A lot has happened since last September when I came home. I had planned on fishing around Anchorage and their stocked ponds during September. I got out of my van at noon ready to fish and it was 40 degrees outside. Why would I sit in a float tube, for stocked fish, in freezing weather, when I could head home and enjoy stocked fish at Lewiston Lake, my home?
I hopped in the van and drove eight hours a day, for seven days, to get back home. I arrived to a great welcome and to find that the fishing on Lewiston Lake while I was gone was the best fishing in the last 20 years. Of course!!!
And now it is a year later. No bike trip this summer, with plans for next summer. But what about this fall?
Great news about my daughter Julie and her husband Toby——— They had their first child in April: A beautiful girl named Gwen. Of course I must get out to see the family, but I didn’t want to leave a super hot area to another super hot area. Fall was the time for me to travel this year.
Of course I would love to fish while traveling out to Salt Lake City to visit the family. In searching where to fish, I discovered the Western Native Trout Challenge. There are three levels: Expert Caster, when one catches 8 different species in 4 states; Master Caster, when one catches 12 different species in 8 states; and Expert Caster, when one catches 18 different species in 12 states. The three qualifying fish I caught in Alaska last summer will count for me (Alaskan Rainbow, Arctic Grayling, and Dolly Varden).
The big goal for me are the Expert and Master caster accomplishments because they award medallions, which are perfect for live poker card protection. Greg Raymer, who won the WSOP Main Event, was known as “Fossil Man” because he used fossils to cover his cards. I want to become known for having native fish challenge medallions as my card protectors.
It turns out that Wyoming and Utah each give medallions for catching only 4 fish in each of their states. I now have a road trip planned through 9 states, with a week visit with my granddaughter, to earn three medallions. A nice start to my collection.
The trip flows through: Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. The only thing that will cut the trip short will be the onset of snow. Then I head home.
Of course I cannot afford this trip, but at this point in my life, I cannot afford not to take it. Who knows when old age will keep me from hiking and traveling solo? Also, I plan on hiking daily on this trip, ready to start an intense exercise program to prepare for a bicycle trip across America. My goal is to be able to ride 40 to 60 miles a day, a couple of days a week, by the end of March. Big goals. I need to get going.
If you are reading this, then you probably have been invited by me to follow this blog as I document my journey. Thanks!
And now to get back to packing.
Tight Lines!!
Here we go again