FINALLY going fishing!

[Mark Hofman]

Early tomorrow morning, my wife and I are heading out for central Illinois to fish a city-owned lake near Mattoon.



My maternal granparents owned a cottage on this lake, and some of my best memories as a kid were going crappie fishing with Grandpa Ernie. We'd go down by the dam and tie off to the valve tower, then throw out minner's and bobber's.



The tower's gone, and the crappie may be too, but we're going to go over anyway. My wife has even asked if I would be interested in buying the cottage if it were up for sale. Maybe.



The weather's supposed to be nice. It will be a good opportunity for her to practice backing, launching, driving, docking, trolling, re-loading and all the other joys of owning a bass boat. If the fishing doesn't pan out, we may head over to Lake Shelbyvlle and just burn some gas over there.



This will also be the first trip pulling the boat with the new Ram Truck. I had to get 500 miles on the odometer before the manual said I could tow anything (oops!). I'll take some pictures and post them when we get back. I'm also going to do a writeup on my personal homepage so my brothers and sisters can 're-live' this memory with me.



Grandpa left us in 1996. I miss him, but I know he'd get a kick out of seeing me back on his home lake.

 

[fatrap]

Have a good trip and hope you can have some pleasant memories

fatrap

 

[J B]

Hey MO, does your Ram have the receiver hitch? If not, make sure you get one before you tow your boat. I made the mistake of towing my TV-18 with my new Ram before my hitch was installed. I used a bumper mounted ball for the first trip and wound up with 2 dings in my bumper because the trailer was too close to the bumper when turning. I never had this problem with other vehicles, so didn't even think about it.



--J

 

[Mark Hofman]

Oh, yeah, it has a receiver!!! <b>Class IV.</b> Six-inch drop on the hitch and ball, which has a tongue weight capacity of 1,000 lbs.



Running boards arrived yesterday, but I won't be able to get 'em on until next week, when the dealership will also install splash guards. My wife will push me to get the board on ASAP; she's tired of climbing up into the cab and then jumping down to the ground when she exits. Says its hard on her knees.



<i>And why do people keep asking me, "Is it a HEMI"? Can't they READ the durn badge on the front fenders?"</i>

 

[Bob G.]

Hey Mo,



"Does that thing have a HEMI in it??"



"SWEEET!!!"



Bob G.

 

[Mark Hofman]

AAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



(No, not really.)



It is sweet. It just drinks like Homer Simpson after a pretzel eating contest, takes 16 spark plugs to give it a tune up, and requires a degree in technical mountain climbing to get into the cab. Other than those things, it is SWEEET!

 

[Bob G.]

Just joking with ya Mo!! I love those Dodge truck commercials with the two yahoos that could pass for a lot of people where I grew up in PA!!!



Bob G.

 

[Larry Harp]

Now be careful and don't jerk the tounge off the trailer.





BTW Mo, did ya get the Hemi?



HAAAAAAAAAA



Have fun!!



Harpo

 

[Mike Levesque]

Mo, have fun, and enjoy, hope the truck works out well for the trip and for the tow (I know it will), sounds like one sweet ride. Just wondering, does that have a hemi in it?

(Sorry, just had to, hehe) egMike

 

[Staci Matheis]

Buddy of mine years ago had a 1969 (?) Charger with a hemi - dark green with a black vinal roof just like in "Bullitt"!

Didn't worry about pulling anything on a hitch.....

Worried if he could slow down fast enough to avoid hittin' anything in front!



Another had a red/black vinal 'Cuda with the 440 six-pack!

That was the sharpest car around!

Well..... Maybe not THE sharpest.....

Two friends had '67 Vette convertibles with the 435 hp/427's and side pipes.....

Ron's was silver with black hood stripes.

Rick called his "The Skunk" - black with white hood stripes!



You're probably on your way by now, Mark, but I hope you get a chance to try Shelbyville! It's a great lake with lots of side coves and laydowns and stumps back in the coves - out of the way of traffic! Best that I found in Illinois!



me!

 

[Mark Hofman]

We didn't get to Shelbyville, so I'll have to try that on another trip.



It's hard to describe what happened to me on this trip. I guess I wasn't expecting it to have as much of a psychological impact on me as it did.



As far as fishing went, we didn't do too hot. We caught two dink bass, two tiny white bass and five small crappie (I could've kept two, but chose to give them to a local fisherman who was going to clean a mess of crappie anyway.)



All of the spots where my grandpa used to take us have changed to the point of being unrecognizable, and since I didn't know the structure of the lake as it is today, we really bombed out. The guy I gave my fish to had a livewell with some really decent fish, so I know they're in there, but we just couldn't locate them.



The hardest part was seeing the old cottage. Whoever owns it has really let it go downhill. The concrete dock/pier has crumbled into the lake. The back deck rotted and was torn out. You can still see some of supporting posts, but the ground is covered in weeds. They re-sided the garage, but quit and didn't re-side the rest of the building. The eaves are exposed, unpainted, and rotting.



My wife thinks I was expecting Grandma and Grandpa to come walking out the front door. But I think I just wanted to see the place being taken care of. It was the site of so many good childhood memories that it saddens me to see it get to this point.



Like I told my brother, "Some things MAY never change, but some things definitely do."



On the brigher side, my wife took the boat off the trailer, did the majority of the driving with the big motor, handled the docking & undocking at the marina, and put the boat back on the trailer at the end of the day on her first try! We had a bit of difficulty with the kill switch, and with using the trim once up on plane, but I know I was the envy of one or two couples who where present at the marina. Especially one guy whose wife left him to do all of the work. She just sat on a dock until he launched, parked the boat and drove the truck/trailer up to the parking area.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Man MO, that has got to break your heart to see the source of a lot of fond memories just waisting away. That's tough. Just don't let it tarnish the good times you had there. I am heading back to Omaha in the next couple of weeks to look at the house I grew up in since I was 3. Since my mom passed away, my Uncle has spruced it up a little and we are going to sell it. That's gonna be tough too...



TOXIC

 

[Mark Hofman]

If you can, eat a slice of Valentino's pizza for me.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Gotta be LaCasa or Big Freds!!



TOXIC

 

[Mark Hofman]

Oh, you're one of THOSE!!! Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

At least I didn't say a RUNZA. Wonder how may people know what those are!! LOL



TOXIC

 

[Mark Hofman]

LOL!!!!



I not only know what those are, I know how to MAKE 'em!!