"ON TOUR" with Dave & Anne: 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
--------------------

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!