It is still a long damn way from Dallas to Gulf Shores, Alabama.The first
couple of hundred miles on the first day were not too bad, but that just gets
us to Shreveport, in other words just a few miles out of Texas. Then the hard
driving rain where you slow to less that 50 mph or you hydroplane took all the
fun out of the next 300 miles. After that I was plum worn out but it was less
that 200more miles left till I shut it down for the first day's drive in
Mobile.

The next evening Tom Landry, and the other guys from Lafayette put on a Cajun
Feed for about 200 people that was great. You can get a bunch of socializing in
the evening and it was good to see some folks that I had not seen for the past
year.

This is where I would mention the fishing, but the wind never quit making
whitecaps during the conclave and I never saw one person even attempt to fight
that much wind.

We tied flies and visited with old friends all day on Friday and Saturday and
had a great time. I don't get to see many ot the guys from Florida except at
this conclave and it was good to visit with them again.

Saturday morning I taught a seminar on having fun with foam that lasted from
9:00 till well it was supposed to be over at 11:30 bit I still had a couple of
guys interested in learning more and two of the state park'e employees had
finished setting the rest of that huge room up for the banquet that night. They
look bored waiting so I just said to myself "screw them, let them wait they are
being paid by the hour." We finished about 20 minutes later.

One of the things I had the most fun with was tying psychedelic spiders on
safety pins for the gals to wear on their blouses. While teaching the seminar
Mary returned wanting three more for the two girls running the desk at the
lodge. One of them needed one to take home for her 80 year old grandmother to
wear. That sure made my day. It don't get much better than that.

Next day I only drove over to Lafayette to spend the night and the rain didn't
start till I got to Houma. Friend Tom Landry and I were to hit his favorite
bluegill pond at first light, but when I turned on the TV they went on forever
about all the city buildings that were closed due to all the flooding. I
called Tom and cancelled the fishing and started driving back in the hard
driving rain. It was only another 300 miles of driving rain to go thru before I
got back to Texas.

I have always been accident prone and somedays I don't get thru a day without
finding a way to hurt myself. Well I had another one of those days and found a
way to fall and hurt myself. This will put an end to my wading for most of the
summer. I suspect I will not be able to go to the Western Clave this year
unless someone who has experience with these things can advise how to wet wade
while fishing for trout while using a walker. ..guess I should visit the
Virtual bar And Grill and have Shirley the bartender set up a round for the
house on me while I ask how to tie a walker to a motorcycle. those guys over at
Rec., Motorcycles, Harley have a good time too and sometimes they have good
advise.

Big Dale