I have known Herb and Pat since 2007, when I bought my place in Lewiston. They own the Trinity Fly Shop, and are always helpful and knowledgeable, and encouraging. I dropped off my retirement card to Herb yesterday and told him that I’m heading out for 3 to 4 months, traveling I-5 to Canada and…

Two days of running around. Yesterday, I dropped the van off to check the stater battery and install a new master air flow thingiiee. The battery was 5 years old and cranking out 240 Amps instead of it’s rated 700 Amps. Tracy, at Tracy’s Auto Repair ordered a 900 Amp battery that had a 3…

My legs, back, and arms are cramping after I became a contortionist today to install a light, fill all the empty places with fly tying materials, all without throwing my back out. The temperature was 85 F outside the van, but I was able to work all day thanks to an old Fantastic Fan blowing…

I’ve known Tim Paxton for 35 to 40 years. I met him when he gave a fly tying lesson at a meeting of the Eureka Fly Club (now defunct). He is a unique, awesome individual, as well as his wife, Roxy. Over the years Tim has dropped off materials and sample flies for me at…

It only took twelve extra days to get the van ready for camping. The photo above shows the storage under the bed. Most all the boxes are full, except for the smaller ones….hopefully they will be filled with fly tying materials. I’ll start out with the healthy food in storage, and then probably fall back…

With my adventure about to start, I most likely will be wearing fishing boots on the trip more that I have in total the last ten years. However, my three pairs of wading boots all have felt soles. Unfortunately, many states and Canada now ban felt soled boots. As money seems to be flowing from…

I hate mosquitoes. They, at least the females, love me. I don’t know if is my blood type or my weird irresistibility from insects and spiders. The van door for my Chevy Astro has some weird curves on the edges of the openings, due to the sliding door. The horrible and ugly presentation is explained…

I am due to leave on my adventure in 7 days. Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll make it. I’m still filling up the camper for traveling several months at a time. As for fishing gear, I’ll probably have to sort it out on the road. Another vexing thing is that the van is throwing off codes…

Right after my last post around April 10, I did some online research to see how to best prepare during the last eight weeks before my bike trip across America. Evidently, I should have been riding 60 miles twice per week back in March. With eight weeks before my trip, I realized that trying to…

I assume a 3 month journey across America on a bike will have challenges. Unfortunately for me, they are already starting. My plan for April was to have completed 5 rides by tomorrow. I thought I could start at 20 miles, but my first ride ended at 9 miles because I forgot water. And, I…