Ten Years To Bangkok

ROARING RIVER

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:54:00 GMT

Well we finally got our trip to Roaring River. We went down on Monday September 7^th left the house at 12:30 went to 10 Acres and hooked up the trailer. Then we headed down to Roaring River. We took 126 (4^th street) east over to 43 highway and took it south to H highway east to Jasper since 126 and 71 is closed to build overpass. I was sure surprised that Jasper had popcorn processing plants. They must contract with farmers to plant popcorn or maybe just pay when they bring in the popcorn. We raised red popcorn one year the kernels are not as big as the yellow popcorn but just as good to eat. Turned south on highway 71 at Jasper. After you cross interstate 44 it turns into 59 took it all the way to highway 60 then turned east to Monett and highway 37 south to Cassville were we turned east on highway 112 which turns south 7 miles to Roaring River. Got their and set up the camper. Dow had her 3 suitcases and I had my gym bag for our stay. Then went back to Cassville to get gas and go to the Wal-Mart store. We ate at KFC to get some bones for killer. I took 13 gallons of gas to pull the camper down to Roaring River but only 5 gallon to pull it back, cannot understand that.

Well all the rod we took down to Roaring River I had built this time. Dow took only 2 but 3 suitcases and I took 3.

Dow’s new 6’-6” blank from Park Falls pink with red wraps and gold trim bands with teak trims on cork handle and Thai 20 baht coin for a butt cap. Spiral wrap.
Dow’s 6’-0” Spiral wrap red and gold with gold diamond but wrap.
Ed’s new 6’-0” Spin / fly rod gray blank with blue wraps. Turn handle to change from spinning to fly rod. Special handle.
Ed’s 6’-0” Spinning rod brown with brown and gold bands light rod.
Ed’s 6’-0” Fly rod 3 wt. same blank as spinner same brown and gold trim.

Well we started fishing at 7:30 Tuesday morning after the crowd had left, and it was a wonderful day. Started up in the Area 1 they call it. Then in the afternoon went down in the fly only area. We had a really nice day. Got our limit and while cleaning them Dow forgot her stringer and lost it. They have all kind of strange rules their now with Area 1,2,and 3.

continue on next post..

Roaring River part 2

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:54:00 GMT

Then it started to rain so we went back to camper and fixed supper. We got everything ready to go out tomorrow. It rained all night so in morning it slowed down so we thought it would stop. So we went down by the spring fishing. After we caught a few it started raining heavy again. So we went back to the camper for a while. Then back to fly area fishing again. Then it started raining hard again. We went back to try to get campsite for another day but it was booked so we had to leave. We had to hook up the camper in the rain not a pleasant thing to do. When we got ready to leave the people was waiting to take our site. We drove all the way to Joplin in the rain. From Joplin on we had no rain, our rain gauge showed 3 inches of rain when we got back to the house.

Dow picked a lot of wateress from their and had tried to transplant some in pond at 10 acres wonder if it will in none running water? It sure taste good had it growing in Saudi. Will see what happens.

Trip to Park Falls WI (Part I)

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:36:00 GMT

We got back yesterday (Aug-18-2009) in the storm. We left Aug. 12 at 6:00 AM and it was nice and hot. We took highway #69 up through Kansas City and then picked up highway I35. We drove on highway I35 up through St Paul to Forest Lake spent the night petty country. We then drove on state highway #8 over to state highway #13 took it north to Park falls. Highway #8 reminded me of the old highway 66 were we drove through every little town and had to slow down for speed limits stop sign and lights. Nice drive but took a lot of time (1½ hour shorter using the other route). The St Croix falls on highway #8 was really nice and was near Forest Lake. Park Falls is a town of about 4,000. It has about 6 or 8 motels in it. The St. Croix rod factory is one of the few remaining rod manufacturing plants in the United States about all the others has moved to overseas.

Then on the evening (Aug-13-2009) they had our dinner at the park with the Rod Guild. The next day (Aug-14-2009) at 8:00 AM I got to go through the St Croix factory which took about 4 hours. They make about 1,000 completed rods a day. It was very interesting. They had a graph that showed that Bass Pro sells about 48% of the outdoor equipment in US and Cabela's only about 8% sure did not know that Bass Pro outsold Cabela's by that much, maybe the big difference is the boats. Then they had pizzas for lunch. Had classes in the afternoon and got to talk to the St Croix engineer that works at the St Croix plant and to answer all kinds of questions. That evening we went back to the park and had our evening meal with the Guild.

Trip to Park Falls WI (Part II)

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:36:00 GMT

Then on Saturday (Aug-15-2009) we went to the Park Falls High School and had classes all day on rod building some was very interesting.(Spiral rods, wood turning, marbleizing, using braids, cross wraps, and making rod building tools) Had a sack lunch. Got to see a lot of things that I had read about but got to see how that it was done first hand. Had a lot of wonderfully made rods to look at and wonder about. Had people from as far away as Florida and Texas. Had about 70 people not counting the wife’s. Some of the wife’s stayed and went through the factory and the classes. Dow went with the other sightseeing and shopping the two days. A lot left after Saturday since they needed to be at work Monday morning. We spent the night at Park Falls and got you guessed it Dow had to have Chinese carry out for supper.

Then Sunday we packed all our stuff and left (Aug-16-2009) about 8:00 AM for home. We went a different route this time not taking highway #8 and saved about 1 1/2 hours getting to St. Paul. We then went around the east side of St. Paul and Kansas City this time which made for a lot pleasanter driving not have to get in all the traffic jams and saved some time also. We took highway # 13 down to highway #29 over to highway #94 to St. Paul. Then we took highway #495 which was closed when we got their so had to go to highway #61 back to highway #495 to highway #52 down to interstate I35. We drove through Northfield Minn. were the James and Younger's tried to rob the bank but Dow was sleeping so decided not to stop. We then spent the night in Bethany Mo.

Then the next morning (Aug-17-2009) leaving we ran into a rain from the storm moving through. We took highway #291 and #470 around Kansas City to highway #71 and drove down to Lamar were we stopped for lunch. We ran out of the rain south of Kansas City. Then we highway #160 south, and ran back into rain again, across to road #260 to the 10 acres and have a lot of tomatoes and peppers to pick and the yard to mow. Then took highway # 126 on home to take care of our dog Killer who was sure happy to see us. I got a pink rod blank at the St Croix factory to make a rod for Dow.

Bird's nest

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:51:00 GMT

Two Phoebe’s build a nest in south carport and we were able to watch them raise three babies from it. Last year we got to watch a mocking bird build a nest in the oak tree, behind the garage, and raise her family. We got to see a fawn that a doe deer gave birth to and passed through the 10 acres all of the time

The fishing pond

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:30:00 GMT

We did not get to go as much as we should. I went to the trout pit in the spring a few times. We got the GRANDKIDS POND full, at the 10 Acres, and all 4 grandkids here have fished in it. Emily caught her first fish from the pond a 1 pound perch when she was 4 years old. Then I built Emily a special rod for her birthday and she caught a 4 pound channel cat on it at the pond. Dow was able to catch a 4 pound trout at Bennett Springs in July when we went their. We did not do much damage to the crappie population this year but what we caught was sure good eating.

Works continues at 10 Acres

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:10:00 GMT

The work continues at our 10 Acres and it will never be done. We covered the barn with galvanized sheeting and replaced the window in the south room. We ran electric power to it. We have insulated a lot of the barn. Then we painted the barn after many color changes my wife finally decided to paint it Red with white trim like it was before that we covered it and not match the garage. The south and north rooms was cleaned out. The south room was painted and we removed the 2 inch slab above the floor line and concreted in the slot in the floor, finally we put carpet down in that room. In the north room after cleaning it out we poured a concrete floor in it and used it for storage. We burned out all of the fence lines in the fall. We mowed all the ground by brush hog early in the spring. Finally was able to buy a riding lawn mower for the lawn Grand kids like it and we have a trailer for it. The walnut trees we planted last year continue to grow. We reworked both carports fixing the north one with a walk door and an overhead door to block it off for the winter. The south one we added addition braces to keep it from moving so much. Roxie and Neil spent a week at the 10 acres in June.

Canoe trip to Bennett Spring

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:24:00 GMT

We went on a canoe trip at Bennett Spring this was the greatest time we have had in a long time. Ot and his family came to visit us at the campsite and stay a couple of night with us. We took the kids fishing and canoeing. They all seem to have a blast, eventhought it was the weekend there were lots of people on in the park and river. We were able to catch lots of rainbow trout and catch some rain as well. All and all the trip was nice and the weather coporated too. I will definitely go back after the school is in session so that it won't be so crowded. I would recommend this family trip to anyone who is interested.