05-17-11 Start Me Up

05-17-11

4 Miles

Fishing is a really big thing here. I hear air-raid sirens at 6:30 in the morning and the only time I’ve heard those sounds before were in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas relating to Tornado Warnings!
Apparently this is the “starting gun” for fishing to begin (there is a  closing bell again at around 8pm)
I spend a good deal of the day near the lodge writing and posting. The lodge is over priced and the only game in town. You could drive 11 miles out to Licking but that’s a 22 mile round trip and it’s cheaper and more time efficient to buy a few things here and then wait till you’re “back in civilization” to get more.
I buy milk, a stick of butter, a bottle of Coke (they don’t have a contract with Pepsi) and some chips and take them to the register. A person with a striking resemblance to Hal Holbrook in his Magnum Force performance is ringing me up. She informs me of the price in a gruff no nonsense manner. She never seems to smile in the whole two days I’ve been there. “Customer Service” again.
At the lunch counter is Julie who is about 25-27 with a vibrant smile that is in competition with her smiling eyes. They are both winning.  She tells me that the economy has effected the business here over the last few years…that and storms. When the river rises and you can’t get through, people tend to shy off coming there. But that’s mainly been in the winter. But the business has trailed off over the last few years. Mostly locals come there to fish, but some tourists (like myself) have been coming there for years but have held off due to the economy recently. Julie lives nearby and grew up here. She moved away to Utah  a few years ago, “I followed someone”, but is now back on her folks property. She seems happy with that.
I go back to my tent to write and test out some things (like the space heater and how the cooler is working.) I make some dinner out of packaged “Cheesy noodles” and rice I add to thicken it up in my lunchbox stove. It turnes out ok and Mischa has some. I get ready to go back to the lodge for more internet and  - the car won’t start. I must have put too much of a load on the battery for too long without running the engine. I ask the camp hosts if they can give me a jump. They say they can loan me jumper cables but can’t give me a jump for liability reasons. I ask a man across the way if he can give me a jump, he’s willing but doesn’t have cables. I go back and flag down the hosts and they say they’ll get the cables. I inform the camper that they will get cables and the camper “Ron” says he’ll bring the car over when they get the cables to me. In the mean time a guy is walking past Ron’s site towards mine in full fishing regalia and says in passing “How’s it going” and I relate my predicament. I tell him about the camp hosts not being able to jump my car for “Liability issues” His response id “That’s such bullshit” I’ll give you a jump! And he trudges back to his site (next to Ron’s) and brings his red Toyota truck over and sets the cables on. Ron has come over and talk ensues as we’re waiting for the car to start. I’m not getting much luck and Gabe (the Toyota driver/fisher) guns the engine. Still nothing. He re-connects the leads and … “It’s alive!” Gabe’s Toyota has  Colorado plates and I tell him I’d just been there, in Denver, what part are you from “All Over” is his replay. I think…ok, I’m prying, but he adds, “I’m from here originally” and he hands me his card…he’s a guide. I tell him and Ron about my journey and  he tells me to link him up to my FB page and then he’s off to continue fishing, I guess. Ron and I talk a little longer. His daughter is coming in that night and they are going to drive to St. Louis to see a game on the 4th row of the right field against the Astros. Expects they’ll be back tomorrow night around midnight. I ask him if I could interview him in the morning and he says “Yes. See you in the morning”
I don’t want to risk turning off the engine so I drive to the Lodge to be on the internet and write more…and recharge the batteries! I’m there till just after the “Closing siren” (8pm ish) and I’ve been running the engine the whole time. I drive back to my camp, back in and turn off the engine.
And then attempt to start it again.
It Starts!
I try that two more times (just to make sure) and then go to bed for the night. It’s been cold due to clear skies, but I have my comforter. If I’d paid for an electric site I could have used the space heater. But I’ll save that for…a rainy night.