Got The New Rides!

Dave writes...

Me and Smiley are in our brand new 2011 Siverado HD, heading through the mountains on I-77 North. There’s about 4 inches of fresh snow here and its 30 degrees. It’s hard to believe that we’re in North Carolina, it actually looks like home. My truck is telling me to be cautious, that the roads could be icy, which is cool. It also tells me when there is slow traffic ahead, and so far it has been right every time. Technology today blows my mind.

What an awesome truck! Our new Dually and Suburban were delivered to South Carolina, but since Anne and the kids were not coming to this event I wasn’t sure how I was going to get our new trucks back home. As it turned out, Nene (Anne’s mom) wanted to take a trip, so they loaded up Mithcell and Macy in the old diesel and headed south. They showed up for the day 3 weigh-in along with my cousins who live near Anderson. Cathy, Frank and their sons, James and Joel, and their families attended the final day weigh-in in Greenville, SC. It was there first time seeing a live weigh-in and they were impressed and seemed to enjoy it. It was nice seeing them as we’ve kind of lost touch since they moved away several years ago. I think we’ll probably be going back to Lake Hartwell soon, so we plan on hooking up with my cousins again.

Anne is towing the Frosted Flakes Ranger behind me with the new Suburban. The wrap looks awesome. Nene and Macy are with her for the ride home, so we have the “boy truck” and the “girl truck” as Smiley likes to say, lol.

The diesel is black and has a Chevy wrap, it looks mean. I love driving it, so does Anne. The kids call it the big bad truck for obvious reasons and they like it a lot too. It does have the DVD player in it for their movies and a moon roof like the Suburban, and of course, just like the last one, it has a ton of space in it. I had the 5^th wheel hitch installed and we will be hooking up the big trailer for the next trip to Lake Chickamauga, in Tennessee. The HD has 1200 miles on it now and without the trailer is averaging 17.1 miles to the gallon…that’s incredible, especially considering all the steep hills we encounter on this particular route.

One new feature I noticed is that my new truck has a USB port inside the center console so I can plug my Ipod directly into it. That’s pretty neat, I’m sure there are plenty of cool things we haven’t discovered yet too as there are a lot of unfamiliar buttons, ha ha. 

I finished in 8^th place at Hartwell, my second top 10 in as many FLW Tour Majors. There are 4 more to go and the rest of the schedule suits me perfectly. Needless to say, I’m very excited about the rest of the season and have my sights set on my number one goal, Angler of the Year. There’s a ton of fishing left in 2011 and a bunch of crazy good anglers in hunt, but I’m feeling good this year…really really good!

-Dave

Anne writes...

Well, we just got back from a very short trip to Lake Hartwell, South Carolina.  We didn’t leave with Dave this time because we had business to take care of at home. I talked my mom into going with us for the weekend to see Dave and to pick up our new Silverado HD. My mother broke her leg back in October and has been going to physical therapy for a couple months. She can walk pretty well with her cane but we had to use a step stool to get her in and out of the dually diesel truck. It was a pretty funny sight! That was a very fast and comfortable ride. My mom was amazed at how nice that truck rides.

 Poor Isabella the puppy had to be boarded at the vet. Apparently, she had a wonderful time according to the staff! She is a social butterfly and loves everybody, even the resident catsJ.   When we got her home, she ripped through the house at a hundred miles an hour for 10 minutes straight!  That was pretty funny. There is no place like home.

The weigh-in was awesome! I haven’t seen that many people at a weigh-in since the Championship. The people in South Carolina are so friendly and really get into bass fishing. Dave finished in 8^th place with his second top ten in a row. We are very proud of him! I got to see baby Wiley again, Brian and Allison Thrift’s new addition. He is a cutie! I haven’t gotten to hold him yet because his grandmas never put him down for a minute!

I felt bad for Jimmy Houston. Poor guy had an awesome bag of fish and couldn’t count them because he was late coming in on the 3^rd day. He always smiles and laughs no matter what happens. Not to mention the guy knows more jokes than anyone I’ve ever met in my life!  I love the FLW staff and fishermen. We are like one big traveling family and we take great care of each other.

It was neat to see the change in scenery driving from northwest PA, down south. Once you get to Virginia, its like spring has sprung! The buds on the trees were so beautiful! The sun is finally out today but it’s only in the 30’s. It’s the kind of day to sit in a sunny window to warm your soul.

I hope everyone is well, healthy and happy. Think Spring!

Anne Lefebre

Gramps Lost His Cane

Dave writes...

We just returned home from the second event of the season on Beaver Lake in Rogers, AR. where I finished in 7^th place.

Hooking up for the long trip home.

We, as usual, drove both the Siverado HD and the Suburban and towed both the boat and fifth wheel trailer. Anne and the kids usually follow me, but this time we had the “boys” truck and the “girls” truck. Me, Mitchell and Gramps occupied the Dually and Anne, Macy, and Izzy (our dog) rode in the Suburban.

We left home a couple of days early because I had to pick up my new Ranger boat in Flippin, AR before heading to the Beaver Lake. That last 3 hours of the trip to Flippin makes you appreciate driving a Chevy. It is up and down, round and round, and it never seems to end, it’s totally crazy. But the tow package and breaking system makes climbing the steepest hills a piece of cake and coasting down those ridiculous grades with the 25,000 pound trailer effortless.

If you can tow on those roads in that part of the country, and in driving rain too by the way, you can tow just about anywhere.

My Gramps was my copilot most of the way. This was the first time he’s spent so many hours in my dually and he couldn’t say enough about the comfort and roominess. He also noticed how quiet it was compared to my old diesel truck. He couldn’t even talk on his phone in the Ford F-350 because it was so loud inside the cab.

Gramps is also a map guy, he likes to follow where we are on our trips with an atlas. He was blown away by the GPS system in the truck too. He’s seen it before but never got to play with it. On this trip he learned how to use it and now he’s the GPS Master! We had a great time on this trip. Gramps said that in his 84 years he has never seen roads like the ones around Flippin, and I believe him.

We did have a small mishap however on our way back home yesterday; Gramps left his home-made walking stick in a restroom somewhere in Missouri. He didn’t realize he had forgotten it until we were about an hour north, so we couldn’t really go back. Fortunately, we were able to find the phone number from a receipt, so we called and the manager said they would ship the cane up to Erie for us. Gramps was pretty upset about the idea of losing that cane. He actually found it out at our old house when I was a little kid. Many years later he re-found the old stick in his basement and cut it, sanded it down, and then stained it. It was actually a cool looking thing that got a bunch of compliments, I hope nothing goes wrong and it shows up in the mail soon.

Talk to you after the next event on Lake Hartwell, SC!

Dave
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Anne writes...

We have just returned from Beaver Lake in Rogers, Arkansas. It was an awesome tournament. Usually, Dave does horrible there but this year he did fantastic!  We are very proud of him even though he is disappointed he didn’t win.

We took Grampy with us on this trip. It was good to get him out of the cold and snowy weather for a little while. We took him to the War Eagle Mill which is a real working mill. There are two stories of gift shops and a really great restaurant on the third floor that serves some of their sandwiches on homemade bread they make from scratch right at the mill. Delicious!  They have a ton of old farm tools hanging on the walls which Gramps enjoyed. He said it brought back memories of his childhood where he remembered seeing and using most of them. Gramps is 84 years old and still movin’! The kids and I (and Isabella) enjoyed his company.

We camp at the Hide-A-Way campground which is WAY up on top of a hill in Rocky Branch (still Rogers) every time we go to Beaver Lake. The owners are so nice and the area is beautiful, especially in the spring when the dogwoods and other trees are blooming. If you are looking for a peaceful getaway I highly recommend this area.

The weigh-in show at the arena was awesome! If you haven’t been to one you should check it out. All of the sponsors have booths set up and they give away a lot of samples.

There is also a ton of things for kids like coloring tables, giant blow-up bouncy slides, casting contests and games with prizes. Mitchell and Macy always have a great time at the Fun Zones.

One of the difficult things about being on the road is being away from family, especially when they need you and you need them. Saturday, the second night of the tournament, my step-dad passed away. He and my mother live next door to us and have taken care of our house and everything while we traveled for the past 8 years. Last year, I wrote in one of my blogs about how Papa loves his Chevy Suburbans. He did! He always had one and took such great care of them. When we got our first Suburban, it was amazing to see how much they changed over the years. Papa’s Suburban parked next to ours looked like a perfectly preserved dinosaur!  He had a great time looking over our truck but he still loved the look of his old one. It is hard to look at that Suburban parked in the driveway next door and know there will be no more long drives for ice cream and exploring the countryside with Papa. We love you forever Papa Hank!

Looking out our window at Papa's old Suburban

Love and Blessings to all of my friends out there and we’ll see you down the road,

Anne Lefebre