Awesome Garcia Rods

Last summer we did a gear review on a Garcia Veritas Rod.  You can go back and read the review here.

Well, the guys have been using this rod a lot and the general consensus is "awesome rod!"  You don't have to take my word for it - a picture speaks a thousand words.....

Like I said - AWESOME rod!  Visit the Abu Garcia website and check them out for yourself.

Tater Day 2013

"Tater Day" is an annual festival that has been held in Marshall County, Kentucky since the mid 1800's.  Marshall County was founded in 1843 and on the first Monday of every April, the farmers would gather in town to trade sweet potato slips to plant and grow on their farms.  Sweet potatoes are grown by planting the slip, or sprout, that is grown from a parent potato.   Each spring the framers would begin planting their crops by early April, so it was decided that the first Monday of April would be Tater Day and the farmers would come from miles around. 

At the same time pigs, chickens, goats, cows and other livestock would also be traded.  Hunting dogs would be compared and purchased.  As time went by and the population of Marshall County expanded, so did the Tater Day Festival.  Soon medicine men were selling elixirs and politicians were shaking hands, women were buying dress goods and pots and pans.  As time went by, the festival grew even more and soon movies were being shown, carnivals were running, concerts were performed and parades went through the town.  Tater Day had blossomed into a huge annual event.

Times have changed and farmers no longer need to trade their tater slips, but that didn't put an end to the Tater Day festivities.  Today it's a huge, 3 day event that draws crowds upwards of 60,000.  Tater Day is so popular that the area schools close down on that Monday because so many kids skipped school to attend the festival.  The event begins the Saturday before Tater Day and hosts a Tater trot.

We happened to be in Kentucky last week so we decided to check out the Tater Day Festival on Saturday.  Even arriving at 10:00 we found it already crowded and we drove around for 10 minutes before I found a parking spot.  We headed down the main strip, where people in cars drive in a constant never ending parade, blowing horns, waving flags and shouting to friends on the street....

 

I took this picture for my friend Karen.  "Duck Commander!!!"  Quack, quack.....

There were lots of cute little bunnies for sale....

And dozens of merchandise stalls spilled out onto the sidewalks.  Personally, I was a little put off by the merchandise sellers this year.  We've been attending Tater Day on and off for the past 20 years.  They used to have a lot more booths with homemade items and crafty stuff.  This year seemed to be a lot more of flea market junk and cheap items.  I was disappointed in that.  This stall was the only one I actually saw that had some hand made things....

Food stalls lined the main drags and sell a wide variety of items....

There is no shortage of fried foods at Tater Day, that's for sure....

We walked around for awhile and decided to get a funnel cake and some ribbon fries.  I have to tell you this story because it's just too funny.   We picked a food booth and stood in line.  When it was our turn, Chablis asked for a Coke.  The woman behind the counter says, "We don't sell Coke products.  We have Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Root Beer and the like."  So Chablis says, "Ok, I'll have a Pepsi then."  The woman replied,  "Our pop machine is broken.  Do you want iced tea instead??"  LOL.   Chablis and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh.  Seriously. 

So we ordered the food and I have to tell you, I was really disappointed in it.  We had carried it back to the car to eat because there was absolutely no place to sit.  The funnel cake tasted like it was cooked in old grease and the ribbon fries had absolutely no flavor what so ever.  Just terrible.  I half considered walking the 2 blocks back and asking for my money back, but we were so aggravated, hungry and thirsty by that time, that I just drove to the next town and we went and got a hamburger.
 

So that was our Tater Day experience this year.  Sadly, it wasn't a good reflection of an annual festival that I've enjoyed with my kids for many years.  Maybe it's gotten too big, too commercial, too overblown.  I didn't care for the carny atmosphere or the flea market marked down items.  I missed the old fashioned arts and crafts and the really good food.  Or maybe it was just an off day. 

If you'd like to read more about the annual Tater Day festival, go to this site.  Please don't let me dissuade you from attending and forming your own opinion.  Like I said, maybe it was just an off day for us.

Unite4Kids

I'm sure many of you remember my friend Mike McLaughlin from last years Appalachian Trail adventure that he hiked in order to raise funds for his "Hike4Kids" campaign.  In 6 months he raised almost $ 15,000.00 for underprivileged children.  Going by the trail name of Standing Bear he successfully thru hiked The Appalachian Trail and sent me regular blog posts about his journey and progress.  Here's the link to the first post if you missed them. 

Just search through my blog for links to the rest of the posts.  It was a really exciting series and if you missed them when they originally ran, you'll want to go back and read the posts.  This time Mike is up for another challenge that involves hiking to the top of 67 of our 4,000 foot east coast mountains and then cycling 4000 miles across America. For this event he's started a new group called "Unite4Kids."  Taken from the Unite4Kids website:

Unite4Kids is a movement with three primary goals:

(1) Raise awareness and be a voice for children who are neglected, abused, or mistreated

 (2) Raise funds for worthy charities that serve these children

 (3) Raise an army of volunteers for projects designed to help these children, such as YouthConnection and Unite4Kids

While we can never completely eradicate the mistreatment of children, we CAN change the outcomes for those children by giving them the tools and support to rise above the circumstances they were born into and go on to lead healthy and successful lives.

According to Mike....

"This summer I will be climbing 67 (4000 foot) mountain peaks to raise awareness for neglected and abused children.  My departure date for the 67 peaks in New England is July 20.  I chose that date because on July 19 I'm the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony for an alternative high school here in St. Louis.  The mascot for the school is a plush lion, which I'll be bringing to the summit of each mountain for a photo.  Also, my wife received permission from her employer to join me.  The last week of the mountains will be the week before Labor Day, and several students will be joining me then to climb the Presidentials in NH. Then I'm returning for a semester of school, but in March I'll be beginning the speaking tour as I bicycle across the country.  Several charities are lining up speaking engagements for me in cities I'll be cycling through so I can share my story and further raise awareness for abused and neglected children. " 

Here's what the schedule looks like now:

 

• July-August 2013:  climb 67 four thousand footers

• March-May 2014:  bicycle 4,000 miles across the U.S. 

Mike goes on to say, "The new schedule permits me to speak at high schools, MBA programs, and other venues along the way.  The goal is to create as much awareness as possible and I think fusing the bicycle trip with speaking engagements accomplishes this. 

I've hosted several events for at-risk youth at local agencies to directly help the kids, and I've been meeting with contractors at my university to link up youth who are aging out of foster care with entry-level jobs so they can successfully transition to adulthood.

Since the schedule opens up May-June 2013 for me, I have decided to finish my Appalachian Trail book during that time.  I have written about 80 pages so far and hope to have the first draft finished by July. "

Mike speaks from experience when it comes to abused children.  You can go here to see his video and hear his story.  Given Mike's track record, I have no doubt he will complete this challenge.  Stay tuned for more details as they develop.  I told Mike I'd be happy to cover this event here on Snug Harbor Bay.  If you'd like to contact Mike to arrange a speaking engagement, please contact him through the Unite4Kids website. 

Please check out Mike's "Unite4Kids" FB page and LIKE it.  You can also visit the Unite4Kids website for more information, to make a donation or to volunteer your time.  Please consider helping.

Good luck Mike!
 (photos courtesy of Mike McLaughlin.  Do not use without permission)

The Happy Wanderer - Part 2

If you somehow missed Friday's Part 1 post, go back and read it so you get up to speed.  As I said, we were in Kentucky at the LBL (Land Between the Lakes) and decided to get out into the woods for a little hiking and geocaching.  The 2nd half of the day found Petey more comfortable in his surroundings and since we were deeper in the woods, we removed his leash so he could explore a little.  Here he is, hot on the geocaching trail....

Does he look like he's on point to you?

Cache found and secured ma'am!

Petey bringing up the rear...

The next cache took us to a great cliff overlooking the lake.  We tried to grab this cache last year but a family was camping right near ground zero.  This year the coast was clear and we quickly made the grab...

This next cache was my favorite cache of the day - Night Rider Spring.  I know, it was hard to top the fire tower cache, but I really liked this one because it was a nice hike through the woods to get to the cache location.  Petey has really taken to his new role as geocaching dog and led the way....

Near the cache location was a hiker shelter.  This is the first time we've come across one of these on the LBL, so it was fun to see it.

We checked the GPS which pointed that-a-way, and that meant up a steep incline.  I silently cursed myself for not grabbing our hiking poles out of the car.  Off we went....

Even Petey was determined to climb that hill....

We were rewarded with an easy to find ammo can...

Snoopy says "Hello there!!"

 Going down was a lot harder than going up.  We took the zig zag approach and I was laughing so hard I practically rolled down the hill.  Look at Louie clutching at that tree!  ROFL!!

In all we grabbed 7 caches for the day.  It felt so good to be out in the woods enjoying the springtime sunshine and warm temperatures.  We were barely a mile down the road towards home and Petey the geocaching wonderdog was fast asleep.

 Take a few minutes to go over to CacheCrazy and read this fantastic post by Kevin.  He's got pictures and video of an awesome cache they did a couple of weeks ago.  This post really gives an excellent example of the fun times you can have while geocaching.



Happy Easter 2013

Happy Easter everyone!

 

 

Take time to remember the true meaning of this incredible day and to give thanks.  Then go forth and have an awesome day with your family and friends.  See you tomorrow!

 



 

The Happy Wanderer - Part 1

Spring is here and once again I turn into "The Happy Wanderer."  It's time to strap on the hiking boots, grab my backpack and hit the trails.  If you follow my blog then you know that I like to combine hiking in the woods with geocaching and that's just what we did this week.  We headed for Kentucky and decided to grab some trail time before the trees leafed out and the ticks and mosquitoes emerged.  How beautiful is this??

(photo courtesy CAS)
One of the first caches of the day took us through a meadow to a beautiful pine forest.  We brought Petey the geocaching dog along for the day.  Ever since our black Lab died in January, poor Petey has been despondent.  We decided to start taking him hiking with us when we can.  He's still learning to stick close to us, so we keep him on leash when we're near a road...

and he had a great time chasing Chablis across the meadow....

Entering the pine forest....

The cache is hidden someplace in the left of this photo....

The next cache was an interesting container and also holds partial co-ordinates for another cache in the series....

We passed close to an area of old Iron Furnaces but didn't take the side road to get to them.  Maybe another day...

One of the highlight caches of the day was this one hidden near an old Fire Tower.  I had found this cache on the geocaching website and bookmarked it for our first Kentucky caching trip this spring.  I love it when a geocache takes you to a really cool location.

The bottom set of stairs had been removed, but come on, you cannot take me to a place like that and tell me I can't climb it.  We found the cache and then I circled the bottom once or twice and declared "I think I can climb that."  So off we went.  Pardon the butt shot of Chablis.  LOL!

We can see the lake way in the distance in the middle of this picture.....

That's Louie on the ground pleading with me to "Please come down."  Actually he was screaming at me "Will you stop climbing and get off that damn thing??"  He hates it when I climb stuff and truth be told, this tower wasn't in the best of condition.  So safety over-rode desire and we only climbed 3/4 of the way up and called it quits.  Better to be safe than sorry I say.

We employed the 3 quarter rule while climbing up and down - that means 2 hands and 1 foot all touching something solid at the same time while the 2nd foot checks stability.  I actually employ this method while climbing trees as well.

The hardest part was actually sliding down the last 8 feet, but Louie gave me a helping hand and a hug when I returned to solid ground...

I have more caches to show you as well as "My favorite cache of the day" which I thought was even better than this one, so come back on Monday for Part 2.  In the meantime, please have a safe and blessed Easter.  I'll leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs ' The Happy Wanderer."  I learned this song when I was a Girl Scout and it always plays through my  head whenever I'm hiking.  It really sums up the way I feel when I'm out on the trail!

Frank Weir - The Happy Wanderer Lyrics

I love to go a-wandering
Along the mountain track
And as I go, I love to sing
My knapsack on my back

Chorus
Val-deri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha
Val-dera
My knapsack on my back

I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun
So joyously it calls to me
Come join my happy song

Chorus

I wave my hat to all I meet
And They wave back to me
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev'ry green wood tree

Val-eri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera
Val-deri, val-dera

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die
Oh, may I always laugh and sing
Beneath God's clear blue sky

Chorus

Songwriters: MOELLER, FRIEDRICH WILHELM / RIDGE, ANTONIA