Wanderings

Anything you dream is fiction,
and anything you accomplish is science,
the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.
- Ray Bradbury
September 28th, 2009

Spent Sunday on a Road Trip

It rained the whole day on Sunday, so I did not get any pictures. It was a great trip, though. Erica and I went up to the Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook, NY. They have Pick-Your-Own deals, but the rain was too much. We bought 1/2 peck (a small shopping bag) of  macoun apples and a wonderful apple pie. The apple pies are the old fashioned kind with a thick crispy crust and tart firm apples. It is very different from supermarket apple mush pies with soft crusts.

We then plugged in Millertom, NY into the GPS. Erica had a recollection of the place from an article she read a few years ago. It is a cute little town in Columbia County, NY right on the Connecticut border.

Millerton was a cute little town, but when we wanted lunch only the town diner had empty seats – for good reason. Erica and I sat down and then left because of the unsanitary look of the place. There was a “Tea Bar”, but it only had a few tables and none were empty. There was a Coffee Bar, but the prices were very high and the place had a line waiting for tables.

We stopped at an Organic Farm stand and I bought an apple cider doughnut to keep my blood sugar up. We also bought organic baby beets for dinner when we got home, which were wonderful.

We went through some of the most beautiful country in the area. It was alternately horse farms and rugged hills. There were no flat places and the ride was wonderful. If I go again I will bring the big Nikon camera and take pictures.

The foliage was just starting to change. On the hilltops there was lots of color starting to appear, mostly yellows from the sugar maples. This will darken up to reds as the month goes on and the oaks start to change.

I used about half a tank of gas in the new truck. Good mileage was one of the reasons that I bought it. I had a great time, even though I had about 4 hours behind the wheel. I am looking forward to the next road trip. I hope we can go gallivanting again.






August 7th, 2009

Cash for Clunkers

I bought a new truck during lunch hour today.

If you have a car that is at the tail end of its trade-in value, you really should get rid of it now. I got rid of a 23 year old car that I did not drive and was not worth much more than scrap value and got a $4500 Cash for Clunkers deal on a new truck.

I started this earlier in the week, but due to the feeding frenzy that this deal has caused, the first truck I bought was already sold by another salesman as I was getting ready to sign the papers. I had to take the identical truck, but in a color that I did not want.

In addition to the Clunker deal, I also got 0% financing. I was able to get an extra $200 off the price because of the mix up.

This is like getting a new car for free. I have a very low monthly payment and as soon as I get an old fashioned cassette player in the truck I can cruise down the highway playing the harmonica along with my blues tapes, smelling that new truck smell.