tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8106234553264358032024-02-19T09:02:53.783-06:00Turnip Truck Chronicles...... a tally of adventures from exiting the bidness world to following the shade around the house to fly fishing the U.S. from a motorhome.Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-81256648246640468172014-09-25T08:32:00.001-06:002014-09-25T08:32:12.519-06:00From School Bus to Fabulous. Don't Miss This Must-See Mobile Tiny Home. - Tiny Homes | Simple Living | SnugShack<a href="http://www.snugshack.com/school-bus-fabulous-dont-miss-must-see-mobile-tiny-home/#.VCQnU2jkIi8.blogger">From School Bus to Fabulous. Don't Miss This Must-See Mobile Tiny Home. - Tiny Homes | Simple Living | SnugShack</a>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-20279499771908038852012-07-05T20:31:00.000-06:002012-07-05T20:57:18.450-06:00Lost In The Woods Interview<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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From the world of business to the world of fly-fishing: Grant Carter lives the dream</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By </span><span class="author vcard" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://plus.google.com/103017075296357415462?rel=author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #27408b; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Liz Childers">Liz Childers</a></span> <span class="meta-sep" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">| </span><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-entry-date" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Published </span><span class="entry-date" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><abbr class="published" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; cursor: help; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2012-07-05T12:31:59-0500">July 5, 2012</abbr></span></div>
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Grant Carter is no lazy retiree.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFN4YoOTcMnm2ZZwklsA0Eigp-M7ki4L9AYE7vRhjB9aQVqT-j_1FsELEG81B-kOqGCXCVuV_1wwCz7R9cd01G-fQWPaFdvsn4dE2xfhByaCHG0tDPH3cBkdGIMC2ScP3qbYlBxiS7xscI/s1600/IMG_0271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFN4YoOTcMnm2ZZwklsA0Eigp-M7ki4L9AYE7vRhjB9aQVqT-j_1FsELEG81B-kOqGCXCVuV_1wwCz7R9cd01G-fQWPaFdvsn4dE2xfhByaCHG0tDPH3cBkdGIMC2ScP3qbYlBxiS7xscI/s200/IMG_0271.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
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He admittedly spent some time “following the shade around the house” after he left the working world, but that did not last long. With a new lakeside house near his granddaughters, daughter, and son-in-law, Grant began to convert the family into fishermen.</div>
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Fly-fishing, Grant’s sport of choice, was not readily accessible in his new home of Germantown, Tennessee. And that made his decision to start traveling very easy. Armed with his first RV and a yen to cast his fly rod, Grant took to the road.</div>
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I recently talked with Grant about his RV, Turnip Truck, how he started traveling the country, and his adventures on the road. For more about Grant, check out his blog, <a href="http://turniptruckchronicles.blogspot.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #27408b; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Turnip Truck Chronicles</a>.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What was your day job before Turnip Truck?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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My bio says it was following the shade around the house, but I think you mean a paying job, right? I began as a country banker, segued to an investment banker and finished up by owning my own construction company. Now I am after the big money – writing a fly-fishing, travel blog: <a href="http://turniptruckchronicles.blogspot.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #27408b; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Turnip Truck Chronicles</em></a><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">. </em>These blogs do make money, don’t they?</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the Turnip Truck and how did it earn that name?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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<span id="more-1169" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Rocinante [Don Quioxote’s horse] was taken. After reading Steinbeck’s <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Travels With Charley, </em>I knew that one day I too would receive the finger salute on a narrow two-lane road.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What made you decide to start traveling the country in a motorhome and how long ago was that?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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After moving from Florida, my home trout fishing waters were in and around Cotter, Arkansas on the White and Norfork Rivers. On a weekend property shopping trip, I discovered some wonderful RV campgrounds right on the rivers and I had a V-8 moment…<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">let’s see, no taxes, no lawn mowing</em>, <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and I would still have a river front location</em>. Locations made the decision easy and Turnip Truck I was purchased. Turnip Truck I turned out to be too small for my wife so I upgraded to almost the biggest motorhome one can buy – even had a washer and dryer. Yet again, too small. This week Turnip Truck III arrives and is actually smaller than the first one and is configured for boondocking – camping off the grid.</div>
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<a href="http://www.camping-gear-outlet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-07-02_11-01-31_445.jpeg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #27408b; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1171 " height="312" src="http://www.camping-gear-outlet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-07-02_11-01-31_445.jpeg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-width: initial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2012-07-02_11-01-31_445" width="555" /></a><br />
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The new Turnip Truck III</div>
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A lot of my friends ask me how I travel so much with the wife at home. Some even phrase the question with envy. I respond, “First, find a claustrophobic woman, then make sure she is much more understanding than is her fear of small places.”</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What has been your favorite trip – so far?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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Trips are like your kids or dogs – each is different but you love everything about them. The worst occurrence was having GPS Jill on a cold, rainy night turn me up a dead end road with no turn around.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tell me about the next trip you are planning.</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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How much time do you have? The next trip will be large. The first stop will be into the Driftless area of Wisconsin. Next stops: the Black Hills to the Big Horn River. Then, a week’s stop in Livingston’s Paradise Valley, and then on to Glacier National Park. A stopover on the Missouri in Craig en route to Twin Bridges (son-in-law will fly in for a week of fly fishing) to Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons into Utah’s Canyonlands into Arizona, the Grand Canyon and maybe Las Vegas (wife may fly in for a few days to rough it at the Bellagio.) Working my way to home waters, back to Cotter, Arkansas.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By my count, you have already been to 39 states – and I love </strong><a href="http://turniptruckchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/02/whatcha-seeing.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #27408b; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">your post</strong></a><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> that describes each one. Of the places you have not been, what is your dream destination?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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Dream destination? I’d love to be able to boondock around 42nd Street in Manhattan and plant a camp chair and watch people all day.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Are your travels limited to fly fishing destinations or do you sometimes travel simply to travel?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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<a href="http://www.camping-gear-outlet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/100_0077.jpeg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #27408b; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-1172" height="226" src="http://www.camping-gear-outlet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/100_0077.jpeg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-width: initial; display: inline; float: right; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="100_0077" width="375" /></a>Fly-fishing creates a heading that combines with local music, road food and history – I’m a “C” student of the Civil War and the migration West from Lewis and Clark to present day pilgrims like Ted Turner. Local art and music plays a big part [in my travels] although I can’t carry a tune and can barely paint by numbers – Zydeco in [Louisiana], bluegrass in the Smokies, opera through Nebraska, and great songwriting in Texas. Though, when traveling through Nashville, I listen to talk shows … I’ve never cared for the music produced by hedge funds.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What I find the most interesting is that you have gone from being fully involved in the “bidness world” to a life spent totally enjoying what you love in nature. How do these worlds contrast for you and what have you gained from indulging your love of fly-fishing?</strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div>
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The bidness world is, for good reasons, much more competitive than fly-fishing or traveling. When you leave the axiom of “some days you eat the bear and some days the,” … well you know, stress, the best way to interface with life is to engage socially. Not Facebook, but actually hearing laughter. The biggest gain? Friends – lots of ‘em.</div>
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-50627630899622538632012-03-23T09:21:00.000-06:002012-03-23T09:38:24.640-06:00Turnip Truck Film FestivalIt has been raining possums and armadillos here in Cotter. Jackson pulled out his stash of treats, nosed a box of DVDs and suggested we watch some films ... mostly modern films, you know those with great effects but no substance. While watching a car roll eighty seven times I thought of my old favorite films and decided to share - the emphasis is upon comedy. You want drama, watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8NInYPgofI">Mrs. Miniver</a><br />
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......." ten to twenty million, tops." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFEiSNMcARU&feature=related">Best Drama, err Comedy Performances By an Ensemble</a><br />
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......." gamble along." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgpD0Z0u0uE">Best Dramatic Scene That'll Make You Smile</a><br />
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......." endeavor to persevere." "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPFP_XazE5U">Best Humorous Dramatic Scene In A Western</a><br />
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......." you mean I'm going to stay this color?" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANph32LoXR4">Best Comedy Of All Times</a><br />
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......." don't touch the hair!" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq4ZMKqWk80">Second Best Comedy Without Trying To Be ... the best comedy</a><br />
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......." the only musical performance by an artist." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG9tuuznL1Y">Best Song and Trivia Question</a><br />
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......." Yeah!" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8">Best Performance For Floor Seats To Laker's Games</a><br />
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......." it was awful - its hands! - its eyes." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFEiSNMcARU&feature=related">Best Horror Comedy Now, But Pee In Pants Scary When Ten</a><br />
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......." music and laughs, not original" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AnswYlEGHc">Best Laughs (not the laughtrack) in a Fly Fishing Movie</a><br />
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Join in - name your favorites. <br />
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Also, keep laughing!Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-26165171245752062802012-03-04T20:01:00.000-06:002012-03-04T20:01:22.677-06:00The River White ~ Reviewed<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The River White</span> </b> <i><b>A Confluence of Brush and Quill</b></i></span></td></tr>
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You know <i>Oh Shenandoah </i>- you know <i>Across The Wide Missouri</i> - you know <i>Old Man River</i> - but you may not know The White River of the Ozarks. </div>
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<i>The River White - A Confluence of Brush and Quill</i> will allow for you to experience a guided float trip upon the White River - the visuals accompanied by lyrics will be there comfortably resting in your lap. As you travel down river with Duane Hada's watercolor views and Ken Hada's lyrical poetry, it is only for you to add the symphonic sounds of heron squawks, riffles, water falls and the ever present caws from crows as they cross the river from pasture to pasture.</div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">A river begins</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">and we will follow,</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">we will marvel </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">together -</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">the birds </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">and I, </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">broken limbs, </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">fallen leaves -</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">hands of God </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">And will you travel</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">with us too</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">You can - if you</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">learn to see, if you</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">listen to see, if</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">you listen and </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">promise to leave</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">her unblemished</span>.</i></div>
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<i>The River White</i> melds the brother's images - images formed from the Ozarks' unique history, images from kids walking miles of river banks in muddy tennis shoes, images of the seasons on the White, images of a brown trout sliding sideways to capture a sowbug, </div>
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I came to the White River late in life, uneducated of its past. I came as a new fly fisherman. The river captured me and became my home waters. Claiming the White my home river allows me to tell other visiting pilgrims which flies to use - sometimes they work. </div>
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To the Hadas the river has been a mother's hand and a father's instruction of woods and water. Together they are giving back. The River White, with every page, expresses their affection so clearly. The watercolors place your eyes in the bow of a river boat and lyrical poetry is your guide's voice as your travel through the cliffs of the Ozarks to the flatlands of the delta where the Mississippi River welcomes the White. I am particularly fond of the stretch of river with its special seams between the Bull Shoals damn and the quaint town of Cotter, the Trout Capital, USA.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Historic Cotter Bridge</span></td></tr>
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I have friends who will appreciate the beauty and the trout takes on their favorite stretch from Shipps Ferry through Rim Shoals. Duane and Ken have captured the flow well. Downriver from Rim the fishing pressure abates somewhat but the beauty grows and the confluence of brush and quill continue to deliver the reader to undercut banks and overhanging Sycamore trees.There is not a fly fisherman in the area that does not love the additional fishing that the Norfork River provides as it flows to the White.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Accompanying the Hada's interpretations is Gregg Patterson's excellent historical perspective on the White River. His narrative begins at the origin of the White River, and then glides over the nation's oldest mountain range, the Ozark Mountains to share the steps of growth - the good, the bad. He chronicles the additions of the dams that created the famous trout tailwaters that we cherish and band together to protect. <i>The River White</i> will aid in that protective adoration.</span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">See the fisherman</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> lining the ripples</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> mending to a spot</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> they see, a spot</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> that allures them,</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> holds them entranced</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> beneath the seraphic sky,</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> the voltaries flush</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> with line and fly,</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"> shriveled in attention.</span></i></div>
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Duane Hada is an artist who guides or maybe that is reversed - ask him and you will either be double hauling or buying a book or painting - he is that engaging. Duane is the owner and can be reached at the <a href="http://rivertowngallery.com/">Rivertown Gallery</a> in Mountain Home, Arkansas. For those ready to own <i>The River White</i> this is the link to visit.<br />
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For more about Ken Hada visit <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/author.php?auth_id=2573">The Writer's Almanac</a> </span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">Walk like a Heron</span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Walk like a Heron</span></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">my brother tells me</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><i></i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><i>as we sneak into</i></span></div>
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fish like a Heron-</div>
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live like a king.</div>
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<i>The River White</i> is now in the Turnip Truck Library. I recommend it for your collection. For my RVing friends, even though you may not fly fish, I urge you to pinpoint the Ozarks, especially Cotter, on your map. One of the best RV parks, <a href="http://www.dentonrv.com/">Denton Ferry RV Park and Resort</a> , you'll ever find is on the banks of the White River. Here you will see the beauty penned in <i>The River White. </i><br />
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If you fly fish, sooner or later you will visit the White River - the experience is a must for any fishing bucket list. By reading and enjoying the <i>The River White</i> your desire to make it sooner will prevail. This wonderful book as published evolved from forty five original watercolors that are now in a private collection. The works are stunning and you may view them on display at Dally's Ozark Angler in Cotter, Ar. For newcomers to the area planning to attend the <a href="http://www.northarkansasflyfisher.org/sowbug_roundup.html">Sowbug Roundup</a> on March 22, 23, and 24, 2012, visit the fly shop to view Duane Hada's originals for the White River, plus you will find the timing perfect to fish a spring caddis hatch and visit with and observe some of the best fly tyers in the country.<br />
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At the Sowbug Roundup I will be <a href="http://turniptruckchronicles.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-01-23T14:05:00-06:00&max-results=10" style="color: #cc0000;">Tying The Jackson</a> on Thursday morning and volunteering at the booth of Friends Of The Norfork National Fish Hatchery in the afternoon. Please stop by and say hello. I'm always looking for suggested locations for the next Turnip Truck trip.<br />
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The First Edition, 2011, The River White by Duane Hada and Ken Hada is copyrighted and no part of this review may be reproduced, performed, recorded, or otherwise transmitted without the written consent of the reviewer, the authors, and the permission of the publisher.</div>
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<br /></div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-27930840226874292482012-02-23T08:54:00.000-06:002012-02-23T08:54:07.074-06:00To The Mattresses!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">"No, no, no! No more! Not this time, consiglieri. No more meetings, no more discussions, no more Sollozzo tricks. You give them one message: I want Sollozzo. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">If not, it's all out war: we go to the mattresses." ~ Sonny Corleone</span></div>
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Big bidness men, when confronted with external marketing problems do what bidness men are trained to do, form a committee and schedule a meeting with telling charts galore, standard deviations, stochastics, demographics, psychographics, slide shows and the key, lunch. The usual results, new sub-committees are formed and all are encouraged to share ideas and recommendations via emails and tweets, and then schedule another lunch. (1)</div>
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With wise guys, when divisions within the company arise, wise guys do what all business men do, schedule a meeting - although wise guys call them sit-downs and the only externals might be an abundance of cigar smoke. They cut to the chase and close ranks for the good of the company - it's never personal, it's business, just good business. From a sit-down the usual results are that a sub-committee of one is selected and assigned for that thing, you know, that thing. No emails, no tweets, just a simple phone call , "You know that thing, it's fixed."(2)</div>
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Big corporate bidness has its way of solving problems. Wise guys have another way. Now let's take a look at how small businesses struggle with externals. For the heck of it, we will use independent fly shops for demonstration purposes.</div>
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The good news is that most fly shops are located fairly close to good fly fishing waters, therefore the demographics are usually good. Top notch employees are easy to find - young students are always eager for a few part-time dollars and equipment discounts. Then there is the retired bidness executive (resume available upon request) whose spouse evicts him daily when <i>As The World Turns</i> is about to come on the television - plus, old timers work cheap. Other benefits, work is indoors with no real heavy lifting, location is not such that exorbitant rents must be paid, and the events in Greece shouldn't affect the afternoon hatch.</div>
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The difficulties begin with the fact that owning a fly shop is retailing and with that goes another poor man's parable, "The only thing more overrated than natural childbirth is the joy of owning your own store."(3) Fly shops open the door each morning with a store full of inventory waiting to be turned. They scratch and claw to provide the best product lines with advance commitments and spending. When low in inventory, a Ford dealer calls Ford and says send me some more Fords. When low in products, a fly shop owner has to make many different calls and here lies the rub - some might say, you know, that thing - they call to order say, waders from a company that is selling said waders directly to buyers via a website, or maybe to a rod company that is selling the same rod on page 42, of their fly fishing catalog. Ten years ago the fly shop owner competed with the other fly shop across the river. Then that fly shop was gone and the main competition became a 40,000 square foot store, if lucky, fifty miles away - then came eBay, then Amazon, then a friend he used to share a beer with at the Denver show started catalog sales, and if those events are not stressful, more and more these days a fly shop owner is confronted with coopetition, you know, that thing, go along to get along. </div>
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When is enough, enough? What is the diminution of value? Is there a strategery? </div>
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I'll tell you what I would do - but first let me confess;</div>
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"Bless me Lefty for I have sinned. I have purchased fly fishing equipment on eBay, and yes Amazon too and I have even ordered from a catalog." ... a gentle voice responds, "Say three Hail Whitlocks and and four Our Gierachs, go forth and sin no more." </div>
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With that cleansing absolution and no skin in the game, here is a Turnip Truck solution for the fly shop owner: </div>
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Form a equity based cooperative made up of as many independent fly shop owners as possible.<br />
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<li>Create a brand name - shops can still be the Foggy Bottom Fly Shop, but the brand name must dominate.</li>
<li>Create a top to bottom branded rod line, a top to bottom branded reel line, an adult to junior branded wader line, a branded fly line (cough, cough) line and a branded apparel line and ensure that all accessory lines are packaged under the brand name. Huge economies of scale and margins.</li>
<li>Create a company brand buyers club - annual fee gets the customer annual discounts - steps so far, branding and pricing to attract and keep customers - the annual buyers club fee will provide marketing seed funds, will bring credit vendors knocking on the door and assure competitive pricing.</li>
<li>Create an internet store featuring all of the above - remember this is an equity entity, if an order is placed in Manhattan, profits can still flow to Foggy Bottom.</li>
<li>Create a percentage of gross, national advertising program..."who are those guys? - I dunno, but they're gaining on us."</li>
<li>Create at each store a youth fly fishing team (patterned after the PGA's First Tee). Empower parents not near a store to create a youth team of their own.</li>
<li>Create a Guides Program unequaled in value (guidespeak for almost free gear) plus enlist approved guides as commissioned sales reps.</li>
<li>Create a 5% of sales habitat environment contribution in conjunction with TU, BFTT, and Federation chapters.</li>
<li>Create a Destination Travel Vendor program to be fed clients via the branded shops and/or the internet.</li>
<li>Hire a top of the CEO suit type to herd this operation - low starting pay with generous stock options.</li>
<li>Retain the law firm of Dewey, Cheetam and Howe to keep notes on that fair trade thing.</li>
<li>Finally, when the marketing coffers are at a surplus, fund a Hollywood movie about fly fishing... I'm kidding, I'm kidding! ... I think.</li>
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Having confessed my buying sins, I want the future to ensure that when the Turnip Truck drives into Foggy Bottom there will be a first class fly shop waiting there for me ... and my branded buyers club membership.</div>
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For each bullet point above there are ten pages of whys, wherefores and how to's, and if I coulda, woulda, shoulda scenarios. I'm sure many(one can hope) readers will chuckle and say, no way could this happen. Maybe not, but consider that it may just be time for fly shops to become the squeezor and not the squeezee. You know, fix that, you know, that thing called coopetition ... level the pool ... smooth out the rapids.</div>
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Oh, and those extra ten pages per bullet point - available but it'll cost a cold beer, some hoppers, and umm, lunch. </div>
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(1) I used to be a bidnessman - a banker, an investment banker and a small bidness owner.</div>
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(2) The only real knowledge I have about wise guys; I learned from movies and television.</div>
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(3) Got this quote from my wife - what do men know, right?<br />
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For additional reading, look over to the right - Better Blogs - try the links to Trout Underground and MidCurrent.</div>
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-91925692842893059532012-02-18T11:45:00.000-06:002012-02-18T11:45:23.795-06:00Hemingway's Longest Sentence<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">A writerʼs style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous.” ~ Ernest Hemingway</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzVCh4zsucNMs0ABWmbgiXZ4ihhggt7qlwfRCmcl_cA55qZowcsHtK_H24XHDmyO6LlhIELwZXEJNBXA_LwpPfJn8SUh43dvbM2i7Erdx9hCh_fQWzPwSm3yAc9jiww_lKRQ-ZozdHv00j/s1600/Michigan012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzVCh4zsucNMs0ABWmbgiXZ4ihhggt7qlwfRCmcl_cA55qZowcsHtK_H24XHDmyO6LlhIELwZXEJNBXA_LwpPfJn8SUh43dvbM2i7Erdx9hCh_fQWzPwSm3yAc9jiww_lKRQ-ZozdHv00j/s320/Michigan012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">The River of Sand</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My first exposure to Hemingway began with a high school book report for <i>The Old Man And </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The Sea. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I remember the grade in red ink and a cursive "C+ ... Syntax." </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Next in college, for an english literature course report, I chose <i>For Whom The Bell Tolls. </i>The bluebook was returned with a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"B ... You captured his thoughts but not his style." Style?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then came advanced infantry training at Fort Jackson and from a top bunk at a pace of about 20 minutes a night I read <i>A Moveable Feast. </i>Daily<i>, w</i>hen not constantly chanting - "the two types of people on the battlefield<i>, </i>the quick and the dead!," - my thoughts would dream visions of being in Paris - the picture frame - sitting on a corner curb with a piece of cheese in one hand, a torn slice of bread in the other and an uncorked bottle of wine between my sandals. Alas. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Fast forward past an entry job, courtships, a wedding, children, careers, homes, mortgages, grandchildren, and then, next to the final gong, retirement and a new found hobby, fly fishing.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">After retirement my fly fishing experiences began to accelerate. The first Turnip Truck became my steed and places that Gierach, Whitlock, Travers, and Hemingway wrote about became landed pins in a map, connected by bright yellow felt tip lines marking the roadways. Along the way I met a retired professor and a retired wild life officer - both from Michigan and both said "come on up to fish." Preparations began for a trip to the waters where Trout Unlimited began and Hemingway's Nick Adams returned to heal.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCoqKILPxG9kgPCOlL8fpBDW0-4VA8UYqvc15j5nFmJq5rB9lgXOmitoa7aLUZpnNNS2yoFfJkNMFJw6tFY5pOkoQY6sT7jM1tJtFstHumnmHSY_ANCq5fSR9vHFGRsMmoGYunjre-d9yw/s1600/100_0069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCoqKILPxG9kgPCOlL8fpBDW0-4VA8UYqvc15j5nFmJq5rB9lgXOmitoa7aLUZpnNNS2yoFfJkNMFJw6tFY5pOkoQY6sT7jM1tJtFstHumnmHSY_ANCq5fSR9vHFGRsMmoGYunjre-d9yw/s320/100_0069.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Famous Au Sable River Boat</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">While planning the trip to Michigan, I decided to visit with Hemingway again. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> The most recent historical research had occurred a few years back in Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West - no substance or style - just 100 proof rum and BFF, well (before fly fishing). I did not think the Cuban years would add value, so I skipped them. Idaho was a bucket list trip planned for next year, so those Hemingway years were overlooked.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">To connect Michigan to Hemingway I looked to Nick Adams and the story, <i>Big Two Hearted River.</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My goal was for Nick Adams to lead me to river locations where </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hemingway may have typed with controlled economy, a line or two.</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> I wanted to write about this trip. </span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thus, I began a simple plan for having the spirit of Papa looking over my shoulder as a perfectly formed cast of my words would come to rest upon a glassy pool of short, powerfully concise and simplistic in style sentences. I would capture his words once again, maybe even his style. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, Ms. Lawton, am I doing a little better? Ha! In the style of Hemingway? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I know, I know ... put away the red ink pen. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHOZ-Pfz-BgBOd5jEUbxwqK_CfP2X3zTDLXIK3VghKIPEgE-q3AZ7s6usn5hHOWOaBrNY_woJcyYreXHGEQKXOdZIxmOjaoi9f_Ogv2B_u_SwMhMUxv3aGvCLfQaHM-lieU-qalqrxFYq/s1600/100_0077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHOZ-Pfz-BgBOd5jEUbxwqK_CfP2X3zTDLXIK3VghKIPEgE-q3AZ7s6usn5hHOWOaBrNY_woJcyYreXHGEQKXOdZIxmOjaoi9f_Ogv2B_u_SwMhMUxv3aGvCLfQaHM-lieU-qalqrxFYq/s320/100_0077.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Could This Be The "Storied" Big Two Hearted River?</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The story, <i>Big Two-Hearted River</i> places the reader and Nick Adams in some previously scorched, but recovering pine boughs of northern-Michigan. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The only remaining signs of life in the fire-leveled town of Seney are some adaptive black grasshoppers and pooled trout.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The setting of the scene and Hemingway's language of clarity begins.</span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Nick looked down into the pool from the bridge. It was a hot day. A kingfisher flew up the stream. It was a long time since Nick had looked into a stream and seen trout. They were very satisfactory.”</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is pure Hemingway, concise, simple and controlled as the paragraph continues.</span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“As the shadow of the kingfisher moved up the stream, a big trout shot upstream in a long angle, only his shadow making the angle, then lost his shadow as he came through the surface of the water, caught the sun, and then, as he went back into the stream under the surface, his shadow seemed to float down the stream with the current, unresisting, to his post under the bridge where he tightened facing up into the current.”</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whoa! ...Hemingway wrote this? Seventy nine words, eight commas and a period...have I just read Hemingwayʼs longest sentence?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was fascinated. I keyed a Google search ...”hemingwayʼs style”...to find a link to his own words: </span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“A writerʼs style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous.”</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yes, but, seventy nine words? I Googled again...”hemingwayʼs longest sentence”... only to discover my count to be dwarfed. Hemingwayʼs longest sentence appears in his <i>Green Hills of Africa<b> </b></i>with four hundred twenty four words. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The heck with style I thought, enjoy the story. With word research complete and the story read, I continued preparations for my trip into early Hemingway country having formed these thoughts:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We rejoice in nostalgia and comfort as we return to familiar waters, we all wade into trout streams with a history, both good and bad, and our collective thoughts and skills are often interrupted by a fluttering heron or a soaring osprey that triggers the darting escape of a sought-after trout. We may laugh or curse, yet we do wade in again.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Pinpointing spots on the Big Two-Hearted also proved elusive. There is a Two Hearted River, but it is not the flow fictionalized by Papa. If you ask a Michigander, youʼll hear, “Oh, it was the Boardman he was talking about.” Another will state, “it was the Betsy,” or “I know it was the Jordan.” Historical societies have reached a consensus that the river described was the Fox, with the name Big Two-Hearted chosen for both Hemingway's and the reader's romantic tastes. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hemingway provided for our detailed visit to the river to frame Nickʼs cleansing. The exact location mattered not.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihiwTBoFCsMzIam5g99oYPP1wND7VRp3fcVoyI8rY4oFsqTk2tQbLaEjGzH1kPesORj4FNsLRI6JcLPvS6USkpCpRy-JZf7OuG1aVM0ciHIOigDsDiUK-iiDQV_MVDy1cCu0c1regc0Q3v/s1600/100_0078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihiwTBoFCsMzIam5g99oYPP1wND7VRp3fcVoyI8rY4oFsqTk2tQbLaEjGzH1kPesORj4FNsLRI6JcLPvS6USkpCpRy-JZf7OuG1aVM0ciHIOigDsDiUK-iiDQV_MVDy1cCu0c1regc0Q3v/s200/100_0078.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Snook on the Pere Marquette River</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBJhObWKjxJzu1_re0Ul8yU-0Zqw6_pcD5c64UYTFTXbhTPS_l-3fdv43FuzBP7UCqMLBHcxnnscwXtaFIwHFccTHorNH3RbcTG_COLsxrm7pL1h9oJO-4zekHfcRKnF40UXSF56Dgopn/s1600/100_0081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBJhObWKjxJzu1_re0Ul8yU-0Zqw6_pcD5c64UYTFTXbhTPS_l-3fdv43FuzBP7UCqMLBHcxnnscwXtaFIwHFccTHorNH3RbcTG_COLsxrm7pL1h9oJO-4zekHfcRKnF40UXSF56Dgopn/s200/100_0081.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Six Mile Bridge~Little Manistee River</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I ventured off to Michigan and fished historic streams, the Au Sable, The Manistee, the Pere Marquette, the Little Manistee, and the Rogue. My host's shared their rivers well. Many fish were released. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To a fly fisher of moderate skills, a river with two hearts is one that allows a dayʼs catch or not. There is nothing more simple than that. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With Hemingwayʼs Nick Adams it was a simple existential sentence that cradled the story of a two hearted river, and by far, one more analyzed than my discovery of seventy nine words; </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> “The river was there.” </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>Simple and vigorous. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">******************************************************************************************************</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGSWHxYsJ3V9-u9g8lfBPL-l3c6PZYvlbqbbSJU4WOuRmQQe0B3s58lJhlgueOZNK2hevcb3jd41VDWWJyJoBRARVZO_d0QrCo20VLRn1kFmrh734Stzii4Ex27jXj5kgWx5jReqyBI5s/s1600/Michigan014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGSWHxYsJ3V9-u9g8lfBPL-l3c6PZYvlbqbbSJU4WOuRmQQe0B3s58lJhlgueOZNK2hevcb3jd41VDWWJyJoBRARVZO_d0QrCo20VLRn1kFmrh734Stzii4Ex27jXj5kgWx5jReqyBI5s/s320/Michigan014.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">A Well Cast Fly To The Sound of a Rise</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ask anyone familiar with the Grayling area and they will all tell you that the local waters are far better for having Rusty Gates (R.I.P.) steward their protection. He launched just behind us on a Mason Tract float and we jokingly exchanged positions throughout the day. Fish were caught but the real privilege was to share the river with someone so respected for his actions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">He assembled some very fine results oriented residents who continue to both promote and protect the trout habitat of Northern Michigan - Hemingway country. </span><br />
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<br />Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-77148757631777301222012-02-12T07:06:00.002-06:002012-02-12T07:08:27.331-06:00Whatcha' Seeing?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8epJMGAh43fv-wpAS6FGSunCurY4TSpwY21xKKvwBThw6vlfGrFz3DB9E-weYj5fZt76Xx6q21jU73X70NkQnPtp0w2gEfoQbP0aWHXpb7IUtQ0SadBexvkWa7dtww-iX4ppF8J505Q1D/s1600/IMG_0386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8epJMGAh43fv-wpAS6FGSunCurY4TSpwY21xKKvwBThw6vlfGrFz3DB9E-weYj5fZt76Xx6q21jU73X70NkQnPtp0w2gEfoQbP0aWHXpb7IUtQ0SadBexvkWa7dtww-iX4ppF8J505Q1D/s400/IMG_0386.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Goose Island State Park, Texas - Facing Aransas Bay</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"> <i>Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"> ~ Mark Twain ~</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During my formative (some would say I'm still in them) years, my rambling years and then my bidness years, I was fortunate enough to land in some part of all of the lower 48 states. Traveling then, sometimes by Greyhound, by car, by rail, and as a frequent flyer, my impression was that travelers largely moved around un-noticed. Phrases and thoughts then varied from, "We're hungry - Daddy, I have to pee - to wondering what my commission would be." Sightseeing was restricted.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fishermen know when they encounter a curious stranger, whether stepping up on the dock or at a trailhead, they will always hear, "How'd you do? Now, when traveling to and from in the Turnip Truck I have discovered that local interest is piqued and almost always creates a smile and the question:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <b>"So you travel all 'round in that thing ... Whatcha seeing?" </b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9EQXFUWj-_9AcDdXpEXc646-ru4amAwNe6CoKrCiY2wBHUqFcrKzP1Txr_ILlWrndfNYp4KfUiKPMyfPWNt-vDdSrzPuVaaVxrbDjqin_Kcnb9ItTbO6v4fT86WuLvozh9U87JrsOZEX/s1600/DSC00633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9EQXFUWj-_9AcDdXpEXc646-ru4amAwNe6CoKrCiY2wBHUqFcrKzP1Txr_ILlWrndfNYp4KfUiKPMyfPWNt-vDdSrzPuVaaVxrbDjqin_Kcnb9ItTbO6v4fT86WuLvozh9U87JrsOZEX/s400/DSC00633.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Big 'Uns</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Georgia:</span> Pronounced Jaw-Ja. Where the Turnip Truck Driver graduated from college and learned with certainty that all iced tea is sweet. Has the best song, 'specially when sung by Ray Charles.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">North Carolina:</span> Livermush, biscuits and cream gravy, country ham and red eye gravy, and heart attacks. Birth place of the Turnip Truck Driver, yet no monument exists.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Delaware:</span> Couldn't find it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Rhode Island:</span> Where you hear from everyone (the sample was 100%) the departing words, "Have a good one." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Wyoming:</span> Where in the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">East</span>, coal trains are longer than the last three minutes of a </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NBA game. In the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">West</span> it is The Tetons or as Al Bundy would say, "Big 'uns." Then there is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Jackson Hole</span> where even money says you will buy a tee shirt.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdreb9N74MbVrtbLa5q5_H-Cl2Cex3Z_1VSLCDGJ5HceBnkjuZ5HSvJVMGfvipMOZL2-0kfO1Gjv_SY_mU7Bj2qidwfC57A-gtfx2clB8cWQCOWx_s5rOug1lFHr7jC-9nIPH_1JwD6l3/s1600/100_0196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdreb9N74MbVrtbLa5q5_H-Cl2Cex3Z_1VSLCDGJ5HceBnkjuZ5HSvJVMGfvipMOZL2-0kfO1Gjv_SY_mU7Bj2qidwfC57A-gtfx2clB8cWQCOWx_s5rOug1lFHr7jC-9nIPH_1JwD6l3/s400/100_0196.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Along the Snowy Byway - Wyoming</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">New York: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Manhattan</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - Go there in August - the 212s are gone. All the rest are either <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Upstaters or</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Islanders,</span> and it goes something like this, "Oh, you're from New York?" The reply, " No, no ... noo, I am an Upstater."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Vermont:</span> Where a tie-died tribe from Haight Ashbury wandered America for 40 years </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">to finally end up in Brattleboro. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw8Kqb64EXLjJNhHnNFIggr4_4DuNVQzt_gc-V02SlNZSLczHbxfIsySXFxAOd82IbTSlzGglRdsZOEgqgwcUbWe9-PMmRuQ4aCLbGIXieGVD5Ipnqr2ZBBYHp58nHTO6vxy1qyiqIr55i/s1600/IMG_0214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw8Kqb64EXLjJNhHnNFIggr4_4DuNVQzt_gc-V02SlNZSLczHbxfIsySXFxAOd82IbTSlzGglRdsZOEgqgwcUbWe9-PMmRuQ4aCLbGIXieGVD5Ipnqr2ZBBYHp58nHTO6vxy1qyiqIr55i/s400/IMG_0214.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Otter Creek - Vermont</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Florida: </span> For the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Keys</span>, Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit and cheeseburgers in paradise. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Miami</span> is a freshly painted Havana with new cars. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Central Florida </span>has traffic, Didneyworld and more traffic. In</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Louisiana: </span> The Book of Job</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">District of Columbia:</span> A vortex where all dollars go to disappear.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Nebraska:</span> The birthplace of the phrase, "Are we there yet?" I suppose that Nebraska was also the test market for those famous Burma Shave signs.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Arkansas:</span> The Turnip Truck's home waters. Tailwaters and lots of trout - Dry Run Creek, the best fishing for a kid, ever - a great guide, John Berry and a great fly shop, Dally's Ozark Angler, and the best fly fishing camping ever at Denton Ferry RV Park. If you've never visited the Ozarks, contact me and I'll introduce you to the area's finest ... and would love to share a cold one with you.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Texas:</span> Where some high school football stadiums have corporate sky boxes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Tennessee:</span> Starting in the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Smokies</span> - Jelly and Brookies. In <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Knoxville,</span> if anything positive happens, even a traffic light turning green, you'll hear a loud chorus of Rocky Top. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Nashville</span> is best known for inventing line dancing and ironically where Country music died, but traditions remain. In <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Memphis</span> you can experience the world's best Bar B Que, and you can visit The Turnip Truck Driver. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Idaho:</span> One tater, two tater, three tater, four. Do not miss the Brown Drake hatch on Silver Creek.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Montana: </span> All fly fishers pilgrimage to the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Madison River</span>, where guides purchase collision insurance for their drift boats. To borrow a Yogyism, "No wonder folks don't fish here anymore, look at all the drift boats."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Kansas:</span> Everybody in the country waves, especially those driving a tractor.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">States In White Should Prepare For The Arrival of the Turnip Truck<br />'cept Maybe Hawaii</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Do not despair if your state was missed. The Turnip Truck will continue to travel and experience this wonderful country ... and comment to a country with a great sense of humor. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;"><i>Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. ~ Maya Angelou</i></span></h1>
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-5696812650074476952012-02-04T07:31:00.000-06:002012-02-04T07:31:55.673-06:00Blog, Blogger, Bloggier<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Comparatively or Superlatively (cough, cough) speaking………</span></div>
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<i>Turnip Truck Chronicles</i> began as Notes on Facebook and posts were shared privately. Friends and family responded nicely, as friends and family <strike>should</strike> will do. Due to an expanding number of friends on Facebook I began to discover their blogs and their recommendations for related readings. I discovered a plethora ( some $2.95 words, too) of very entertaining web sites and blogs. </div>
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With prompting and encouraging words from Jackson, I decided to give blogging a try even though I knew Jackson just wanted to see some new rivers for new stories. Jackson, a Chocolate Lab, became the editor and house grammarian. Too many commas, dangling participles or an incorrect idiom, blame Jackson. To discover more about Jackson, look to one of the more popular stories, <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Tying The Jackson</span></i>. It is a story not quite rivaling <i>Old Yeller</i>, but will bring moisture to the eyes to a grown man in freshly purchased wading boots with felt soles.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><i style="font-size: medium;"><b>T<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">urnip Truck Chronicles</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b> is a lot like Google and Facebook. We provide our staff with free meals,<br /> unlimited healthcare, even shots and chew toys. Long afternoon naps are promoted.</b></span></span></td></tr>
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My first challenge was to determine who would be my reader, other than close friends and relatives. I decided that I wanted my readers to be the same people I have met in a river , or stream side when resting a pool, or at take out parking lots. I valued most that these friendships began with a handshake, a smile or laugh and became cemented with tales and stories. I started this blog a month ago - its purpose, to duplicate a live visit waterside. Expect a handshake, a smile, a laugh and a story. My goal is not to pen the equal of a great american novel - my desire is for the reader to think, "I'd enjoy fishing with that guy."</div>
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<i>Turnip Truck Chronicles</i> posted the first blog on or about the first of the year, 2012. I'll admit the blog would have never been posted if I had to know what the young geeks call code. If HTML had been required, I would be a better fly tyer for it. I started with Google's <i>Blogger. </i>The templates seem to practice the KISS principle rather well. Also, the <i>Blogger Blogspot</i> site provides the poster with interesting feedback statistics and as more stories were posted, views increased and other bloggers of similar interests linked their readers to the <i>Chronicles.</i> Some friends told their friends and statistically the number of viewers began increasing at an increasing rate (a $2.95 economic theorem). </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Bar Chart Illustration Taken From a Politician's Estimation</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> of Economic Growth - Not Representative of the Actual Performance</span><br /><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Turnip Truck Chronicles</span></i></b></span></td></tr>
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By the time you read this blog, <i>Turnip Truck Chronicles</i> will have experienced over twelve hundred views - I'm hoping many of those viewers actually read a story or two. The stories posted have been read in eleven separate countries, well only ten if you leave out Russia, which I am told real bloggers do.The largest referring site has been Facebook, then a recreational vehicle forum site, IRV2, and at third was Google search feeds. With no former references by which to judge these statistics, I can only think, not a bad start. Friends and family are still saying nice things, the <i>Outdoor Blogger Network</i> featured <i>Turnip Truck Chronicles</i> and urged a visit with positive comments, and I have even received a "well done" or three from some great blog writers. <br />
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Jackson raised an ear and cocked his head as he noticed that my normal stride had turned into a rooster strut. Clearly, the success of the <i>Turnip Truck Chronicles</i> will be known for the retention of the readers - views do not equal appreciation. I have enjoyed penning and posting the stories and anything that keeps me from watching the news on tee wee or incessantly ($2.25) following the shade around the house and keeps Jackson from dropping a throw toy at my feet every thirty seconds, is a blessing. I'll try to keep writing and keep Jackson editing when we are not flinging a line and trout spotting.</div>
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Russian views notwithstanding, I remain (cough, cough) humble. The preceding sentence was inserted for my friends and relatives. <br />
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I thank you for reading or referring the <i>Turnip Truck Chronicles </i>and welcome any and all feedback. At this time this venture is <strike>unfortunately </strike> purely non-profit. Here's the deal, when <i>Turnip Truck Chronicles</i> reaches Facebook subscriber numbers, we'll do an IPO and Jackson will ensure that the early subscribers will be cut in on the action. If you act within the next forty-five minutes and agree to tell a friend, we'll double your action.<br />
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Plus, if you subscribe you will not miss a single future story.* The teaser titles include:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Hemingway's Longest Sentence? ...... Michigan</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Rochinante Was Taken ....... Travels With Jackson</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Fly Fishing The Parking Lot ...... Everywhere</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Dry Run Creek Is For Kids, but adults enjoy it more ...... Arkansas</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>"Oh, They're Just Searching For Illegal Gringos" ...... Mexico</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>There Is No Such Thing As A Secret Honey Hole ..... Everywhere</b></span><br />
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* Good titles, huh? Stories alluded to above are subject to being finished.</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-17641278112867451552012-01-28T08:20:00.000-06:002012-01-31T10:08:34.819-06:00The Hill Country Of Texas<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVEs9ywufWjLi5sOxXcAsnoqEpW1NWPqOCKpK7VgdJ01lHtKEkS5cuFp9fPLiwTemIY_UUiluXoZzjYU6FJvaUEhT8FBLxV7DgYQ5pdvfSRxYl5p9ikXj2JAhyphenhyphenOCS1Y4l0WqAjaF4zIB6E/s1600/IMG_0908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVEs9ywufWjLi5sOxXcAsnoqEpW1NWPqOCKpK7VgdJ01lHtKEkS5cuFp9fPLiwTemIY_UUiluXoZzjYU6FJvaUEhT8FBLxV7DgYQ5pdvfSRxYl5p9ikXj2JAhyphenhyphenOCS1Y4l0WqAjaF4zIB6E/s400/IMG_0908.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Guadalupe River - Devil's Playground</span></td></tr>
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Wandering through the "Hill Country" as a Winter Texan, I find the Lone Star state no different from other defined places, except for a few divergences that really stand out. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">To start with, it seems like you see more dance halls than churches. Texas will concede second place for music, only to Austria, and never to the 16th Avenue suits from Nashville. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The disparity between churches and dance halls is small and does not mean that Texans are not religious. The most popular bumper sticker is from the song by the poet laureate of Texas, Billy Joe Shaver, who wrote the Texas anthem, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>If You Don't Love Jesus, Go To Hell.</i> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (enjoy the link below) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ever since Waylon and Willie became impresarios, Texas music has ruled the western "fiddle in the band" genre and has become popular as a mixture of western swing and outlaw music. Nowhere else is that music more famous than in Luckenbach. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After a morning of drowning some streamers in the Guadalupe River, Jackson and I hopped in the toad and GPSed the hill country back roads on our way to the historic town of Luckenbach. We passed farms roads, culverts, leaning mail boxes and a few double wides - I told Jackson we were getting close when I saw the sign, "See the World's Largest Armadillo! - 1 Mile." I was expecting the usual for a famously nominated place - some gas stations, a Hardees and maybe a John Deere repair shop. None of that. Only a small sign signaling a turn onto an even smaller two lane road that circled to Luckenbach - the locals call it "leavin' the bypass." Nothing makes me smile more than being surprised in a reversal of thought - only one store, a great music hall, a couple of houses and graded, well mown fields (for concert parking). The Post Office, general store and bar all blended together into a small way station. The general store's best selling products were no surprise, tee shirts followed by entrepreneurial CDs from the local talent. A couple of those entrepreneurs were picking requests in the bar. The Luckenbach Music Hall was locked up so Jackson made a pee stop and whimpered a beg for a shot at a prancing free range chicken - I told him no 'cause it was the City Bird and protected by law.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #66330c;">Back in Sattler, Texas and nearby is the historic Gruene Music Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas - pealing clapboard siding, wire screen windows, old plank floors, bar in the back, band in the front, where the Texas two step moves counter clockwise. Earlier in the week I stopped by to have a cold Lone Star and discovered that a few reserved tickets remained for a one night appearance by Randy Travis. One cold beer, a tip, a reserve ticket and a $50 bill was gone. On the evening of the concert I experienced a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Pilgrim Alert</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #66330c;"> a reserve ticket to Gruene Hall is solely determined by how early you stand in line before the show - the "reserved" means only that you have a ticket of fire protection. Randy did not disappoint.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Priceless!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Randy Travis Live in Gruene</span></td></tr>
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McMurtry's book and Bogdanovich's movie <i>The Last Picture Show</i> has Darwinized into modern day Texas. In fact, one could easily replace Jesus with "Football" in the cited bumper sticker and it would be just as popular. This evolution has produced extremes, from " a murdering Mom for cheerleaders" to the television hit, <i>Friday Night Lights.</i> In the deep South football is revered ... in Texas it is simply just "good bidness." So how does Texas stand out in football? Many of the high school football stadiums have corporate sky boxes. High school! Yes, sky boxes! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Alubias Negros Con Maiz y SomethingOrOther</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If you're a Texan and you don't own a heavy duty, separated fire box, meat smoker then you have just become a new resident either from Mexico, or high-tech California. If the smoker does not have 14 inch tires, it's too small. Shelby County, Tennessee, my home base, is where preparing pulled pork and baby backs is a religion unto itself, and in no way is it secular - Bar-B-Que heaven is in Memphis. Texas, however, does get a blue ribbon for Texas style smoked sausages and even their style of beef brisket. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Tex-Mex is unparalleled and a blend of the best of all spanish cuisines. A land that is home to as many chili cook offs as rodeos, and quilting bees. Terlingua being the World Series champ equivalent for chili. For the best Tex-Mex, a few words of advice to road food addicts, seek out the older sections of town, away from the by-passes and off-ramps and look for expensive cars in front of old run down buildings. There you will find the area's best use of a jalapeno pepper.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmETcSheVZa8r6qjrD8DnsprZNSb3kseJqK51iqUgpZSLXUSWADHY7E5vo8Q9ymQ9CTEkI25RZHo3aGpU7bXRizKqiR4JP8qnTGHE7k-DDxhZEeWLVq6WSjtWkT1VhDrcfMZv_y4SOEUQi/s1600/Unknown-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmETcSheVZa8r6qjrD8DnsprZNSb3kseJqK51iqUgpZSLXUSWADHY7E5vo8Q9ymQ9CTEkI25RZHo3aGpU7bXRizKqiR4JP8qnTGHE7k-DDxhZEeWLVq6WSjtWkT1VhDrcfMZv_y4SOEUQi/s1600/Unknown-2.jpeg" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not so much along the interstate highways, but along back roads, one finds Texas is unique in another way - displaying "the" flag. In Texas, the state banner is the Lone Star flag and a majority of the time it is flown, standing alone. Texans are justly proud of their state and heritage and do not think the absence of the Stars and Stripes is an anti-American statement, but a clear expression of the often heard phrase, "Don't Mess With Texas." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Patriotic proof … Texas is the begetter of three modern day, U.S. presidents. Not great debaters, but U.S. presidents, none the less. If that is not enough proof, know then that Willie has his annual concert on the Fourth of July. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cool nights, warm days, bluebonnet skies, good food, great music and a little fishing are with me and good Texans as I happily navigate through the hill country of Texas. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjdVPjXU2B3vlYydjC1bqcIfpYSNV63kxtBBY8oPcRlWDLfxRyi0HCyao-9xyIWwksIjl06W8OKqfcy4pJk-Rq2gGud0AMsONTQ3yTXjpVMzX66m8hqXTkGYqG2xgXX2-nPw6p3oDO1AOM/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjdVPjXU2B3vlYydjC1bqcIfpYSNV63kxtBBY8oPcRlWDLfxRyi0HCyao-9xyIWwksIjl06W8OKqfcy4pJk-Rq2gGud0AMsONTQ3yTXjpVMzX66m8hqXTkGYqG2xgXX2-nPw6p3oDO1AOM/s200/Unknown-1.jpeg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There have been some recent Jett Rink sightings and I'm going to begin my search for him between Bandera and Luckenbach.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">For A Better Listen: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #66330c; font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbF0bc7iEs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbF0bc7iEs</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">For A Better Look:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Visit Texas Hill Country </span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> http://www.texashillcountry.com/</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Fly Fish Texas </span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">http://grtu.org/</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Gruene Hall </span> http://gruenehall.com/</span></div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-86459761323047084332012-01-23T14:05:00.000-06:002012-01-31T10:11:51.364-06:00Bandera ~ My Peckinpah Moment<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">"The Stranger Went Free, Of Course"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevqX15zIbCyEKwyESyQYMoxA_qWs39j733KgmKZ9tg1_p6eJ1k_Fp2lwlVRTysL0JxBD_jGbu_gXGpwRNDo_YlP0bZtut6UW3dJ048QUI1zoADLOM__QbdR7RBmxmFmhPyy5Q64g_ZpyK/s1600/202980BK_1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevqX15zIbCyEKwyESyQYMoxA_qWs39j733KgmKZ9tg1_p6eJ1k_Fp2lwlVRTysL0JxBD_jGbu_gXGpwRNDo_YlP0bZtut6UW3dJ048QUI1zoADLOM__QbdR7RBmxmFmhPyy5Q64g_ZpyK/s200/202980BK_1.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">As a stocky, only child, city kid, I always dreaded the trolley ride with my Mom to buy the new school year's jeans, sized husky. The offsetting balance to the husky aisle was that I would also get a couple of new pearl snap cowboy shirts. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Home again, in old jeans and a new shirt, I would become Roy (Trigger) or Gene (Champion) or Hopalong (Topper), and sometimes Randolph (Stardust). My parents still favored Tom Mix (Tony) or Tex Ritter (White Flash) and although theatre movies trumped television, the Lone Ranger (Silver) and Tonto (Scout) gained ground when we got the second television set in the neighborhood. Though they did not wear the husky sizes, my cowboy heroes also all wore new shirts with pearl snaps for buttons and cuffs. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Emily, three houses away, became my Dale Evans (Buttermilk) and we could easily run through four rolls of caps in an afternoon. I was a cowboy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">I crested the hill, and the wide dusty swale below contained the shallow Medina River. I squinted into a gunfighter's sunset and the next hill silhouetted Bandera, Texas, the home of cowboys and outlaws.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">No longer would my heroes wear brightly toned shirts with matching piping -no pearl snaps - no longer closely shaved with neatly parted hair, and never again would their hats be white. I was still the same kid, older and my cowboys were now tanned, leather skinned, bearded, sweaty, dusty and dirty. They had been Peckinpahed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">As I crossed the bridge into Bandera, it was my turn to direct. I gave Jackson an ears up when I yelled, "Places everyone!"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">First, I had to visually erase the Gonzales Heating and Air sign. Then I blocked out the Harley parked at forty five degrees in front of the the first saloon. I kept the riffs of a loud lead guitar, but eliminated a neon Corona clock. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Bandera became the movie setting for my favorite western lyrics, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333233;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;"> <i>The Red Headed Stranger </i></span></div>
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<i>The red-headed stranger from Blue Rock, Montana</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6UX_WLn4mK7g_4UVycEbIr3lTqH3Ci0yAzvxpnpSNhT0fMxvjmpaFzzQ8PQWUPS_g5gOMyOFwpWUo5tkxr9yu5JdQhqxVirmMJQtyAqVZia4bs8S7bTmR2UxAtk6DI-T92kRu4FguwN3/s1600/IMG_0422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6UX_WLn4mK7g_4UVycEbIr3lTqH3Ci0yAzvxpnpSNhT0fMxvjmpaFzzQ8PQWUPS_g5gOMyOFwpWUo5tkxr9yu5JdQhqxVirmMJQtyAqVZia4bs8S7bTmR2UxAtk6DI-T92kRu4FguwN3/s320/IMG_0422.jpg" width="240" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Bandera, Texas</span></td></tr>
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<i>Rode into town one day;</i></div>
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<i>And under his knees was a raging black stallion</i></div>
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<i>And walking behind was a bay.</i></div>
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<i>The red-headed stranger had eyes like thunder</i></div>
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<i>His lips they were sad and tight;</i></div>
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<i>His little lost love lay asleep on the hillside</i></div>
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<i>And his heart was heavy as night.</i></div>
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<i>A yellow-haired lady leaned out of her window,</i></div>
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<i>And watched as he passed her way.</i></div>
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<i>She drew back in fear at the sight of the stallion</i></div>
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<i>But cast greedy eyes on the bay;</i></div>
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<i>But how could she know that this dancing bay pony</i></div>
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<i>Meant more to him than life?</i></div>
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<i>For this was the horse that his little lost darling</i></div>
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<i>Had ridden when she was his wife.</i></div>
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<i>The yellow-haired lady came down to the tavern,</i></div>
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<i>Looked up the stranger there;</i></div>
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<i>He bought her a drink, he gave her some money</i></div>
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<i>He just didn't seem to care.</i></div>
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<i>She followed him out as he saddled the stallion,</i></div>
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<i>And laughed as she grabbed at the bay;</i></div>
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<i>He shot her so quick they had no time to warn her,</i></div>
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<i>She never heard anyone say:</i></div>
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<i>Don't cross him, don't boss him, he's wild in his sorrow,</i></div>
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<i>He's riding and hiding his pain;</i></div>
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<i>Don't fight him, don't spite him, just wait till tomorrow</i></div>
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<i>Maybe he'll ride on again.</i></div>
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<i>The yellow-haired lady was buried at sunset </i></div>
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<i>The stranger went free, of course,</i></div>
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<i>'For you can't hang a man for killing a woman </i></div>
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<i>Whose trying to steal your horse.</i></div>
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<i>This is the tale of the red-headed stranger</i></div>
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<i>And if he should pass your way,</i></div>
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<i>Stay out of the path of the raging black stallion</i></div>
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<i>And don't lay a hand on the bay.</i></div>
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Satisfied, I finished, "Cut! That's a wrap!"</div>
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With my directing debut complete, I stopped to enjoy some of the old buildings, let Jackson pee on a hitching post, and when leaving Bandera, laughed as I once again passed Gonzales Heating and Air and read the sign's tag line, "Since 1997." </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Epilogue:</span></div>
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With each line of the lyrics, I completed my fantasy of producing and directing the <i>The Red Headed Stranger</i> story. Many years before Willie Nelson and band came to our small town. The night before the concert we were groupies in the lounge at the Mission Hills Resort. The entourage, sans Willie, arrived just minutes before last call. With the band restless with only one drink, my wife, Barbara, asked the bartender to call the owner, a friend of ours. She was able to influence the sleepy owner to empower the bartender and keep the lounge open long enough for Willie's band to fully water their thirst. While she was receiving cheers from the band, I was debating SEC versus Southwest Conference football with an entourage member in an orange "hook 'em horns" jersey. Turns out, he was Willie's personal manager, BC. BC, grateful while sipping his fourth drink, invited us to ride with Willie's caravan into the fair grounds the next day. Barbara had lunch on the bus with sister Bobbie and Willie, and I drank cold, band beer and we enjoyed the concert back and side stage with BC. It was during the chorus of <i>Red Headed Stranger</i> that I told BC that I would love to produce a movie of the song. He chuckled, and said that the movie was already in the final stages of planning. </div>
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It was made, but it wasn't Peckinpahed, not like I, the cowboy, would have directed.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Red Headed Stranger Album: </span></div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;"><b>Copyright:</b> (P) 1975, 1986, 2000 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px;">The Red Headed Stranger - recorded by Willie Nelson - written by Edith Linderman and Carl Stutz </span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Bandera - an instrumental by Willie Nelson - written by Carla Bozulich</span></div>
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-59713188316937690502012-01-14T12:14:00.000-06:002012-01-31T10:05:59.447-06:00Tying "The Jackson"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwA7aRgv-fpZEzhcAGiqgbVf8xevJNbATZOy5z-vxYHQQmJ75Z9IRijdtuvBJR-SlEUpKLK1KuhCrrTcGjNBDjob_6gfeiE70qnWepGiv93lY485uY1stYMxTw3tCPxWx2Dokn43iI27zI/s1600/IMG_0495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwA7aRgv-fpZEzhcAGiqgbVf8xevJNbATZOy5z-vxYHQQmJ75Z9IRijdtuvBJR-SlEUpKLK1KuhCrrTcGjNBDjob_6gfeiE70qnWepGiv93lY485uY1stYMxTw3tCPxWx2Dokn43iI27zI/s400/IMG_0495.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Jackson</span></td></tr>
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Jackson became a traveling and fly fishing companion via my granddaughter and her birthday party held at the local animal shelter. Instead of an hour of bedlam at Chuckster Cheeseter, my daughter asked the young celebrators to bring a bag of dog or cat food in lieu of a present to the local animal shelter. The fun? Each kid would get an hour to play with the pet of their choice. When I heard of this my first thoughts - this party program rivaled any scam that Wall Street hedge fund traders could possibly invent. Sub-prime mortgages, sophomoric compared to this marketing idea.<br />
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Catelyn, my granddaughter, was granted first choice and an hour was spent with Jackson.<br />
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It seems that Jackson had quite a "ladies man" reputation within a ten mile circumference of the shelter. The previous owner paid a $50 Animal Control fine for the first offense - rumored to be a very blond Golden Retriever with a sexy bark. The second time caught cost his owner $100. The third time became a "three strikes and you're out," ruling. Jackson's owner said keep him.<br />
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Catelyn then spent the next four days - maybe it was three - convincing Poppy, that would be me, to bail Jackson out. The plea, "Poppy, I'm praying every night that you will go get Jackson," Evidence in the photographs - it worked.<br />
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When it came my turn for Jackson's tag and title, he came "fixed" and out the door the shelter charged $85. Jackson came home to join three Black Labs and became Snook's intern on the Turnip Truck.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMnFNF5gByl8uWYu2rF6qvBrmZxjqzoznqRQ-sQCC8iqVmQ3FWvPV0P8Y3bFfqy30VqXOG-C0Nom1rrXvCZdllIYQDdCfyE5Nw2C3VI1PSiTOISszsTeMZZyMEFlekbrQ1Del2WM_yfFT/s1600/IMG_0527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMnFNF5gByl8uWYu2rF6qvBrmZxjqzoznqRQ-sQCC8iqVmQ3FWvPV0P8Y3bFfqy30VqXOG-C0Nom1rrXvCZdllIYQDdCfyE5Nw2C3VI1PSiTOISszsTeMZZyMEFlekbrQ1Del2WM_yfFT/s400/IMG_0527.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Not A True Rise - Jackson Said, "He's Feeding On Emergers."</span></td></tr>
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He fit right in and bonded to me - some call it the "Bail Bondsman's Syndrome." In no time he got to visit some nice rivers and quickly became the greatest trout spotter of all times - all times! As soon as trout spotting <strike>field</strike> river trials are invented, he'll become the grand champion. Too bad he cannot pass along these unique spotting genes - I could make a fortune in stud fees not to mention the endorsement contracts from Orvis.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Ushering A Trout To The Net</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh35rcA0sOYH8oUgAiFCySHk0jIhAb8ASvoQDCPXPtjKt75iCOiqVFU4HI5hynJsgra_lzcQxyZmTMY-HjqtKwYwMP5xC9hu6m4muN2jYAzYyr6gA1YUIA4pNIwfO0RcaJeWwLGicNXeLxs/s1600/IMG_0453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh35rcA0sOYH8oUgAiFCySHk0jIhAb8ASvoQDCPXPtjKt75iCOiqVFU4HI5hynJsgra_lzcQxyZmTMY-HjqtKwYwMP5xC9hu6m4muN2jYAzYyr6gA1YUIA4pNIwfO0RcaJeWwLGicNXeLxs/s200/IMG_0453.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;"> It's Time For The Net</span></td></tr>
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As a tribute to Jackson, I've fashioned a fly tying recipe with the main ingredient being Jackson's chocolate hair and underfur as the fly's body dubbing. The hair is a natural, buggy nymph brown that was collected with ease using a Furminator (shameless mention to have Jackson become the barkster for the Furminator). If, in the near future, you see a paid Furminator ad blogside, you'll know it worked.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">The Furminator</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">The Jackson Recipe(s):</span></div>
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Hook - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Tiemco 2457 #12,14,16,18</span><br />
If a purist - a barbless hook hand-filed from a '55 Chevy Bel Air hubcap. </div>
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Thread - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Brown Uni Unwaxed 8/0</span></div>
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If a purist - dyed threads from Bibb overalls, Circa 1951. </div>
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Bead - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Copper Colored Tungsten, sized to hook</span><br />
If a purist - a copper BB, center drilled, see Popular Mechanics August, 1966<br />
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Ribbing - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Copper wire, sized small</span></div>
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If a purist - the center strand of copper wire from a lamp cord.</div>
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Tail - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Pheasant Tail, bunched pheasant tail fiber tips</span><br />
If a purist - the same but secured with the opposite hand. <br />
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Dubbing - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Jackson's Furminator extracted underfur blended with Cinnamon Ice Dubbing</span></div>
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If a purist - belly hair from a frightened mole on a bananas only diet. </div>
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Thorax - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Pheasant tail folded over Brown Ice Dubbing and add PT wing tips.</span><br />
If a purist - substitute some more frightened mole hair for ice dubbing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGnQ19nR1rztln7ryWVbTRh9sI3yFGnaVbqyNNVfPSuPbghTOyaQ31XrgsrsZQG0UAv7iUR9cAHNMA8ut3deggSUnRqONDj036rQZ9flxQDp-Q0HZMFX_Vun0xb7zNWdg5ZuuPanvXdzu/s1600/IMG_0544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGnQ19nR1rztln7ryWVbTRh9sI3yFGnaVbqyNNVfPSuPbghTOyaQ31XrgsrsZQG0UAv7iUR9cAHNMA8ut3deggSUnRqONDj036rQZ9flxQDp-Q0HZMFX_Vun0xb7zNWdg5ZuuPanvXdzu/s320/IMG_0544.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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When all is said and done, at the end of the day, and the truth of the matter is (political year you know) that <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">"The Jackson"</span> is simply a Bead Headed Pheasant Tail Nymph ... BUT dubbed with the miracle working hair of Jackson's underfur. For this reason alone we are offering <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">"The Jackson"</span> for the low, low price of $19.95, plus shipping and handling. BUT! if you act today, we will include another Jackson fly for FREE - you only pay an additional shipping and handling fee.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Heh, heh, Just Wait'll I Learn To Cast</span><br />
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If you enjoyed this little story, drop a few bucks and some feed off at your local animal shelter, or even better, host a birthday party for little kids. Jackson, the shelter and the little kids will love you for it - not so certain 'bout their parents, though.<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">he will not bite you; </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">that is the principal </span></b></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">difference between </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>a dog and a man </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><b>~</b> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Mark Twain</span></span></div>
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-72057463532978835892012-01-10T11:41:00.000-06:002012-01-10T11:41:52.542-06:00More Secretive Than Area 51<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">"You Drive, I'm Gonna Nap For Awhile."</span></td></tr>
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Snook's wiggles told me that the long drive and his naps were over and he was ready to fish. Me too.</div>
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I wish I could say he sniffed and pointed the way to the fly shop, but like most pilgrims, we asked for directions. Landmarks were easy, the Wind River on one side of the road and the Absaroka mountains on the other side. </div>
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We were in Dubois, Wyoming. When entering and first seeing the "Welcome To Dubois" sign, I started practicing my Tennessee French ….. "dieu bwoi"….."du bwa" …."doo....", oh hell, ......... I'll just ask.</div>
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A four block run to the fly shop where the owner, easily recognizing a stranger, said, "Welcome to….."Dew Boys."</div>
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"Thanks, so that's how you say it?"</div>
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"Yep, fools a lot of folks, yes it does." </div>
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"I'll need a license and hopefully you'll send me and Snook here to an out of the way stream filled with cutthroats." </div>
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"I can do that - try a few of these attractor flies, I suggest some bear spray, and you'll head South for a little better than five miles to Spence's sign, turn left and follow the gravel then rut road for twenty miles until you run into the East Fork.</div>
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"Spence's sign?" </div>
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"Yep, you'll know it - Jerry Spence - that buckskin fella that was on TV all the time talking 'bout O.J."</div>
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"Ah, that Spence."</div>
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We left with everything but the bear spray - I factored in and would be counting upon Snook's negotiating skills. We followed directions and sure enough, we came to Spence's sign.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Spence's Sign - No Caption Necessary</span></td></tr>
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I laughed, the nation's universities have <strike>too many</strike> lots of prestigious law schools where <strike>too many </strike>barristers are educated and yet here in "Dew Boys," hidden away is the Trial Lawyer's College, where the skills of plea bargaining and capturing forty percent of the settlement is expertly taught.</div>
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And yes, in an place more secretive than Area 51.</div>
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We took a left turn at the Spence sign, drove twenty beautiful miles of gravel road and Snook roamed in a skinny water section of the river - no bears, and I caught and released a few cutthroat.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;">Snook in the East Fork of Wind River in the Absaroka (Absorkies) Mountains</span></td></tr>
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Caveat Fly Flinger - Now, with more experience fishing in bear country and having read of many tragic bear attack stories, I have learned that bears do not negotiate well, especially with dogs. I suppose, 'cause they do not have to. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Buy bear spray when fishing the backwoods.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-34449784995451540812012-01-04T12:51:00.000-06:002012-01-31T10:04:18.621-06:00Metaphysical Fly Fishing <br />
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"Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing<br />
it is not the fish they are after." ~ Thoreau <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Early Spey Caster</span></td></tr>
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I am a bit uncertain whether the Ozark mountains become the place in time to wonder about the mystic qualities of fly fishing. This is Lil' Abner's land that neighboring taunters playfully refer to as "Darwin's Waiting Room." Denying the "missing link" genetics of the rolling hills of Northern Arkansas, I do not ascribe to the evolutionary aspects of the region. Besides, there are way too many Baptist churches here to suit Charlie D.<br />
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It is raining and cold now, and as one of my fishing buddies says, "You're a cold weather sissy, you'll never be a steelheader." So, when not fishing, I do what many old red-blooded males do every other hour of the day, I contemplate fly fishing.<br />
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As a young fellow I won a couple of State of Georgia singles tennis titles. In each win, I felt a confident and calm strength that sport's announcers refer to as, "the zone, or momentum." I didn't know what it was when it was happening, and after I won, my young mind quickly returned to other thoughts measured at every seven minutes.<br />
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It was not until later in life that I heard the term "Zen." I'm not sure where it came from, but someone once told me it was a place called Walden, or was it Woodstock? This was during the B.A.(before Amazon) epoch. Then, each bookstore had an aisle section that featured "Zen and The Art of Cooking, Hiking, Tennis, Bridge, Negotiating and even Tie-Dyeing." Zen meisters started showing up at the fly casting pond in San Francisco.<br />
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Following the first wave of Zen, came T.M. Surely you remember the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Transcendental Meditation, which became the first metaphysical multilevel marketing program. Pay your deposit and get a mantra, sign up some friends and double your mantras. Once when asked to join, I responded, "Listen, I don't bowl because they want me there every Thursday night, and you want me to pay to say a mantra and sit quietly once or twice every day!"<br />
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Suave (pronounced swave in Georgia) folks from Manhattan and L.A. are the experts about Feng Shui. I'm told it will bring harmony to one's life, home and office, so it's only natural that Feng Shui will soon be coming to a river near you. "Hey Bubba, could you turn that boulder so the pointed side faces upstream, oh, and move that log into the sun, okay? Oh my, Bubba, can't you just feel the ripples?" <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Reverse Warrior Pose</span></td></tr>
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I have a dear friend who suggested Yoga as a way of improving my fly fishing experience. She practices her Yoga dock side along the shores of her beautiful lake. Plus, she's a good fly fisher. So, I told her, "I'll try anything that won't split my waders." I tried, really, but nearly drowned attempting that half lotus tree pose. You laugh - you try it on didymo covered river rocks. I will admit though that the reverse warrior pose helped a lot with my pile cast. <br />
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Also popular these days is the challenging question, "What would Jesus do?" In my mind, he would welcome fellow fly fishers into his beat and would not hesitate to share the fly he was using. Just feeling his presence would have all around him picking up discarded Vienna sausage cans and Power Bait cartons. As a struggling trout is brought safely to net, one would experience the warmth of his smile as the trout is released back into its multicolored habitat. As Jesus would exit the river, quietly behind you, he would say, "Tight lines, my friend." I'm guessing the hatch would then begin in earnest.<br />
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Once, when climbing into a drift boat, I said to our crusty old Montana guide, "Be the Rainbow, Billy, be the Rainbow." He looked at me like he was thinking, “If this pilgrim says something like that again, I'll whip his ass.” Seeing his frown, I didn’t ask him to share his mantra.<br />
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John Gierach, noted fly fishing author, best cuts to the chase, "We who fly fish, think it is deeply meaningful until we try to explain why it is deeply meaningful, and then suddenly it's just fishing again."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Norfork Morning </td></tr>
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How mental, mystic or metaphysical we choose make fly fishing, the process becomes self governing.<br />
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-77661480967307818202011-12-31T13:08:00.000-06:002011-12-31T13:09:50.096-06:00Chuck-uh-lusk-ee, Snukes and Skeets<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"> </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgApQOlysojgPWgLCpcGMgQj10jfXeH3-8i9b8xx66AyKtL9Kll5TiEuSXe6rTCSdBYqFX4H8pgA95CtWu1xknf5NOtLCGXAgNu2zb5h4YhJCe0wdiCff-l8GBVjzWkSe5gBk4nrDsQlKJv/s1600/Snook-108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgApQOlysojgPWgLCpcGMgQj10jfXeH3-8i9b8xx66AyKtL9Kll5TiEuSXe6rTCSdBYqFX4H8pgA95CtWu1xknf5NOtLCGXAgNu2zb5h4YhJCe0wdiCff-l8GBVjzWkSe5gBk4nrDsQlKJv/s320/Snook-108.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Centropomus undecimalis - Common Snook - Locals say Snukes</span></i><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">A few years back I had the opportunity to fish in the 10,000 Islands (Everglades National Park) area out of Chokoloskee<span style="background-color: #eeffff; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Arial;"> </span><span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Arial;">(CHUCK-UH-LUSK-EE)</span>, Florida. Our sure fire methods <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">always </span> <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">usually,</span> sometimes produced some decent sized snook. The secret: fish all night. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">About four in the afternoon we would load the beer cooler(s), add a few sandwiches, stow away some medicinal alcohol, and make a short run to favored mangrove points. Until shortly before sunset, casting up under the mangrove branches would produce a few nosed out snook. Late in the day we would anchor up a our favorite point, one that produced the most hydraulics from changing tides. False casting would aid in memorizing our casting lanes. Hanging up in mangrove branches when dark, not good. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">As twilight approached suiting up became vital to comfort. The last line of defense was light rainwear, preferably with elastic pant and sleeve cuffs - if not, "please pass the duct tape." A zipper front on the jacket was a must - if not, mo' duct tape. 100% Deet was then applied to all exposed flesh for the onset of conservatively estimated, a billion misquotes - "skeets" to the locals. The first hour after sunset was the most intense and abated to maybe half a billion for the rest of the night. The deet kept the bites to a minimum but one remained within an air chamber of ringing skeeter wing music for the duration. Smoking cigarettes pushed 'em back a couple of inches - worth every puff.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Darkness - lucky if a full moon and very lucky if a firm frontal breeze started up. As an incoming tide began flowing around the visualized point we would begin to hear snook feeding, "pop" then away, "pop" then closer, "pop." We would set aside the beers, quietly stand, exclaim, "they're here," and zing a memory, measured first cast of forty feet. A lefty's Deceiver would slide into the current from a wide mend to rise upwardly ... Pop!</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvEEWXnjnIePgwdJp8LjwocCKHOH5f_U6BKI_GKAJsCpNgQYX5ZbHRpv8MksppLculNGKX6Jp4pU2GYBbQ5iIqJ33utRnXKc0_l5g3j_YN9RtRZm07MZMtMIc7s-Dvr1UGxqsniUlTADK/s1600/Scan002%252C+June+03%252C+2003.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvEEWXnjnIePgwdJp8LjwocCKHOH5f_U6BKI_GKAJsCpNgQYX5ZbHRpv8MksppLculNGKX6Jp4pU2GYBbQ5iIqJ33utRnXKc0_l5g3j_YN9RtRZm07MZMtMIc7s-Dvr1UGxqsniUlTADK/s320/Scan002%252C+June+03%252C+2003.bmp" width="226" /></a></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">As the tide ebbed, lager consumption increased, the skeets would still be with us, and it would be time for another layer of Deet. Unique to a slack tide would be the increase in sounds - loud, deep, swampy grunts, "whomp" over there, "whomp" at the point, another "whomp." Shining a high beam light along the shorelines all around us would produce pair after pair of what digital camera users call red eye - "we're surrounded by alligators!" It was then that I finally understood why a good flats boat costs well over forty grand. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The outgoing tide would fish much the same, maybe two million of the billion skeets would have died, and the beer would be down to just a few cans, so we would set the jack plate to plane levels and head for the cabin. With the Deet removed from a sun bag(now cold) shower, a breakfast of fried snook fillets, hush puppies, cheese grits and the night topped off with a Bloody Mary sunrise all of nature's inconveniences were forgotten.<br />
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If you decide this is a trip for you, fish a few times in daylight first. Lesson one: If you land your fly into the mangroves, you'll discover where skeets go in the daytime. Learn the markers - small, bicycle sized reflectors attached to a small posts - and follow along with Park maps. Fish in pairs with at least two shallow water boats - one can pull the other off of oyster bars. Remember, all mangroves look alike. A better plan? Hire a guide ... and do not, I repeat do not forget the Deet. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-6302236905018145982011-12-30T12:50:00.000-06:002012-01-01T13:02:17.489-06:00Fly Fishing With The Stars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiargQ45oKEZiArkWQqml2bjSlW1Y23tkNpgnit83sy6fHMloudM34lWMGQJdjw2-WwOJ7c1-rolpgMOeww3RW4JuEjd2ciaypF3Ig-hccxHELvj79_-k48Y95wn99eHcc6oQ8asT4SbOMz/s1600/100_0269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiargQ45oKEZiArkWQqml2bjSlW1Y23tkNpgnit83sy6fHMloudM34lWMGQJdjw2-WwOJ7c1-rolpgMOeww3RW4JuEjd2ciaypF3Ig-hccxHELvj79_-k48Y95wn99eHcc6oQ8asT4SbOMz/s320/100_0269.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Osborne Bridge - Last Chance, Idaho</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">I had turned off of Highway 20, to take a look at the Henry’s Fork. The gravel parking lot faced an old wooden bridge that still spanned the river. As I passed a few fly fisherman wiggling into their waders I spotted a lone man a third of the way across the bridge. It was about then that my over taxed hard-drive of a brain thought this must be Osborne’s Bridge, a prime location on the river. I approached the tall fellow looking out into the water. Rather than say we are daydreaming, we fly fishers say we are looking for rises. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Rises are trout feeding on the surface which make those pretty circles in the water.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">“Do you know if this is Osborne Bridge?”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Interrupted, he turned and replied, “I have no idea, but my friends there at the car could tell you.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">He finished his instructions with a smile as he recognized a fraternal fly fisherman. I recognized the Oscar winning actor, William Hurt.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">“The reason I ask, some fellows down at Silver Creek told me to fish at Osborne Bridge.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">“You just came from Silver Creek? How did it fish?”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">I replied, “A humbling experience.......the trout looked and laughed at me.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">He laughed, “The same thing happened to me, but what a place, eh?”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">The conversation eased into him asking where I was from, where was I going to fish and led to him extending a hand and saying, "I’m William.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">I shook his hand, "Grant, and I of course know who you are.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">He smiled and seemed appreciative that I was not breaking out the Sharpie and paper for an autograph.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">I asked, “Are you an avid fly fisher?”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">“Used to be, and I seem to be getting back into it. I am here for a new project, a movie.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">“Oh, another “<i>A River Runs Through It</i>?”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">He seem to grimace. “I fished a with Norman McClean.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">At this time I entered into my let me entertain you with an interesting story mode. I related that I have a close friend who asked me to take a lady friend of his to lunch. She lives in Bozeman where most of the filming of “the fly fishing movie” took place and the significance of her importance to “the movie” was that when she was approached by Redford’s advance team to rent her house, where she could name her price, she said, “It is not for rent.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">“But, you don’t understand, this is Robert Redford, he wants this house while he is here, name your price and terms.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">She said politely, “No you don’t understand, my house is not for rent - The End.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">I laughed as I concluded the story with, “Not many women would turn down Robert Redford.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Hurt pumped his fist and said, “Good for her.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">The slight grimace returned, “ I had the rights to Norman’s book, but could not raise the money at the time. Redford out bid me, so good for her, good for her.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">I was just about to turn into a fan and quiz him about “<i>Body Heat</i>” when his movie people called ready for him, and it was time for me to go look for those circles in the water.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">With smiles we shook hands once again and exchanged the fisherman’s parting, “tight lines.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Epilogue: Three nights later at Boodles in Bozeman, I had dinner with the lady who turned down Redford. When I told her the Hurt story, she quipped, “Think we can get an invitation to the premier.” </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">The movie project, Hollywood's version of Duncan's <i>The River Why</i>. As much as the fly shops hoped for a blockbuster, "this </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">movie" went directly to cable. Hurt performed in his Academy Award winning style as H2O, but his cast did have a noticeable open loop. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-1374842180715192672011-12-29T21:54:00.000-06:002011-12-30T11:00:18.572-06:00You Want Escargot With That?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOrHwWVFQLxwmm5QmI_ZyekXFPn5KrKXM0fAkyRzb4CH_2TRax75Ng2IMpEYulA7v8sJsO-YyO3VQXhKFDSMMUNDdiPdVZcOxShTOwquMIyI5JF3KUG5QbobxHZHShMOWrlhEIfdmAie4o/s1600/IMG_0734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOrHwWVFQLxwmm5QmI_ZyekXFPn5KrKXM0fAkyRzb4CH_2TRax75Ng2IMpEYulA7v8sJsO-YyO3VQXhKFDSMMUNDdiPdVZcOxShTOwquMIyI5JF3KUG5QbobxHZHShMOWrlhEIfdmAie4o/s320/IMG_0734.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
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The Turnip Truck is facing the White River in Cotter, Arkansas, but it could really be any river. My good friends and neighbors have a bird seed feeder stationed between our two rigs. This is a bird watching paradise and the volume of birds feeding has forced me to learn the difference between a finch and a crow. <br />
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Just across the river high up in an old oak tree is the nest or aerie for other fishing buddies, two beautiful bald eagles. The large nest is isolated high above a cattle farm, and too far from view to determine the exact count of eaglets. The mother's milk for these young eaglets is a varied selection of trout and from the number of observed flights and taloned dives, there are some hungry beaks in their river front home.<br />
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Curious, I decided to study up on eagles. Eagles mate for life. However if left alone the surviving eagle is said to quickly find another mate. Kind of like humans, this same lifestyle trait manifests itself in the same way in Florida's assisted living communities and mobile home parks. You know the scene, the widow from four double wides away, "I'm so sorry to hear of your wife's passing, we all loved her so much. Would you like some pie?"<br />
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Male eagles reach maturity around the age of four or five, where human males struggle with maybe never reaching maturity at all. Eagles do not mate every year which does confirm that female eagles get headaches, too. Male and female eagles look alike. The guideline for determining the gender of an eagle is measuring the distance between the top of the beak to the chin. Females display a greater distance in the height of their beaks. Males are said to become fixated upon big beaks. Beak envy is a important big fee generator in the practice of psychiatric medicine with eagles.<br />
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The eagle's grocery store of choice is obvious here, it is the river. Trout fishermen and eagles love to see a bug hatch take place. During an emergence, rather than remaining hunkered down on the bottom, the trout begin a process of coming up, first for the emergers just below the surface, and then feeding upon the meniscus trapped insects as the bug's birthdays are determined. <br />
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For trout fishers, hatches present opportunities that are truly satisfying. Laying out a fifty foot cast with a self-fashioned fly attached to a perfectly extended tippet that lands lightly upon the water's surface four inches in front of a rising trout is a checkmate type move. Seeing the multicolored trout's bone white mouth open to inhale the tiny concoction of hairs and feathers is a tingling bonus. The senses ignite with the first splash of the take. A bit melodramatic, yes, but far better than watching the semi-finals of American Idol.<br />
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Even greater than a fly fisher's own catch is being in the water and observing the take of a soaring eagle. <br />
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"Darlin' the trout are talon deep, and I think I'll go to the store - need anything?"<br />
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The eagle begins a predator drone like circle high above the river, suddenly a few strong wing flaps propel him into a shadowless power glide until the target is achieved, wings turn up, talons extend and a brown trout is purchased at the river delicatessen. <br />
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"You want escargot with that?"<br />
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Just recently, I received one of those internet links with a live web camera poised above a Mr. and Mrs. Eagles nest containing triplets. Below the live screen the typical comment was posted, "Awww, they're so cute." Muir like, I sent it along to my list of naturalist buddies, err, make that cynical friends. I received a lot of "gee, thanks," and the same, "Awww, they're so cute." One friend was quick to respond, "Yeah, we had one of those live cams around here a year or so ago, thousands watched it, even got T.V. coverage, until one day the screen went blank. The live cam was turned off the day hundreds of mothers called in screaming, "Oh the humanity!" Mr. Eagle decided enough fish for awhile … today it'll be Tex-Mex, and he proceeded to deliver a rhinestone collared chihuahua to his hungry eaglets.<br />
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" You want salsa or guacamole with that?"Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-810623455326435803.post-66254041011794832282011-12-29T18:25:00.000-06:002011-12-30T19:43:05.058-06:00Fly Fishing From A Motorhome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiD6UU23Rube5uKH-2cBdxG9mw5kKbjBx134v6mCjKVn4jLahPh4IxBAFS0qRpgRxAm59TlUX2efDLBe12fNvBeKfN6eQby_508D-hN7A0P3YBSD2nlEsgkFHIRxb7t3cATNZtkC_iMHHb/s1600/IMG_0251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiD6UU23Rube5uKH-2cBdxG9mw5kKbjBx134v6mCjKVn4jLahPh4IxBAFS0qRpgRxAm59TlUX2efDLBe12fNvBeKfN6eQby_508D-hN7A0P3YBSD2nlEsgkFHIRxb7t3cATNZtkC_iMHHb/s320/IMG_0251.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> Turnip Truck II</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The setup here is in Cotter, Arkansas on the banks of the White River, my home waters. Jackson, the Chocolate Lab pictured is the blog editor - expect poor grammar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Turnip Truck I</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Snook (R.I.P.), a beloved Black Lab loved the Ozarks, and thought silly the move from Turnip hauler One to Two.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Turnip Truck Chronicleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303351609208210900noreply@blogger.com0