The BASS CAST

This is going to be a short post.  We left the house around 8:00 and started the trek South and East.

The biggest problem is that there is no straight shot to our destination.  You have to square off the trip no matter which way you go.  We picked our route and it took us up mountains and through a lot of towns.  We hit a bunch of slow traffic, so when you are only going 40 it took us for ever to get within 150 miles.

We pulled over in a rest stop and just gave up at dark. 

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This morning we slept in a little and just hung out and did not do much.  Around 9:00 we started packing up the camp site.  Here is where I met the campers next to us.  They were from Atlanta and doing a little camping with the family before everyone had to go back to school.  We got to talking and I brought up that I was running my Ford F250 on Biesel.  Here is the link to the site and materials I use.

He told me that he makes a system that can give you hot water not matter how much yo use and he will send me some info on it later.

The trip was uneventful pretty much a straight shot East on 20 till we get home.  The truck went about 450 miles hauling the 5th wheel and we did not have any issues.  Plus I think I am getting an extra 20 miles to the tank full.  Poser is no problem I use cruise control all the time even when hauling so it goes up the hills and passes with no problems.

We got home and unhooked everything.  I had a notice that I missed a UPs package from FLW so we jumped over to the depot and picked up my package.  I was hoping for a bunch of good stuff for the Cup but it was the same paper work they sent me through email last week.

I did unload the truck and fill up the tank with the last 18 gallons I had left in the truck from the trip.

Now I am catching up on the blog I still have 2 more days to jot down. 

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Got up and needed to do a few things around the house before we left.  I got out the mower and did a quick job of the lawn.  After that I went in and got cleaned up and we hit the road.

The Cobra navigation said it would be 195 miles to the campground and we hit the road around 10:15.  We got a little lost when the GPS took us to the road that was a dead end but we ended up finding the site.  I put 215 miles on a tank full of gas and got pretty close to 11 MPG hauling the 5th wheel which is very good.

We set up camp and the wife went to town for supplies.  She got lost and then in the heavy Atlanta traffic she could no get over to the exit and had to make another circle.

After that I updated a few blogs for her with the new wordpress version and will update mine tomorrow.

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We were out of town on Travis' real birthday so Laura decide to hold his party today.  He wanted to go to Edventure Museum.  This is a kids museum with tons of fun stuff to do and things to play with.  This was my first time here and I had a blast.  There are tunnels to crawl through and Travis would crawl in one and holler out "Come on Poppy" so I would crawl through also.  No mind you these are meant for little kids and a few of the spaces were kind of tight but we had a lot of fun.

Except for one thing in the center of the museum there is a 3 story tall  boy that sits i nthe center of the museum.  He is petrified of him and no matter what we tried he did not want to go anywhere near him.  But other than that little issue every one had a blast.

Then we went to their house and had the regular party.  He wanted a guitar from the JC Penney catalog so we got him that and he got a cool Play-Doh pack that we played with.

That is the hardest thing about being on the road is missing Travis he is so much fun and he really loves his Grandma and Poppy. 

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After you spend 6 months in an RV there are a few items that you want to change and make more to your liking.  We have Dish Network in the house so of course we take one of the receivers and a spare dish with us on the road and the hook up was a mess cables and cords every where.  At night I would connect the box to the TV in the bedroom and change it back every morning.

So this was unsightly and the Wife had this item on the list.  So I took apart the TV area solid wired everything in hid all the cables and cords and made a mount for the box so it was not on the ground.  I also figured out the wiring in the camper so we could use the 2 system box for both TV's without having to change connections.  The box does not fit perfectly on the shelf but I fashioned a shelf support and now the set up passes The Wife's inspection.

You may notice I never call my wife by her name, Tracy, it is because I never use it.  I use more personal names like Honey or Honey Bunches.  So when I call her the Wife it is for that reason.

The next RV project was to get some power to the slide side of the camper.  Our camper has a 13 foot slide on the one side that holds the table and couch/bed.  But it does not have any electric outlets.  So I cut in a new box and ran an electric cord out that can be plugged directly into the site's box to power her PC and Printer, that she uses on the table during the day.

She also redecorated the interior a little to make it feel more homey, added a few pictures and personal touches.  I did give the RV a good cleaning and scrubbed 5 months worth of travel of her shell.

The shower was next on the list and I pretty much re-caulked the whole tub surround to make it water tight.  This is about the only thing on the camper that was not really done too well.

I have been looking really hard for a good Ranger deal on the internet.  I know I can find a good deal on a used boat but with the number of hours I put on a boat and the extra contingency for being the original owner we decided to look for a new one.

I found some of the best numbers at David Fritts Outdoors in Lexington NC.  Most people would not think to travel to NC and would head to Marshall's Marine in Lake City SC but it is actually quicker to David Fritts than Marshall's.

I sent a couple of emails with some questions and talked to Josh Aukes and decided to head up that way and look at what they had to offer.  Right now price is a major concern for me and even though I want to be in a 520Z I know that is not going to happen right now.  But they had a few nice 198VX's on the lot I wanted to look at.

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• A. Circuit: Other
• B. Location: Lake Norman
• C. Conditions: Hot Sunny
• D. Patterns:
• E. Results:
• F. Hindsight:
• G. Extra: Giving back to our youth is the only way to truly grow our sport.

Let me set the stage. It is day one of the Southern Divisional I just put my fish on the scales and weighed in 10-14 to lead the tournament.  After picking up my weigh in slip and getting some water on the fish I am heading down to the fish release area.  I pass a young angler on the way down to the tank.  He has his arm in a cast and is tying on a Pop-R.

I dump my fish in the tank and head over to ask how he is doing.  He says not to well and asks me if I can show him how to tie his lure on.  I was supposed to go back up and do my interview for the website, but instead I run back to the boat and grab a handful of Cache Custom Lures Trigger Worms and a package of Shakey heads.  

I head back down and I show him how to rig the worm up and then show him hoe to tie on the rig with a Palomar knot.  He is really appreciative and both he and his grandmother thank me for my time.

I watched 10 other guys walk right by this kid and not even give him a nod.  I am a true proponent of getting our kids out fishing and will always make an effort to help out when I can.  The look on their faces is well worth the time spent and who knows he may be the next FLW Champion sometime down the road… 

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We packed up everything and started the 5 hour trip to Hot Springs Arkansas.  We planned on hitting the road at 8:00 so we got up at 6:00 and started getting everything set.  I needed to get the camper ready so all we had to do was hook up and move to the next camp when we get back.

So I pulled the satellite and sewer lines, put away all the patio items.  This took us to 7:00 or so.  Then I still had to empty my boat and place it all in the truck.  This is quite a process my boat is loaded so I had to empty all the boxes and place them in the back seat of the truck.  After we got all that in then all our clothes and other items went on top of that.

The drive was uneventful and it took about 5 hours.  We made it to the hotel and loaded everything onto a luggage cart and up to our room.  

Registration was at 4:00 and I was the first one through the line.  We had boat orientation and the tournament pairings.  I pulled boat 10 with Jesse from Jasper GA.

We will be riding in the Coppertone boat for the next 2 days.

After dinner we went back to the room and I worked on my tackle to get it ready for practice tomorrow. 

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We punched the address into GPS and saw it was 450 miles and we left about 8:00 this morning and got here at 4:30 Central Time.

We set up camp and the wife got groceries.  I did a little catch up on the blog and looked up a few reports for Pickwick to see what was going on in the lake.

So I will head out in the morning and try to find a few smallies to quench my bronzeback thirst. 

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We woke up around 6:00 this morning and listened to the wind howl and the rain pouring down.  So we took our time and hoped for a break.  We decided that 9:00 was the latest we would wait for it to stop.  We had pancakes and watched tv untl 9:00.

I dug out my extra rain suit and started the tear down process.  It rained every second.  But of course by the time we were completed it stopped raining.

The drive took about 3.5 hours and was un-eventful until the last 40 miles and it started pouring hard enough that we were driving only 30 MPH.

So we arrived at the campground and started setting up camp.  Everything went well but the satellite hook up.  I worked on it for an hour but could not get sat 119.  

Next we had a tornado watch and were told to evacuate to the brick community building.  We watched the storms pass one to the North and one to the South so we were safe.

I will head out on Norman tomorrow and familiarize myself with the lake and how she runs. 

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We were in for a long day today.  We had to pack up everything and head to Santee to get ready for the Stren this week.

The trip was pretty uneventful except for the big green carpet we use under the awning decided to blow out of the bed of the truck and drag down the road a little ways.

But we did make it to Santee and got it all set up.  I even set up the Dish in one shot. 

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