I was at the Truman Lake Missouri Crappie Camp. It was Saturday night and we just got done pigging out at the fish fry. I was stuffed, and I was walking back from the bathrooms right at dusk. It was dark, and I saw two little girls walking what looked like a Boston Terrier. Hey I thought, I love Boston Terriers. In fact, my Boston Abby was here at camp. I had asked my buddy Tom to watch her while I went to the bathroom. So as I passed by the girls, I bend over to pet the cute little Boston Terrier, and to my surprise, it was Abbey. What the heck!
I tell the girls that it's my dog, it really really is, and they won't have any of it. They start explaining they are walking the dog for this guy named Tom, a guy in a dark shirt. I tell them, yeah, that's my buddy, and it really is my dog. I try to be as polite as I can, but they just kinda back off from me, and trot back to camp, all the while calling out loud, louder and louder, "Sranger Danger". I kept thinking to myself, my poor dog, could not speak up for her owner. She know's me, she really does.
So I go back to the camp, and get Tom to vouch for me. Only then do the girls hesitantly let me have my own dog. I have to say, those are a couple of very smart girls. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. After all, Abbey would have tried to lick anyone she met to death, even a "stanger danger". I would not want to loose a puppy that way to a "stranger danger" telling stories.
Thereafter I had total faith in the two little girls. I knew that they would not loose my Abbey. I think these are two girls that are gonna turn out just fine in life. Their parents raised them right not to trust anyone they did not know. Even with someone as charming as me, with my own dog licking and jumping up on me, they did not believe what I was saying. Good for them I say, good for them.
Mariya and Brooke. Brooke's name tag actually says "Brooke the dog walker".
OK, lets backup now. This story actually starts off the day before with me and Tomtom arriving at the Bucksaw campground where Billbob already has the Crappie.com Banner waving in the wind.
Shortly after Smitty shows up, gives us a thimbs up (above), and Billbob gets his first "It's a Billbob Tradition" photo with Smitty's mom (below). Don't worry, there's plenty more "It's a Billbob Tradition" photos at the end of this story.
Saturday Morning we went fishing. Here's Tomtom with the beautiful Truman Lake blufs in the back ground.
On Time Delivery and Badaxed are pictured above. I stole these pics off the site to show everyone that even visitors from Wisconsin can catch fish. I think it's was their third Missouri camp, and the second time I've seen them there. A couple of great guys, and they bring some interesting beers down from Wisconsin. One of those beers has the name "Spotted Cow", hmmm.
Back at our campsite we met our camping neighbors with their one month old daughter, Brenna Ann. Abbey could not resist giving her a kiss.
Saturday afternoon was the picnic. What a great time with some awsome food. We even ate some Gator Buckwheat fried up! Boy that was the best gator I've ever had.
The Jigging15 family being visited by Abbey. Abbey does get around doesn't she.
More pictures and information about the Crappie Camp can be found here:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/misso...re-thread.html
And here's a thread with thank you's to everyone that helped make this another successful Crappie Camp event:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/misso...hank-yous.html
I gave out t-shirts after the fish fry, and then we set up for a group picture. I got in trouble when I accidentally took the group picture before Debbie (or hookin & cookin) got back. She left to put on her crappie.com t-shirt and asked me to wait for her to get back. In all the excitement, I forgot. I blew it. Sorry Debbie. But, with the aid of some picture editing software (Fireworks) she's in the picture anyway. Take a look to see if you can find her.
Speaking of Hookin & Cookin, here's a neat light they made up, it has the Crappie.com logo on it, and it provides nice diffused indirect light for their campsite. I thought this was real cool.
Here's a picture of the Kansas Crappie Camp event that I missed which occurred the following weekend. This is a link to the event if you want to read more about it or see more pictures:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/kansa...ml#post1914395
The original plan was for Tomtom and I to continue on to the Kansas event at Lake Malvern but Tomtom had a job that came up at the last second he needed to attend to. Our plan changed from going to Kansas, to leaving on Wednesday, to leaving for home Monday morning. We decided to leave on Monday partly because it rained all night long, and more rain was expected so we just packed up at the same time Billbob did and hit the road.
Tomtom and I were on the road less than a half hour, and we got a flat tire on the trailer. Just great! I did have two spares in the boat, so that was good, but the jack was buried in the trunk of the car. So I decided to simply use one of the spares to roll up on to. You know, put the wheel under a part of the trailer, and drive forward onto it to pick up the whole trailer. That worked OK, but it showed us the spare had little air in it. Now I worried about the second spare. I put it on and let down the trailer. Sure enough, that spare was low on air too. Only enough to keep the rim off the ground about half inch. No way could I drive on that.
When I got the flat, I pulled over and completely blocked someone's driveway. So when he came out to "speak" to us, we begged for sympathy and some air. Turns out he was an avid fisherman, had heard of crappie.com and was more than willing to help us out. He went back to his barn and grabbed a big cylinder of compressed air, we filled up our tire and we were on the road again. Thank you so much Rich Stevson, your help was greatly appreciated. Rich owns a Mobile Home Sales and Service shop in Calhoun Missouri, so if you're ever in need of anything Motor Home related, please give him a call at 660-647-3676. He's a great guy that will certainly help in any way he can.
Abbey was so tired on the way home, the "stanger danger" girls really tuckered her out. She slept the whole way.
Over the course of our trip we also stopped at the Tightwad Bait & Tackle. It's at 1093 SE Highway 7, and real close to the Bucksaw Campground. Billbob and I met the owners, Mark and Wendy and Billbob, of course, took the opportunity at the "Billbob Tradition".
Wendy pictured with Billbob out in front of their sign.
Its a real nice clean bait shop, and it's big too, got just about everything. Here's a picture of Mark in front of his live minnow tanks.
And just to continue with the "Billbob Tradition" photos:
Oh I almost forgot to mention. Saturday night Billbob provided Little Skeeter with his new uniform:
If you follow some of the posts on the Missouri and Mississippi forums, you'll know that this is yet another tradition. See, Billbob does not move quite as good as he used to, so he recruits volunteers to help him in every state. EmptyStringer in Mississippi knows exactly what I'm talking about.
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