Drive

Back IRL#

• Visited a swap meet last weekend. Found some old radio gear and tech books. Nothing particularly unusual. The swap meet was pretty small. Vivian was there with me (along with Spawn #2). She counted nine sellers. A lot of that had to do with other events going on that day. I almost bought a tailgate space that day, but decided at the 11th hour not to. Only had a few things that would fit the venue, and have another event going on next weekend on the 17th. More about that next.
• There was a military store I had been going to since I was in 3rd or 4th Grade. The founder helped get me into collecting military heraldry, and I’ve been friends with the current owner of the business since middle school. She closed down the brick-and-mortar operation two years ago last March, but still sponsors a military surplus and collectibles show twice a year. I’ve had the same table space pretty much every year since 2018. I miss having the store to visit, but the usual characters always make the show.

The Duffle Bag Military show will be next weekend, 10/17/2026, in Patterson, NY. See https://www.thedufflebaginc.com/militaria-show for more info.

Lost Roads#

My commute to the day job is 35 miles and one hour via side roads. If I take the Interstate it might go a little quicker assuming there is no problems with the rush hour traffic. That’s a pretty big (and incorrect) assumption most days, so I take the side roads; the lost roads. Most people, the normies actually, jump on the Interstate at their nearest exit, and slowly idle their way down I-whatever bitching all the while. They take the nearest exit to their day job, get off the freeway, and repeat 8 hours later. I take my side road to the nearest state highway. About 10 minutes down the road is a Dunks and a Cumbies where I can get breakfast and gas if I’m so inclined. Eventually I find my way to US-44 that has even more potential stopping places on it. Takes me the same amount of time, distance, and gas as if I hopped on I-84 to go to work. The way home is where it’s at. I got a bookstore (Barnes and Noble, but you take what you can get), a few supermarkets, restaurants, a Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Staples, Goodwill, Little Free Libraries, and a few junk/antique stores on the way back. The Goodwill seems to get a lot of vintage (pre-MSDOS) computer books for whatever reason(s). I also get to drive through the historical village of Collinsville if I feel like it. If I want to get a quick walk in, I can stop at the rail trail for a bit, and grab a coffee later. I can’t do any of that taking the Interstate. Pick up US-44 anywhere on Connecticut and go west. Eventually you will find yourself in Millerton, NY. There is a place there (among many): Oblong Books. Keep going and you’ll reach Millbrook, of Timothy Leary fame. Daheim is for sale by the way, and a bargain at only $65 Million. US-44 will bring you to US-9W. Stay north on 9W, and you will eventually reach a side road when entering Kingston that’ll take you to the famous P&T Surplus. You’ll find me there on the rare Saturday afternoon, when my wanderings bring me that way. US-9W will take you to US-209. I would normally get off US-209 onto NY-28 and head into the Catskills after making a stop at Kenco Outfitters. There is an interesting roadside attraction in Mt Tremper the fam likes to stop at. There are other places and roads too which I will leave for you to discover. No interstates were used in the making of this journey.

What’s the frequency, Kenneth?#

While you’re driving, keep the radio below 92 MHz. You’ll find interesting listening down there. Colleges, non-profits, public radio, low-power fringe stuff. You never know when someone might find a dead frequency on their local dial, and stream GZS on it from a transmitter they stuck in their attic.