Foghorn

So now it's time for lunch I'm thinking but Susie wants to got to Ironton to eat at the "Iron Mule". We head back West on Hwy.72, pass Lake Killarney and into Arcadia Valley. A nice lunch and my bad hip is thinking home. Nope, we go to see the Civil War site at Pilot Knob. We got home after a 7 hour and 30" trip and hopefully a good night sleep for all. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery and the time spent with the grandkids.

Susie and I have 9 grandkids 4 of which are still young enough to want to do things with us. Our youngest daughter, Brittani has 4 from 11 to 6 years old. If you take all 4 of them for any overnight stay you will be busy. This weekend we got the 2 oldest boys for a 2 night stay. We started the morning off at Millstream Gardens for the Midwest Whitewater championships. Got there around 09:30 and the main parking areas were relatively sparse. Once we got close enough to see the course, there must have been 7-8 people in every car. There was still plenty of places to sit only not so comfortable on my almost 71 year old body. The boys attention span lasted maybe 30",then they began their normal rock climbing and playing along the stream. Saw some good "runs" and had kayakers as far away as from the state of Washington . . So now it's time to head out and I offer a rip to explore the "Silver Mines" area or go to see the Civil War museum at Pilot Knob. It's Silver Mines to see the stream and the old dam. That was a good choice as I hadn't been there in close to 55 years. The boys enjoyed the hike and scenery and Susie and I were pretty gassed from the rugged trail.

I got sidetracked with the Mrs. Was originally thinking "that would be a tough dinner to order if you had a couple glasses of wine and had to wait for a table".

Looks like those baby backs turned out great!

There is a ferry that crosses he Mississippi just north of Ste. Genevieve.

I talked to a guy from Arkansas last week while we were fishing Montauk about the roundup. Said his wife had maybe one a fly tying contest in the amateur division. Not sure as while we were talking, we were both watching Susie catch fish on an elk hair caddis.

They offer full and half day catch and release. Fly rod only and you fish below the bridge next to the hatchery office. They have in recent years allowed you to fish the entire stream until the first of March.

With the weather forecast of high's in the mid 60's, Susie and I made a Montauk run. We got to the park around 07:30 and drove up to the hatchery office to check the upper end. Looked like a lot of folks had the same idea as there must have been 15 cars in the upper lot. To the campground to see if it was crowded and it was pretty much empty of fishermen. We saw 5 campers and a couple of tents and one person fishing. We fished from campsite 210 to the handicap hole and had a pretty good day. We caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 fish between us and lost another 8-10 fish. Hot fly for me was a bead head fox squirrel nymph and Susie's best fly was an awesome possum scud in bleached ginger. It was starting to get crowded by 14:00 so we headed home. It was a great day to be outside and be fishing.

Did you ever start tying Rick's favorite fly?

No oatmeal raisin cookies, Sandy?. Rick brought I think 7 dozen to the cabin at Roaring River for the opener one year. We had ribs, pork tenderloin and wings and invited Rick and Harv over for dinner. We had 5 in our group and the cookies were all eaten by the next morning.

Atta girl Sandy!

Awesome!

Great cause and a nice turnout!

I wonder if they are going to video Phil's swim. My son had a friend who was going to do a cold water challenge several years ago. Ed was a little clumsy and as they started the video, he hit a slick batch of rocks and went in. Repeatedly. By the time he got in water deep enough to go under, he was completely soaked. He has a great sense of humor and just rolled with it.

Amen, Oneshot

That'd a goodun!

That would be a good cookie to put on one of my brother's plates.

Years ago, we were at Roaring for the opener. First day was the usual circus and the boys and I caught some big fish. We woke up the second day to -2 temps and a snow coming. We decided to wait to see ifit was going to get warmer so we headed to the lodge for breakfast. And nope it still was below zero when we finished breakfast. Off to Tim's to check out what he had in stock. He was still in the little store and the 4 of us rummaging around made for tight quarters. Tim had some 5'3" Fenwick Fenglass rods and I thought "that we would be fun to fish". He stuck an Orvis Battenkill LA 1 on the rod and it felt good. Two of the other guys also liked the feel of this outfit so 3 of us bought one each. Tim loaded it with line and backing and we headed to the stream. It wasn't much above zero when we started to fish and I found a double digit laying along the bank that somehow had slipped by the crowds. I yelled for "Rick" who was more than capable of catching the fish and he in turn yelled for his brother. I really think his brother could not have picked the fish up in the parking lot if it was dead. And he as figured bombarded it with a jig and it disappeared into the deep. The boys headed downstream and I waited and watched the fish come right back in his corner spot. Ended up catching the fish on that little rod. It was rated 4-5 weight and was bent over most of the fight. We estimated it at 11.5# as we never got a picture of it. Again the cold weather was the culprit. This was before cellphones with excellent cameras and Ricks 35mm was in his car. It was so cold he could not get the film to advance.

Susie and I are in. All those fish Phil has caught and released will probably be schooled up waiting to return the favor of a bite when he jumps in.

Very interesting . Thanks for sharing. Wife's family were some of the earliest settlers in Belleview valley on both the maternal and paternal sides of her family. Mine were late to the show and settled on land North of Johnson's Shut Ins.

We have lots of gray's in the neighborhood . Told one of my old railroad coworkers that Feather-Craft was selling prime fox squirrel hides at the time for $20 a hide. He said "I must of throwed a million dollars worth of them away". That was years ago.

Mmmm -fox squirrel hides.

Great pics but the last one is hilarious. Baby girl already knows who her buddy is!

Looks like you started the Thanksgiving holiday off well. Got my belly full and was thinking a short nap but Susie and i asked the middle two grandkids to come back home for a sleepover. They are a hoot so it should add to the wonderful weekend we're having. Hope everyone is safe and are enjoying family time together. I missed too many Holiday celebrations over the years working on the railroad.