Best I Figure 2010 Miles...

The best I can figure it from place to place of latest travel trip in our camper was 2010 miles over 11 days and that's not counting detours for fried catfish, the Moogsuem and thrift shopping. We visited family, Morgan, Ali and kids in South Carolina, Cathy's sister Margret in Kentucky (with a side trip for the rest of that crew in Evansville, In.) where we missed a visit with my cousin Carolyn because she was under the weather and the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi and a final stop to see nephew Chase and HD in Shreveport. I don't think I've missed anything.  

Morgan and crew on Lake Harwell.   

Margret and Kevin's Lake house in Dunmor, Ky on Lake Malone. We camped in Lake Malone State Park just across the lake. This is Muhlenberg County of the famous John Prine song. The house is nice but no photos of the inside which is all torn up for renovation. This lake which is about the size of the old papermill lake back home looks like a great place to fish and hang and enjoy some old school lake time.  

Great scenery around the lake and though we are not big fall color people you could catch a breath of the changing season as we cruised around the lake. 

Our next stop for the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival was the old Stovall Gin Company outside Clarksdale Mississippi. This is the exact location where folklorist Alan Lomax recorded blues singer Muddy Waters for the library of Congress in two session during 1941 and 42. It's still a working farm bt there are four camper hook ups for water and electric. No showers or other perks and we had the place all to ourselves. A worker for the farm stopped one day because he though we were the crew to set up the stage for the upcoming Mighty Roots festival on the grounds next weekend. 

Clarksdale is a great place. I had last been through for a brief lunch stop 30 odd years ago but the people are friendly, at the festival you could just sit around and chat with the performers, food was good, when seeing the love music there was places for old people to sit and there were no crowds. Oh yeah, the music was great also.  

At the festival you wouldn't see the big worldwide names but there were plenty of local and regional legends. Names like Kimbrough, The Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band, the organizer of the festival Lady Trucker of boundless energy and huge singing voice, Lighting Malcom a great Texas band Spitcup and the Jukes and more. Together they put on a great show. 

One example was this guy who they all called Mr. Farmer. He filled in for Mr. Joe Ayers, famous as a member of Jr. Kimbrough's band who had had a fall. If this is the fill in act I know Joe would have been great. 

The family visits were great. We can't wait till next time. Clarksdale, see you again. 
     

 

 

Every Now and Then I Pick Up a Guitar...

Every now and then we manage to pick up a guitar and play for something. This past weekend it was the bilingual Mass for our church Fiestas Patrias Festival. We had a little help, a good group of five that always responds to help out and I must say it sounded pretty good when I went back and checked the church livestream.

I must say in this photo we do look like we know what we are doing and are pretty cute doing it.   

I was glad the music sounded good because I have not felt all that much like picking up an instrument lately. I don't know if it's the time taken off for traveling, the other things of life that have kept me busy or what but I just have not been able to focus on any one project with the intensity I can usually summon.

We depart on a trip tomorrow. In addition to visiting Morgan, Ali and grandkids in South Carolina we have a stop to see Cathy's sister and my cousin Carolyn both in Kentucky and a stop in Clarksdale, Ms for the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival. 

In addition to the music at the festival our camping accommodations are at the old Stovall Plantation that was the home to Muddy Waters. Maybe all this music history will be inspirational. I have packed guitars just in case.  

In the meantime enjoy this Fiestas Patrias collage by Father D. 

 

My Neighbor Blew Up...

At 2:30 in the morning my neighbor's tool shed, which backs up to my boat garage (it's been there long before there was a neighbor) caught fire and welding tanks that were inside blew up. That's the sound that me and Cathy woke up to. I pulled on pants and shoes, grabbed my keys, backed up to the boat which had a mostly full tank of gas, hitched the trailer up, a sheriff's deputy on the scene kicked out the trailer chocks  and I pulled my boat away from a pickup that was burning just over the property line. The fire department arrived and began putting the fire out. All that happened faster than I can type about it and within an hour all the official vehicles were gone. 

The neighbor is ok and thankfully I pulled the boat with it's gas tank away or that might have blown in the firemen's faces so things could have been worse. The most costly damage to me is that all the plastic parts on my 7 year old outboard motor melted. I think it's a complete loss as is the trailer lights, wiring and the sonar transducer. The neighbor's tools which he used for some kind of side car repair business are completely lost. Insurance will cover a bit and the neighbor said let him know my loss. 

Fortunately it's all only money and Cathy says go buy a new outboard. We had just made a stop at Lake Jacksonville to see her brother and sister in law and they took us for a ride in their new pontoon boat and on the way home we discussed carpet and seat upgrades but the thought of a motor upgrade was not on our minds. 

The boat platform is all ok so maybe the next time you see us on the lake (it might take a bit) we will be sporting a new look. Seems like someone mentioned customizing a boat purple here lately so we will see. 

Amazedly there seems to be no damage to the neighbor's house, the ski tube next to the boat (a $200 item) and the plastic canoe did not melt.  

See you on the lake, later rather than sooner.   

 
 

Big Red Drum and Shark Was the Catch...

Another beach camping trip is in the books. Once again the fishing was good at Pop-Pop's secret beach spot but this time instead of just enjoying our own company most of the time like we usually do we were joined by Rose and family who live locally, the Zamora's who drove down for a day and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon getting to know my cousin Caleb and his girlfriend Angelica who live and work in Houston.    

 Fishing score for this trip was this 32 inch red drum which I threw back because he was out of the slot and because I had bought my fishing license online this week and had not received the red drum tag yet, another 20 inch slot drum which I kept, four throw back trout and a small pile of those whiting which we really enjoy eating.   

If you note in the photo the tail of the drum is a bit chewed so there's something bigger out there. Also when I looked down his throat to remove my hook I spotted a shrimp tail lure with a pretty fresh dead mullet that was apparently embellishing the presentation. I removed it along with the 15 or 20 pound trailing length of braided line. I had seen a couple of guys 100 yards or so up the beach catching mullet for bait and fishing so I expect they had lost this rig and he gobbled it off the bottom.   

Come on everyone! Let us fill our pants up with sand. With some increased wind speed a little tropical weather blooming up from the Pacific water turned from Bluewater Highway blue to sandy green. That held the trout and Spanish Mac bite back a bit but that's a good signal for the fall red drum run. 

  One odd thing this trip was that seems our propane was not as efficient as usual. We typically run solar power all day and at night use the generator for air conditioning and that has been taking 3 to 4 five gallon tanks over a three night trip. This time we used five tanks. I'll have to investigate this discrepancy. 

Miguel and Milo stay close while the rest of the crew heads out. 

The red drum makes about the 14th species of screaming beast I have subdued this year but Mary caught this 26 inch black tip shark.  

Once when my son Morgan sent me photos of big red drum he had caught surf fishing I responded with the observation that he really knew how to catch them. 

He responded, "I learned from the best." That made me feel good. 

This trip I asked Mary what her childhood memories of the beach were ad she replied it was all the adults being amazed that a little girl could throw a cast net and catch mullet for bait. 

Somewhere, someplace someone might be saying, "Hey, you remember that little girl that caught all those mullet?" That just goes to show that beach memories are good memories.