got to Spokane. We started out on the Southern Tier route west, where an armed band of Troopers stopped us on NY 17 looking for a guy who shot a trooper. We did the usual lame I - 90 to I -80 route through to the Mississippi RIver across from Des Moines, IA. In Iowa, I split off of I - 80 and worked my way up to Minnesota......(more to come, I'm beat here in a hotel lobby in Spokane

Blending in with the Woods

In The 'Hood in Saranac Lake

Interesting Bumper Stickers

Darwin Awards:

Culling the Herd
Population Control Volunteers
Die and Learn
The Shallow End of the Gene Pool

"I(don't) Think,Therefore I Am(not)"~descartes

Chlorinating the Gene Pool
Natural de-Selection
Evolution in Action

Best Darn Blue Route in the USA!

The other day I took a drive through Placid to Schroon Lake, where I landed a new website job at a restaurant there. Schroon Lake is the center of my ADKI87.com site. So after I got the job, i built a fire and hung out in my old site by Schroon Falls. after that I took Blue Ridge Road, CR 84 to Newcomb then to Long Lake. Cr 84 is okay, but at the top, it's twisty and narrow and it was a foggy and rainy night. NY 28N was okay, but a little beat-up. When I got to the junction of NY 30 in Long Lake, I was so happy. NY 30 to Tupper from there is so easy and fast, great for a night like that one. It reminded me why I started this whole business because NY Route 30 is the

Best Darn Blue Route in the USA!

Let's Get Some Perspective

Personal and other setbacks and tragedies have reminded me that I am just another guy, no one special at all. I do what I do now cause I love it. Technically, I am a flatlander, born and raised in Hartford, CT. My hunting and fishing skills are so lamentable that white tail deer have thanked me for scaring the other hunters away. If I was in a hunter gatherer band I would be doing the gathering, not hunting. I have not hiked all, or even most of, the ADK 46 High Peaks. I am not a code whiz on the web, but I am good at what I do and I can also fix cars pretty well, especially my old goat. I wear the clothes I do cause I like it and it's practical and it also reflects my work. I do strive for consistency and accuracy in my work.

Moved to Tupper Lake

Yeah, I've finally done it, pulled the chain on the whole rotten Capital District for my main ville in my main park!

Another Day in Paradise

With such beautiful weather and lush foliage, but the black flies, skeeters and other insect denizens are alight. Went up to Horseshoe Lake and drove around a bit on those rutted out roads and took a slew of new digital pics, have my good camera back this weekend, can't wait!

Oy Vey, what a beautiful day!

It was a great one, starting at 3 am. Working like a dog on Guido's new site as well as revamping my babies. Then I went up Malone way to go turkey hunting. Ended up in Bangor and Westville, but everywhere I went in the farm back country there were road crews doing backed up repairs and maintainance. Scared all the birds away. It was a true green Kodak day, great for my little Walmart cheepo. Green also for growth after all the good rains. But the bugs are out, ready to eviscerate you!

Then I gravitated towards the Mohawk Res then Robert Moses Park and the Power Dam and the Eisenhower Lock at the top of NY State. They closed the visitors center at the dam, it's a Post 9/11 world, whatever that meant. Do they think anyone could devise a bomb to take the dam out, or are they protected from kamikaze airliners from Canada maybe? If some muslim jihader jerk had a nuke, he's going to blast NYC, DC or Philly, not Massena. Don't see any flak or SAM batteries by the international dam. THe new visitors center is on Hawkins Point, by the boat launch. Pretty lame compared to the old one which was open two years ago.

Then I explored old Massena. Looped down NY 56, checked out Norwood village, I added a page just for massena and robert moses.

Back to Canton

Went back up to St. Larry County today, to check out Canton during a business day and get some more shots. Of course, I only have my basic but utterly useful Polaroid and not my zoom Olympus, which is back in Albany, mailed from the ripoff factory repair shop. The Polaroid was the cheapest camera at Wal Mart and recharges itself off the USB cable from the computer, saving tons on AA cells. St Lawrence County is a great place to drive, all the roads are tons of fun. I took some county and town roads in Parishville and came into Colton the back way. Canton seems like a cool place, people were receptive to what I was doing, hope it translates into some business.


Then I hit ole Saranac and Lake Placid tonight. Did some fishing down at the big state landing and campground on NY 3, about 3 miles west of 45 zone. Had some local take a snap of me in downtown Placid. Don't forget to check the tires, my two left ones are weak and I can't afford to get a whole new set now. Maybe I should be like the average slob and drive around with dirty windows, lights out, bald low tires, bad struts, no emergency brakes like so many other "motorists".

Dazed in Tupper

It's in the am and it's snowing, with s stiff NW wind to boot. This weather is truly Adirondack! Today will be a work day.

Huntin', Fishin', Campin' in the Rain

Checked out Port Kent, on Lake Champlain, finally. Got a campground like 2 miles west of there, by Ausable Chasm, but until yesterday never had been there, even had a page on adki87.com too!. Went down the hill, crossed the tracks by the bus stop like rr station and drove down to the beach by the Vermont ferry landing, which opens May 30. Camped out at end of the lot by some trees near the water. Woke up next to this seaplane, cool. Didn't even pitch the tent, it didn't rain till noon. Ausable Chasm was intense with all the rains.


then I went up the hill to Wickham Marsh State Wildlife Management Area, on NY 373, for some turkey hunting. Had the whole place to myself. Like I said b4, it rained at noon, which is the end of the Spring turkey hunting day, 1/2 b4 sunrise - 12 PM. Drove into Ausable Forks, tried to get some business. Thank god they fixed NY 86 through High Falls Gorge, even did some fly fishing on the Ausable in the special no kill zone. I was wearing standard webmaster garb while these fishermen dressed like commandoes on a mission in the Amazon or soemthing.

In Memoriam Redux

My father-in-law, Matthew Joseph Dermody, passed away this morning in Albany Memorial Hospital from cancer. He was born in 1925 in Newcastle, Limerick, Ireland and was a really nice guy and an avid outdoorsman and camper.

Here Comes the Rain

and I am happy. It was too dry, there were fire warnings and the new leaves would have shriveled if it didn't rain soon. Also, pollen-phobes get some relief, as well as the rafters and whitewater folks too, now there's some water to release. Better the rain now when growing things need it than worthless fall washouts. This will top off the water table too for wells.

In Memoriam

Found out my friend, Kim Van Evera passed away. She ran the Back to Basic: for Real Camping in Yurts and Outdoor Experience Near the End of the Northville - Lake Placid Trail. I met her on the web, we were both in some defunct New York State webring and I could tell she was right down the road from my old campsite in West Benson. She lived down in the middle of Bleeker, in Fulton County, in the Park. So I contacted her, at first trying to sell, but I loved what she was doing so I had to check her out. So I did a few times during the Fall and helped her raise a big 32' yurt. She left two beautiful little girls. She was a serious back country hiker herself, and picked up campers at the Northville - Lake Placid trailhead. National Geographic wrote a piece about her. She was totally unique. Bye Kim.

Taking It Slow

Letting my ankle heal up a bit from twisting it last Sunday, then I get some flu for a day, really wiped out. Between slow season and high gas prices, I haven't been doing too much driving, mainly staying local. But I am gearing up for better things. Got behind this lumber truck at Exit 24 - Exit 1 I-87 Thruway to Northway toll barrier in merry Albany.

Read the writing on his bumper:

Please Do Not Hit

Terrible Fishing Accident

After ambling over the Boston & Maine rr tracks to the Hoosick River, right near Vermont, I tripped over some roots approaching the river bank, in front of two xtreme kayak dudes practicing on the small rapids there.
Really sprained it, too bad I wasn't wearing my 'Nam boots. Soaking it now in Epsom salts according to Eileen's explicit directions. Checked out Bennington too, gas is 25 cents cheaper there, less tax, hhhmmmmm! The water in the upper Walloomsac River was nice and clear, but so low. It is way too dry for this time of year, we need rain.

Firearms Paranoia

Last Thursday, the Schenectady(a city that should be scrapped for parts) Police shut the city and the school's down cause some braindead woman, like the one last summer who claimed I "slapped" her car, said she overheard two guys who were going to shoot up Schenectady High School. As a former teacher there, I can bet there are plenty of faculty and staff in Schenectady Skools who would go postal there before the kidz! (The schools in the Electric City have been over-run by dangerous inner city cretins from NYC.) So it turned out to be two active duty, off duty Army guys going out to the target range and one of them just chewed out his slacker daughter for sloughing out at school. So the wonderful cops had these guys, totally innocent of course, at gunpoint like they were some trash from the Bronx. A month earlier in Colonie some Colonie high school knuckle head was shooting his new MP-5 along the Mohawk River, off the worthless bike trail. He wanted to be an Army Ranger and his father bought him the gun, an "assault" rifle, so he could be just like a ranger. Granted, it was a dumb place to shoot but he hurt nor shot at nothing dangerous but the mindless robot police here acted like they cornered Osama himself. If he was on the other side of the Mohawk River, I doubt the cops would have come. He had what the lords of war called hand grenades but I heard they were like M-80's.

The cautionary note is to be totally low key when hunting or shooting. Why let anyone know anything more than necessary? I even dress and gear up off road under cover. Even if it's okay to shoot or hunt in some remote place, why let some scum know that there is a very valuable and easily resalable item in your car? Next to gold or cash, guns are the best things to steal.

Horrible Drivers

I'm beginning to think Albany and the 'burbs have the worst drivers around. Also, in my trip to the NW, I found that Ohio is definitely a state to avoid for drivers and roads, even Jersey is desirable to Ohio. It's my new state to kick around, like Mass,

Spring Turkey Season

Opening at dawn! Got all my camo stuff and gear together, gun primed and all the special turkey loads marked off with permanent marker and ready to go! You can only hunt in the AM in the Spring; should be a novel experience getting up early. Speaking or turkeys, I went to Wal-Marts and K-Marts to get some last minute gear. Wal-Mart in Latham was useless as usual,(both store and town) now that spineless greedsters from Wal-Marts, Arkansas caved into Mothers of America and stopped selling guns; only ammo and accessories. So, I'll re-use my old stuff, good, so it won't cost one cent extra, cause I have everything, including permits and stamps, from last fall.


Starting to throw some more fishing into the mix. Why not, I love water and it gives me yet another excuse to be useless in the country. At least I try to clean out all the fishing holes, I don't want Upstate to go ghetto if I can help it.

Update, got up too late to go hunting.

Hello, I'm still here, still banging away at it!

I took a bit of a break after the Midwest trip. But I went up last week and spent some time moping around St. Lawrence County on NY 3 near Wanakena, Star Lake. Had fun exploring the old iron mine, cinder plant. Camped out right on NY 3, the old road, it was so convenient and had cover and the traffic was fairly light. Well, I couldn't drum up any new business but I added Star Lake to my virtual empire.



Then I migrated to Tupper Lake and vegged around for a few days at the Park Motel; thank god I had my CAT 5 wiring gear so I could make myself useful. Went to the new Chamber's visitors center party too. Tried to drum up some biz, but talk about slow, 1/2 the 'Daks in on vacation after that horrendous winter!

Visited Ausable Forks, via the back way since NY 86 is closed between Lake Placid and Whiteface in the narrows of High Falls Gorge. My only customer was out of business. Then I saw these mokes walking around the village with this stupid homeboy get-ups and attitudes, including the pit bulls with the leashes made out of 5/16th link chain that you get at the hardware store off the roll. I guess with cable and other media, stupid trends penetrate where they have no business being. Yeah, keep on walking around in your 3x trunks in 37F nights! I got to get my mouth, lips and tongue pierced!

Spreading Havoc and Terror Throughout the Northern Midwest Heartland

Sold this electric mobility chair, the newest generation of battery powered chairs for the handicapped, to some guy in Madison Wisconsin. He said he'd pay me $400 extra if I personally delivered it. Whammo, another extended road trip. So I packed up my usual 'Daks camping gear and tools and set out after I completely rebuilt the right front end (strut, tie tods, bearing, ball joint, control arm) plus rear struts. Left Monday evening, got into Madison Thursday afternoon. Took tons of detours and US highways. So after Madison, I went north, up I-39, through WI to MI's Upper Peninsula, where I am now in a motel in Gladstone, MI, on Lake Michigan. Camped out all the other nights, pitching tents or just sleeping in the back of my Eagle, a last resort! Even though the Eagle provides more protection than a tent, I can never get a good night sleep in the back. There is just enough length if I stretch out diagonally with the seats pushed forward.

Potsdam, Colton, Canton Today

Couldn't ask for a more beautiful day for pictures, borrowed Maggie's digital and went up to Saint Lawrence County's college towns for some recon. Inspite of the lame strut, the car ran like a champ, getting great mileage. Love St. Larry Co., rolling farmland into the sunset, it's big sky country and the state's largest county landwise.

Back in Tupper

Took the Blue Ridge, CR 84 route to Newcomb this time, hugging the Northway for my poor strut's sake. Great road, but some heaves on the top in the s-curve section, had to cool it for a while. Went to the end of Sabbatis Road, taking my old fave, NY 30 from Long Lake. Weird weather as usual

NY 8, NY 365 Recon

Went all the way down NY 8 from Spec today and circled around the Stillwater Resevoir on NY 365 then looped back through Barnveld and Poland. Took over 200 pictures, unfortunately, it was with my shrimpy little camera. The one above is the Park's boundary sign on Ohio/Norway border. The good one should be back from warranty work this week. Blew out my right front strut the other day on a seasonal road's hugh frostheave I didn't expect. that happened right after the picture I took after the log I chopped out. The struts are guaranteed for life, but I'll have to do the work, naturally! They are on order and I'll have to pay for them until the mfg'er ok's it. Till then, taking it easy around bumps and left hand turns.

Speculator Again!

It's cold and snowing now! Winter is still here and it's < 20F. The snow pack is still there iin some places pretty good on the trails!

NYRoute8.com is born and the SouthernAdirondackTrail.com too!

NYRoute8.com is up now and it redirects to the NYRoute28.com site on it's own special town index page, the same page as the Southern Adirondack Trail redirects to. Went up today and started in Speculator, at the northern end of the Southern Adirondack Trail. Came into a snow squall all the way from Speculator south-west to Little Falls. Mainly just some patrolling and casual selling. While talking on my cell and watching trains in Little Falls, I managed to knock my stupid glasspack muffler and wound about 16 feet of old copper railroad telegraph wire around my left rear drive axle. Went to a convenience store in the middle of town and the nice shopkeeper lent me a pair of linesman's pliers, which cut it apart finally, saving my axle's boots. Since then, I've secured the muffler.

The Speculator Way

Went up to Speculator today to drop off Windows 98 O.S. to my friend Bob. I stopped in at the local market to get a cafe refill. This is the market I usually buy my food and cafe in Speculator while staying at Bob's. So the incompetent jerk who runs the place tore down my little URL poster in less than a week. I don't care that he doesn't want to advertise with me, I have no hard feelings towards him as I give him my business. But his staff are incompetents who get all the orders wrong and charge a different price every time I get a refill. Finally, his newest wench tried to charge me a $1.50 for a refill, I told her no way, I paid $1.25 for the same a week ago and the price of coffee didn't go up that quickly. She caved and I treated her like a total vegetable. Screw them, there's competition for food in Speculator. He and his merchant family can take their cheesy, drag and drop grade school websites and shove it. I was never competing with his broods' work, no one, I mean no one, covers the 'Daks like me! I go from the Canadian border to the Thruway and as far west as Boonville and on to Verona. I'll go on any road in any weather, I love winter. I write my code from scratch using a special web editor. I started writing code on punch cards and teletypes.

Another reason to support Bob's Dissolve the Village of Speculator plan. Too many people in the 'Daks and this state in general wait around for some government job to take care of their lazy butts. Check out Albany, a $113 billion dollar state budget. All the social welfare agencies look on upstate as a good place to dump their rejects for cheap, compared to NYC, flops, destroying hte fabric of many old, small poorer communities. Also, the state likes to help the 'Daks by building prisons and dumping their NY City waste on us for some good paying prison jobs. I say keep the trash downstream. Build high rise prisons in the City or put them in hulk ships moored to the old piers in Manhattan and Brooklyn so their peeps can take the subway to visit them. Everyone would be happier!

Southern Adirondack Trail is now part of NYRoute28

Go to my new URL, SouthernAdirondackTrail.com. I cover the whole Southern Adirondack Trail, mainly NY Route 8 from Speculator to Little Falls, Herkimer. Plus I cover NY Route 8 from Wells to Loon Lake too.

Spark Plug Tips

Avoid all those Bosch 2 and 4 electrode Platinum, Pt, plugs. They always foul. So I switched both my wife's Camry and my boat to NGK Iridium, Ir, plugs. These Iridium plugs are tops!

Help New York State Out!

Eliminate a wasteful, duplicative political entity, the utterly pointless village government of Speculator. My friend Bob at the Cedarhurst Motor Lodge is passing out petitions to dissolve the village government and do everything through the town as to eliminate utterly pointless duplication, not pointless from the view of the people on the ville's payroll who live off the villages 300 odd registered voters.

Small Town Petty Police Tactics

The folks in Saranac Lake thought they could have one good weekend this dismal winter during their winterfest a couple weekends ago. But Eliot Ness and Thomas Dewey in the S.L. Police and the Franklin County DA figured it was time to enforce the petty underage drinking laws. They sent a man, woman and two kids, posing as a family, to old fashioned good restaurants and when the lady ordered a glass of wine with her meal, they arrested the waitresses and owners for serving a 20 year old. Needless to say, they hit the bars too during the rush and bagged a total of 11 places. They even arrested some prison guard officer's daughter too, for selling beer in the supermarket to the DA's rats. This is so petty and fascist, but it's not hard to believe. We've become a nation of fascist puritans, where "freedom loving" folks are just dying to let the police eavesdrop their phones, search their cars and houses and drug test them without question. Sounds like model Soviet citizens to me. But the good folks of S.L. are fighting back by demanding separate jury trials, as to tie the arseholes in the DA up with over twenty trials in a town that now hates them.

Up North Again

after a 2 week hiatus, I'm back up north. Last night the NW brought that great cold and snow, so I hit the road early this morning to Saranac Lake, where my good friend Nadia put me up for the night. The roads were choked with crummy drivers: a 1/4" of snow in Albany and you'd think these people grew up on the equator the way they were driving. The most contemptible are these granny drivers who crawl along through the snow while 4/5ths of their windows and car are still covered with snow. What putzes! You can't have it both ways, if you want to be cautious, stop and clean your windows and let the 15 cars behind you get by. But it's great to be back in Placid and Saranac on a real winter's night for a change. Already, it's -10F!

Auto Caveat: Check your timing belt on your Overhead Cam Motor OHC.

My friend's brother-in-law was driving his 93 Volvo, which he bought 2 weeks earlier for $1200. The timing belt completely snapped when he was driving on US 9 in Latham. When I looked up the timing mark pattern for his car(so one can re-align all three shafts: cam, crank, jack) the book said it was an interference motor: which means when the belt breaks, the pistons will bend the valves, making a simple timing belt replacement into a cylinder head job > $750. Ironically, the Volvo is one of the easiest cars to put a timing belt in, the rest of the car is in good shape and one couldn't ask for an easier car to work on, it's real wheel drive. Some other interference motors that come to mind are Honda Civics, GM engines, Nissans, VW, yadda yadda. Have the belt inspected, if the rubber is hard, shiny or cracked, replace it! Age will wear it out as well as mileage. The older timing belt styles, like on this Volvo, are very weak and narrow. My Eagle's belt is about 5 X as large and thick as that crummy little Volvo belt.

Winter is Back

Burrr, it's below 0F in Speculator right now, the western 'Daks got over 2'. Someone must had found a virgin to sacrifice to the snow gods. Wiring up the Cedarhurst Motel, well at least I have my room wired with high speed. So now I have three places up here where I have a room with HBO and high speed.

Wrapped up the job Saturday. At the local diner in Spec, the Sunrise, I saw a flyer from a guy who does CAD design for buildings and septic. So on my way back to Albany, I picked up another website job.

Goodbye to West Hartford, CT

My father is selling the old family house and moving down to Potomac, MD. Lot of memories, I didn't live too long in West Hartford but I was born and lived till 13 in the City of Hartford. Took lots of junk: he's 78 and has more junk than he could handle. CT is a really messed up state road-wise. These safety wusses love to put stop signs everywhere: on curves, rr crossings that see 1 train/month, at almost every inersection. It is so bad that they have to put signs telling people when it isn't an all-way stop so they will actually stop, instead of blowing through all those pestilential pussy stop signs. On their interstates and limited access highways, they have lots of left exits and entrances. On I-91 between Hartford and Windsor, they have a carpool lane, which takes up two regular lanes and has no passing or exits until the Hartford City line, which they don't tell you when you get on that utter waste of good road space and money: they even built ramps and overpasses for the HOV lanes, that almost no one uses. Typical brain-dead CT thinking! CT has yearly emissions testing; but if you buy your car new, you never have to have a safety inspection on it. A used car will get inspected once by the state when you first register it though. So there are tons of really badly maintained vehicles on the road, even nice ones. Every third car has at least one brake light out. They have these fancy emission testing centers, you'd think they would throw a safety check too while they are there every year.

Spent 2 days in Boonville

Thursday, Friday and tried to drum some business up. Thanks to the weather, business is shit, anyone know a virgin we can sacrifice to the snow gods? Lowville, north of B'ville, is the center of the snow belt and has no snow, it's like spring. Boonville is totally retrogade; most of them are getting used to dial yourself rotary desk phones, they just gave up their hand cranked ones. But prices are cheap their, there is an A-Plus mini mart with the cheapest gas and high test coffee for $.64 a mug; compare that to rip-off McDonald's who want $1.84 to fill up the same cup. Starbuck's cofee is cheaper than both CrapDonalds and Punkin Donuts. Took NY 28 to NY 30 back home, sold a CAT 5 wiring job to my friend in Speculator at a deep, horrible winter, discount. The Eagle runs great with clean plugs and my gas mileage went up, so I spend less on the juice. Bosch 2 and 4 electrode plugs are prone to foul, so I bring cleaning stuff, xtra plugs and sockets all the time now.

Gonna Hit the Road

Going lean and mean this time, prolly camp-out. Heading W-N-W, maybe?
Update: Boonville, Lowville via NY 7 to I-890 in Schen, to NY 5 to Amsterdam. Then NY 67 west to Johnstown, where I tanked up and took NY 29 through the lower 'Daks to Middleville, where I picked up my NY 28 to NY 12. that is a short and good hardcore 2 lane route with no tolls or b.s.

Drive Home

Took the Olympic Way NY 3-86-Old Mil Road-73 to the Northway. Kept some good time, taking the occassional pass here and there to keep the pace up. Wasn't till I cleared Keene Valley did I find someone worth following. In spite of all the Statey traps, I came up clean every time. Some of the passes might have gotten a little over 55 mph though, this is NY State!

Tuned up the old beast

yesterday. Put a good high quality cap, rotor and Bosch 4 electrode Pt plugs in the old thing, 2.4 l, 16 valves, and she ran like a champ this time. Finally realized that the other Bosch plugs 2 electrode, Pt plug, were getting fouled up with soot. Also, put some shock bushings in as cushions for the 5/16" eyebolt that I was using to hold my Thrush® muffler to the bumper. Saves gas and ears, smooth purring!




Then I went for a starlight patrol of NY 3 & 30, the Sara-Tupper Speedway, to Saranac Lake to the only all night store in the Tri-lakes Region. It ran like a dream, with Beethoven's 9th, Ode to Joy and the highbeams on the whole time. NY 3 rules all other NY routes. It's simply the best road in design, scenery, challenge, and age. Ironically, I cover it from Plattsburgh to Wanakena on adkI87.com and nyroute30.com.