First

The first cast of the jugs in the new boat went ok. There were some changes in the way that we do things, but, over all, it went to suit us. Here is a look at the first catch.

First cast results. Two blue and two oppelousas catfish. One blue weighed six.

The bait fish trapping took awhile to figure out just where they were, but went well after that and we had enough bait fish to cast 24 jugs and put a few bream back in the lake.

We cast the jugs last evening in a place that is usually productive during the pre spawn and had four fish on the jug lines this morning.

We will fish kind of slow and easy until all of our campers get here then we will pick up the pace, putting out more jugs at night.

The Mossman’s and Pete and Oscar are in the Texarkana area,about eighty miles away,  so maybe we will have a pickin’ and grinnin’ around the campfire tonight !

We are at Lake Greeson, USCOE, Kirby Landing, Weston Point Campground, site 89. Ya’ better get in on this, it’ll be another year before we do it again !

So far, so good ! Come on out to the lake and lets have a fish fry !

SHUTDOWN

Received this notice from the USCOE Ranger this evening. Click on the photo to make it larger.

So, if them politicos in Washington don’t get their stuff together, we might get booted off of the lake. They have no choice, should the government shut down.

Until then, we’ll:

 

Soak up atmosphere,

Enjoy the view,

And pay the bills by computer.

BRAIN

While out in Colorado last year, we took our Ford dually into the dealership in Alamosa to clear a dashboard warning light. They gave it a software update and all has been well ever since.

During our driveway visit with our folks, we received a letter from Ford Motor Company about another software update that would monitor several engine functions that we liked. Example moisture in fuel, coolant level, ect. ect..

Now that the truck is back from the dealership with it’s brain freshly zapped, we are getting it ready for the lake.

Oil changed, tires rotated and ready for another year on the road.

It all starts with washing off the bed liner before installing and tying down the generator and putting it’s cover on.

Then comes the fifth wheel after servicing it and the king pin on the Coleman 5er.

Lake, we got it on our mind.

UTILITY

Everybody camps differently so their camping tent or trailer is different, to meet those needs. Sometimes during extended stays, there isn’t enough room to store refrigerator or freezer items, especially when a couple of meals a day are shared with a group. Our solution is to bring a small utility trailer to the lake that has a small deep freeze and a small refrigerator on it that can provide extra storage for the group. Here is a look:

Ramp down, stabilizers down and extra picnic table loaded.

Deep freeze loaded, refrigerator loaded.

Bait traps and live box loaded.

Loading ramp and stabilizer close up.

This handy little trailer sits hooked up to electricity, available to all of the jugfesters and is very stable for foot traffic when your hands are full of storage items.

Friends and kin folks are getting ready to meet at the lake.

As ice comes out of the freezer, one gallon zip lock bags 0f catfish fillets go in. Hey, ya’ gotta’ have ice in them frosty cold glasses of tea, to wash down them golden brown fish, fries and hush puppies !

Got yer’ fishin’ hat on ?

LOADING

Today was a great Spring time day to be working outside in the yard, but, I didn’t. Instead I worked on getting stuff loaded to go to the lake. It went like this:

Battery’s fully charged, check.

Fuel topped off, check.

Jugs loaded, check.

Sonar operational, check.

Tackle box loaded, check.

Fishin’, we gotter’ on our mind !

TEES

Each year Amazon gives it’s workers that complete the CHRISTmas Rush Season, lots of little perks. One that we enjoy in particular is the tee shirts.

Ours arrived in the mail yesterday. Here is a look:

Large back graphic.

Front graphic on left side.

Our 2009 shirt said, “I SURVIVED”, Coffeyville 2009 CHRISTmas Season ! I wonder what the 2011 shirt will look like ?

Though not an expensive item, they are quite an conversation opener at RV gatherings.

Amazon’s facilities are so large that it is impossible to meet every one of our coworker’s and we are always seeing a tee shirt somewhere, and spending time with the wearer, visiting about our experience there, or answering questions from curious RVer’s about how to go to work there and so on and so forth.

This years tee shirt is a quality “tagless” shirt by Hanes and we look forward to wearing them for years as we travel around America’s Heartland.

We noted that each envelope that we received was addressed in the most beautiful hand writing. A labor intensive personal touch that we greatly appreciated. Yes, it was just like receiving a letter from home.

Our hats are off, to our great coworkers at Campbellsville, that make our time there so special.

NEON

Betty and I have always enjoyed driving any part of old Historic Route 66 that we get near during our travels.

The architecture and signage are quite unique and are truly Americana at it’s finest. 

However, it is the neon that always thrills us the most, and apparently we aren’t the only ones. Here is a link to a search on You Tube for “Route 66 Neon”.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=route+66+neon&aq=f

We have been known to set our clocks so that we can get up early when there is less traffic about, allowing us to roll slowly by those cool neon signs, taking it all in.

Neon signs are expensive and are hard to keep up, yet the business owners know how powerful their attraction is and think they are well worth it. We think so too and patronize those places at every opportunity.

This short video is one of our favorites. It is the theme music from Route 66, the TV show, with many of the animated signs.

Neon Highway Animated Signs

If you have a few minutes, click on the link above and enjoy the stroll down memory lane.