Sunday, September 21, 2008
Well, it’s Sunday. We’ll be home tonight. The adventure has been the greatest but it’ll be nice to be home with family. Mike was really tired last night so I let him go back to sleep and I keep driving through the next tank of gas (about 8 hours). Once we’ve traded off again and I’ve had a quick nap we start talking about our trip. I spend a little time putting all the pictures I’ve taken together and use my laptop to burn them onto a DVD for Mike to take home (all 782 of them). He’ll do the same with the video he’s taken once he has some time to put them all together. After another round of switching drivers, Mike gets out his gear and we start taping a segment for his Podcast on the http://www.upnorthjournal.com/ It’s a lot to talk about, our whole trip and our experiences, so he has to change tapes half way through it. Unknown to us, the second tape is bad and we don’t have it later when he’s getting it ready for his show (episode #77). Even with all the pictures and video we have, one of the things we wished we done was take a lot more. As we’re discussing each day, we remember little things that we’ve forgotten and wished we’d taken a picture of some video of it. So just a note to anyone thinking of taking a trip like this, or just a trip with the family…take lots and lots of pictures and video. You’ll only get one chance.
We get to the Michigan border around 2 pm. It’s like crossing a magical line into your home country… This is our home turf and familiar things are recognized as we get closer to home. We first drive to my nephew’s to drop of his quad with my many thanks… Paul, without your quad my hunt would have been a nightmare at times and much, much more difficult. Huge Thanks. We then head up to Mikes house to unload and get my stuff loaded into my Bronco for my final leg of the trip. At Mike’s house the unpacking and re-packing goes fairly quickly. For a couple of guys, we were pretty organized in loading our stuff. Mike’s wife and kids drive up as we’re unpacking and you can see the excitement in everyone that he’s home. I’m looking forward to the same when I get home.
One thing I’m really excited about (and Mike was too) is that while we were in Colorado our new bows showed up. They were both shipped to Mike’s house because we were hoping that we’d have them in time for the trip. Unfortunately, they showed up Monday after we left. While my Hoyt Trykon did its job and did it well, I was really hoping that I could have had my new Bowtech Guardian to use in Colorado or at least set it up and “play” with it during the day. Bowtech has been a huge contributor to our youth bow review and when Mike and I joined the Mossy Oak Pro Staff they stepped up and helped get us into the Guardians. (Both of our Hoyt’s are in the Real Tree pattern and not offered in Mossy Oak…so…). I guess we’ll just have to plan another big hunt so we can do a story with the Bowtech Guardians (in Mossy Oak Obsession pattern). You know, just to make sure they’re good for say….maybe Alaskan big game…maybe even a trip back to Colorado to make sure they’re good for Elk even… hmmmm… yup, I think that’s gonna be a requirement for testing them out. I’ll write a post later on how the Guardian shoots; let’s just say for now that… I Like IT!
Anyways, it’s one more farewell to my “brother” Mike (although my spouse calls him my second “wife” cause we talk so much) and I’m on the road. We made good time so I’m about an hour ahead of schedule and I’m looking forward to surprising the “girls” when I get home. I pull in the drive and before I can get to the door, TJ is running towards me… (TJ is my 2 year old Australian Cattle Dog)… Geezzzz, let me get in the house you crazy thing! Then it’s hugs and kisses from my girls (Mindy, who just turned 12 (happy Bday!) and (Ka)Trina my “first” wife). Unfortunately, Megan (my oldest daughter) is at college so I’ll have to call her later. Trina has made my favorite roast and potatoes…yum! After all the greetings and hugs and kisses and hugs…and diner, I call my mom to come over and give me a hand finishing up processing my venison (Trina does NOT process venison…Mindy helped though). Since my vacuum sealer was broken, Trina bought a new one…which only worked for the first couple of packages before it quit working… so it was back to freezer bags. Steaks, roasts and the rest are now in the freezer (thanks Mom), a sure sign of a successful hunt!
Back to work on Monday.
Writing this blog has let me remember and re-live a lot of our trip and experiences. From the long drives to the license fiasco and seeing the beauty of the Colorado Rockies. Meeting new people, hunting in a new and exciting environment and learning about different ways of doing things outdoors. Getting to finally hunt in Colorado, which is something that I had been wanting to do for as long as I can remember, and getting to experience the hunt with my best friend and “brother” Mike. It’s been great. Thanks to Aneal from Bowcast for meeting with us. A special thanks to Bill (Insane Willy) for providing the hunt! WOW! Big Thanks to Mike for asking me to go! A very dear thanks to my wife Katrina, for supporting me in going. I also want to thank my Dad. Without his help this last minute trip would not have been possible. Thanks Dad!
And thank you, for sharing my hunt all over again with me.
October 1st is Deer Archery opener in Michigan…oh boy!
Well, it’s Sunday. We’ll be home tonight. The adventure has been the greatest but it’ll be nice to be home with family. Mike was really tired last night so I let him go back to sleep and I keep driving through the next tank of gas (about 8 hours). Once we’ve traded off again and I’ve had a quick nap we start talking about our trip. I spend a little time putting all the pictures I’ve taken together and use my laptop to burn them onto a DVD for Mike to take home (all 782 of them). He’ll do the same with the video he’s taken once he has some time to put them all together. After another round of switching drivers, Mike gets out his gear and we start taping a segment for his Podcast on the http://www.upnorthjournal.com/ It’s a lot to talk about, our whole trip and our experiences, so he has to change tapes half way through it. Unknown to us, the second tape is bad and we don’t have it later when he’s getting it ready for his show (episode #77). Even with all the pictures and video we have, one of the things we wished we done was take a lot more. As we’re discussing each day, we remember little things that we’ve forgotten and wished we’d taken a picture of some video of it. So just a note to anyone thinking of taking a trip like this, or just a trip with the family…take lots and lots of pictures and video. You’ll only get one chance.
We get to the Michigan border around 2 pm. It’s like crossing a magical line into your home country… This is our home turf and familiar things are recognized as we get closer to home. We first drive to my nephew’s to drop of his quad with my many thanks… Paul, without your quad my hunt would have been a nightmare at times and much, much more difficult. Huge Thanks. We then head up to Mikes house to unload and get my stuff loaded into my Bronco for my final leg of the trip. At Mike’s house the unpacking and re-packing goes fairly quickly. For a couple of guys, we were pretty organized in loading our stuff. Mike’s wife and kids drive up as we’re unpacking and you can see the excitement in everyone that he’s home. I’m looking forward to the same when I get home.
One thing I’m really excited about (and Mike was too) is that while we were in Colorado our new bows showed up. They were both shipped to Mike’s house because we were hoping that we’d have them in time for the trip. Unfortunately, they showed up Monday after we left. While my Hoyt Trykon did its job and did it well, I was really hoping that I could have had my new Bowtech Guardian to use in Colorado or at least set it up and “play” with it during the day. Bowtech has been a huge contributor to our youth bow review and when Mike and I joined the Mossy Oak Pro Staff they stepped up and helped get us into the Guardians. (Both of our Hoyt’s are in the Real Tree pattern and not offered in Mossy Oak…so…). I guess we’ll just have to plan another big hunt so we can do a story with the Bowtech Guardians (in Mossy Oak Obsession pattern). You know, just to make sure they’re good for say….maybe Alaskan big game…maybe even a trip back to Colorado to make sure they’re good for Elk even… hmmmm… yup, I think that’s gonna be a requirement for testing them out. I’ll write a post later on how the Guardian shoots; let’s just say for now that… I Like IT!
Anyways, it’s one more farewell to my “brother” Mike (although my spouse calls him my second “wife” cause we talk so much) and I’m on the road. We made good time so I’m about an hour ahead of schedule and I’m looking forward to surprising the “girls” when I get home. I pull in the drive and before I can get to the door, TJ is running towards me… (TJ is my 2 year old Australian Cattle Dog)… Geezzzz, let me get in the house you crazy thing! Then it’s hugs and kisses from my girls (Mindy, who just turned 12 (happy Bday!) and (Ka)Trina my “first” wife). Unfortunately, Megan (my oldest daughter) is at college so I’ll have to call her later. Trina has made my favorite roast and potatoes…yum! After all the greetings and hugs and kisses and hugs…and diner, I call my mom to come over and give me a hand finishing up processing my venison (Trina does NOT process venison…Mindy helped though). Since my vacuum sealer was broken, Trina bought a new one…which only worked for the first couple of packages before it quit working… so it was back to freezer bags. Steaks, roasts and the rest are now in the freezer (thanks Mom), a sure sign of a successful hunt!
Back to work on Monday.
Writing this blog has let me remember and re-live a lot of our trip and experiences. From the long drives to the license fiasco and seeing the beauty of the Colorado Rockies. Meeting new people, hunting in a new and exciting environment and learning about different ways of doing things outdoors. Getting to finally hunt in Colorado, which is something that I had been wanting to do for as long as I can remember, and getting to experience the hunt with my best friend and “brother” Mike. It’s been great. Thanks to Aneal from Bowcast for meeting with us. A special thanks to Bill (Insane Willy) for providing the hunt! WOW! Big Thanks to Mike for asking me to go! A very dear thanks to my wife Katrina, for supporting me in going. I also want to thank my Dad. Without his help this last minute trip would not have been possible. Thanks Dad!
And thank you, for sharing my hunt all over again with me.
October 1st is Deer Archery opener in Michigan…oh boy!
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