Tag: fishing

Trip 6A – St. Joseph, Missouri

Trip 6 was our trip to visit our friends Scott and Heather Culver in Missouri and our daughter Corrianne in Texas. Trip 6A is the St. Joseph Missouri portion of the trip and Trip 6B is our visit to North Texas. Our friend Sylvia was along for the ride on this trip. And away with the show.

Day 1

Day one was…….the travel day!  Since this was a flying trip, day 1 was our day to fly to Kansas City. We picked up Sylvia at her house and headed off to LAX. Cindy and I now have TSA Pre-check, so this was our first experience with that. I have two words for Pre-check. A-Mazing. Okay, maybe that was just one word, but back to getting through security with Pre-check. We had to leave Sylvia in the regular line for the “peasants” as we got into our Pre-check line. There was no line. I walked right up to the front where I got to leave my shoes on. And I didn’t have to take my computer or anything else out of my carry-on bag. Then I went thru a regular metal detector instead of all of the other advanced machines in the “other” line. When I walked thru the metal detector, it beeped, so I stopped for the anticipated frisk and wand check. Nope, the TSA agent looked at me and waved me on. I gathered my things as Cindy breezed thru as well. We had to wait about 20 minutes for Sylvia to make her way thru with the other commoners. Pre-check is the only way to travel! It literally felt like we snuck through security and I’m not 100% sure we are not wanted somewhere. I fully expected there to be wanted posters of us in Kansas City when we went to fly to Dallas on day 6. Luckily, there were not.

Once past security, we ate and waited for our flight. I wanted to eat at Trejo’s Tacos, but it wasn’t open yet. And yes, that is Danny Trejo from the Machete movies.

We left on time and incident free. The entire flight was incident free……………until we landed. Then something happened that has never happened to me before and better not ever happen again. Because of my back and knees, I always sit in the aisle seat so I can get up and move around if I have to. As we were getting ready to stand up and get our overhead bags to deplane, a very old man across from us and behind me (clown should have waited for his row), stood up and blocked my exit so he and his wife could go ahead of us. I was annoyed, but have encountered numerous rude people in the past and have learned to let it go. Then the man leaned over to help his wife with something, sticking his back side right in my face. Now I was really annoyed. Then, it happened. The sound of a whoopie cushion followed by an unpleasant odor. This clown just farted in my face. I leaned over to Cindy, who was sitting next to me, and told her what happened. She questioned it and assured me that somehow after 56 years of life, I was NOT familiar with the sounds and odors of one passing gas. She denied it for about 30 seconds, then the odor made it to her seat. The look on her face was priceless when she realized I was right, and she could not help but laugh. At that exact moment I realized I had only two options. I either had to defend my honor and pummel this old man, and surely go to prison in the process, or laugh.

Now that I am in prison, could some of you send me money for cigarettes? Just kidding. I laughed with Cindy as she shared the incident with Sylvia. The three if us had a good laugh until we realized some of the other passengers may be able to smell what we smelled and we did not want to get blamed for causing the smell, if you know what I mean. We let the stinky old dude get a ways down the aisle before exiting the plane ourselves. We got our bags, rental car, and were off.

We had a delicious dinner at Chedder’s restaurant, hit the local Walmart for a few supplies, checked into our hotel, and fell fast asleep.

Day 2

For our first full day in St. Joseph, we visited Jamesport, an Amish town about an hour away. Scott had to work, so we picked up Heather and were off. We had lunch at the Gingerich Dutch Pantry.

As you can see, it is a family style restaurant with a fried chicken buffet. Yes, you read that right, a fried chicken buffet. And they have the second-best fried chicken I have ever had, second only to Aunt Barbara’s fried chicken. And just like the last time we ate there, it was delicious. Here is a picture looking down Main Street and proof they do not allow tenderloins, hamburgers, or full menus to park at any time.

After lunch and checking out Main Street, we drove down the road to the H & M Country Store, an Amish store. Here is the store and a buggy parked in the parking lot.

We did some shopping at the store and headed back to our hotel where we got to watch them mow the huge field next to our hotel. That is something you don’t see everyday. At least we don’t.

We finished the day having dinner at Scott’s parent’s (Nancy and Denby) house. Nancy made homemade pizza and it was out of this world. The dough was one of the best!

Day 3

I got up early to go fishing with Scott, his Uncle Jewel, his son Ben, and a friend of Ben’s. We fished at a private pond in the nearby city of Gower. Uncle Jewel had access to several private ponds and this one was very nice.

Check out these bass.

I watched them get caught. By other people. I did catch one bass, that was about 4 inches. It was safely returned to the pond.

After fishing, we returned to Scott and Heather’s house where the girls were hanging by the pool. That evening, we had a fish fry and bbq steaks. Great meal and fun time.

Day 4

This was a full day. We picked up Scott and Heather and headed off to the Jowler Creek Winery in Platte City, about a half hour south of St. Joseph. The grounds were beautiful. You got to taste eight different wines, including one named after the dog you see sleeping beneath the table.

We had our wine server take pictures of us inside and he also took a selfie of himself. I’m not sure if that was funny or creepy. If we suddenly disappear, he did it.

Our next stop was to meet with our friends John and Dana in Weston. John is Scott’s cousin. Here is the view looking down Main Street.

We had lunch at the Tin Kitchen and I bought some hand rolled cigars from Weston Tobacco. We visited the Weston Museum, which was very interesting. Weston was originally on the Missouri River and thrived. In 1881, a flood caused the river to be moved two miles away from town and spelled the end of the boomtown era. The town’s population plummeted, but it survived. In 1972, the majority of the town was designated a Historic District.

Our next stop was the Riverwood Winery, which also had a whiskey tasting area.

I had the “Feel the Burn” tasting which contained shots of Knob Creek, Maker’s Mark, and Yellowstone whiskeys. All were very good. Scott surprised me with a glass for using when drinking whiskey on Whiskey Wednesday. And yes, that is a real thing and it is wonderful.

Dinner was at a Mexican food placed named Barbosa’s, which is wildly popular in St. Joseph. This is also the place Cindy had the grilled cheese enchiladas on our last visit to St. Joe. This visit confirmed the food is not California Mexican food. Almost everyone had average to below average meals. Oh well, I’m sure that was our last visit there.

Day 5

This was our relaxing slower day before our travel day to North Texas. We slept in, then drove around looking at houses for sale. We found several neighborhoods we liked and a few we did not. For dinner, we met Scott, Heather, Denby, and Nancy at Q39 in Kansas City. Q39 is an award winning BBQ restaurant and it did not disappoint. Everyone loved their meals. This is a must visit when in the Kansas City area. Desert was homemade cheesecake at Denby and Nancy’s house. De-lish-us.

The next blog entry will be the second half of this trip in North Texas.

2021 Trip 4 – June Lake Guys Fishing Trip

This was my five day fishing trip in the June Lake area with my friend Dan B. (the guy who abandoned me and moved to Texas) and several of his friends, many of whom I know as well. The last time I fished with this group was in 2019 when we did a lot of fishing in the snow. We were scheduled for May of 2020, but that obviously didn’t happen. This year, the weather was much warmer than in 2019.

Day 1

Day one was shockingly enough my travel day. Imagine that. This travel day consisted of me driving to Burbank Airport to pick up Dan, who flew in from Texas. From there, we drove up to June Lake with several stops along the way to use the restroom and have dinner. We arrived at the cabin at nightfall. Here is what our cabin and the area looked like.

We got settled in with Dan and I sharing an upstairs room with two queen beds. The upstairs part had to be mentioned since I had a torn meniscus in my left knee and was scheduled for surgery on the Wednesday after we returned. So of course I ended up with an upstairs room.

Day 2

After our first night in the cabin, Dan earned the nickname “Buzzsaw Burdick.” To say he snores would be an understatement. Luckily, I carry earplugs and they worked quite well.

Our first fishing stop was at Trumbull Lake, an upper elevation lake about an hour drive from where we were staying. We have fished at this lake before and have always had good luck there. There were snow patches around the lake and the scenery was beautiful. Of course I had to fish from one of the snow patches.

After we all struck out, we hiked over to Lower Virginia Lake. Another beautiful spot.

Here is Dan fishing across the lake from me.

Once again, we were all skunked. So far, it was Fish 1, Us 0.

We returned to the cabin, had some lunch and headed off to Lake Crawley to try fishing there since we heard the fish were biting. They were not. Instead, it was hot, and nasty, and not so fun.

We returned to the cabin where Mike S was busy preparing his annual steak dinner. While we waited, we fed the local jays some peanuts on the rail of our patio.

Here is a look at the delicious meal Mike S prepared.

And that concluded our first full day of fishing.

Day 3

Everyone was slow to stir and we finally got our poop together enough to head off to June Lake and try some fishing off of a pontoon boat.

There were 8 of us on the boat and four fish were landed. If you do the math, we were not too successful. I got skunked again, but that seems to be the norm most of the time. I’m just happy being out there. We talked to a local worker who told us the fishing was going to be bad this year because the local hatcheries had a problem and all of the fish had to be destroyed and the hatcheries sanitized. Fishy Covid?? Anyway, that meant none of the lakes in the area were going to be stocked this year. Now it all made sense.

After dinner, I was invited to try some Crayfish fishing. It is done at night with lights, nets, and waders.

During this expedition, I discovered my waders had a hole in them. Many, many holes to be more accurate. I stayed in the freezing water and wondered why I felt so wet. When I came out, I was pouring water out of my waders and had to drive back to the cabin in my skivvies. I hate when that happens. This fishing was successful, as you can see.

We finished just after midnight and went to bed.

Day 4

After two straight days of sub par fishing, we decided to spend our last day visiting the town of Hawthorne, Nevada, a hour drive away. Hawthorne is located in a desert like valley in the middle of nowhere. It used to be the home of the largest munitions dump in the world. It is still the second largest in the world. It used to be a Navy base, holding munitions for the Navy, then it became an Army base. Now it is run by a private company. They have a really cool Ordnance Museum. Here is some of the stuff that was outside of the museum.

There was also a tank you could climb inside. Because of my knee, all I could do was stand in front of the tank while the other guys got to have fun climbing on it.

Here a some pictures from inside the museum.

After the museum visit, we discovered we were visiting on Armed Forces Day. That meant the parade. There is no greater spectacle than a small town parade and this was no exception.

We got to meet Abraham Lincoln, who looked great for his age.

The parade concluded with half the town carrying a huge, four lanes wide and about 50 yards long, American Flag down the street to the main square.

Once at the main square, the flag was attached to a giant flag pole.

Then a snag. The flag stayed in this position for half an hour.

That was until this man ran up with a crank for the flag pole. You have to love it. They started without the right equipment.

After lots of vigorous cranking, the flag was raised.

A truly amazing and enjoyable day. We returned to the cabin, had dinner, and celebrated the birthday of one of Mike S’s sons.

We ended the night with a nice group shot.

Day 5

Dan and I got up early and headed toward Burbank Airport. Of course we had to stop at the Indian Wells Brewing Company and picked up some soda and beer. This is always a must stop when heading north or south on the 14/395.

I got Dan to the airport right on time and he was off.

This was me three days later after knee surgery number 4.

Ya gotta love getting old. I have four and a half weeks to recover for our next trip. A 12 day trip to help Corrianne move to Rowlett, Texas.