Stillwater Tour - Day 1..... The Wind

I woke suddenly to the sound of thunder. At first I wasn't sure what it was, then I heard it again… great it's raining… again. I laid in bed waiting for the alarm to off, guess I am milking the clock this morning not wanting to get soaked just yet. I packed a few last minute items and opened the door…. SNOW? What? Well, I just wasted ten-minutes "mind-complaining" about the rain, oh well I'm still going. The drive to our destination was snowing and the entire time I am certain that everyone was hoping we were driving away from the storm. Arriving at camp it was a" fast turn around". Camper went up, truck was unpacked and we took off for the lake.The lake was windy, not a light breeze either and the gusting bursts of energy turned a once beautiful cone-head bugger into a weapon. From time to time you could hear a loud "whap" that was always followed by an " OU' F*@$!!! The heavy fly would be taken by the wind, pushed of course and if you weren't careful can hit you in the back of the head. Not only was it windy, it was cold and snowing through out the afternoon… might have had something to do with the low fisherman numbers, none. I guess we are the only three idiots that fish in the rain, sleet and snow… and a rare sunny day. After hours of battling the elements only a few fish were caught. It was slowwww, really slow so we decided to take a look at a different location. Well, that wasn't the best fishing either. Although the wind had let up a bit it was still cold and slowwwww. Heading back to the camp after getting your ass kicked is a quiet drive. Thoughts of "shoulda - woulda - coulda" run about my mind, always trying to figure out what went wrong and what your going to do the next time.
We saved the best for last…. Dinner is going to be insane! The Chris's went to the butcher in search of some steak, what they bought was a cow. They walked out of the store with three U.S grade "A" T-ones weighing 4.5 each… and out $90 bucks. They have been marinating for a few days and it's finally almost time to start grilling. It was agreed that these precious steaks deserved an open pit charcoal roast. Grizz chopped the wood and I tended to the fire. In no time we had the coals. For the next 2 hours these bad boys slowly cooked over the coals, we tossed in a few garlic bulbs and added some asparagus to the mix and then sat there salivating waiting to feast. One by one the spears were eaten as we waited for the steaks to do their thing. At this point we are so hungry and like a Christmas miracle a small piece of meat broke off on the 'flip". Yes!! We shared that piece of sacred meat and cherished every chew. Not a good idea though, it was a teaser and we still had to wait a long time. The dogs had found a pile of deer hooves, something like 15 were counted just standing in one place... a few looked old but some looked like last night dinner, we speculated this a local feeding the family. Finally, the steaks are ready! We each had our own few pounds and like animals went separately to our corner to eat. MFRW was on the ground by the fire cutting the steak into bite size pieces, Grizz went over to the camper and I sat on a log by the fire, we all devoured the meal with hoots and hollers as it was delicious to say the least. The bar was set high by MFRW (Chris B), his marinate was top notch… looking forward to tomorrow, hope its not windy.





to be continued......