This was interesting and is funny now. The following happened when my buddy Moon and I went out to his deer lease on Saturday in Benjamin, TX. Our main goal was to put out a large shooting target that he purchased, do some hog hunting, and to relax.
First let me describe a few things to help with the story:
Moon: 6’3. 270 lbs. from Seguin, TX, man of few words, not scared of anything. Short temper.
Moons Truck: Brand new, Chevy Z71, crew cab truck
Target: 400 lbs of pure steel. Two 4ft drilling posts for a base, stands 7ft tall on steel rods and has a ¾ in. thick circular sheet of steel in the middle that is on a hinge to absorb the shot.
A few of the names have been altered for various reasons.
Moon’s Deer Lease: 4 Miles North of Benjamin, TX. 2 ½ hours East of Lubbock, 1 ½ hours north of Abilene. East portion of the Spike Box Ranch. Up on top there is some flat land with Cedar trees and small foot hills. When you leave from up top to go into the bottom it does not have one flat spot anywhere. There are creeks, drop offs, large boulders, steep climbs, spread throughout. I would not recommend even the toughest of Jeeps or ATVs to go out in this area. It looks like a smaller version of the mountains in Afghanistan.
4:00 PM: Arrive to Camp, Unload luggage and groceries. Turn AC on in Camper and head straight out to find shooting location and place to put Target.
4:15 PM: Find good, high spot where you can see for days. Mark as shooting spot, and take off down through canyons on foot to mark off 500yds. Enjoying the great outdoors!
4:20 PM: Exhausted, we mark off the distance and make it back to truck. Get in truck to find a way to get to spot. Truck Temperature says its 109, feels like 119.
4:30 PM: Only one possible place to get down into Canyon. It’s pretty much a straight down decent. I put on my seatbelt, I am terrified.
4:40 PM: We made it and are making some progress. I ask Moon if he has Bob Seger’s Like a Rock (song from the Chevy commercial) on his ipod, we could have given Chevy some great footage for a commercial. He did, and I loaded it to play 20 times in a row. We are singing it at the top of our lungs. We think we are awesome. Still trying to get to Target location.
5:15 PM: After trying 3 different ways in, we can’t make it to location. We drag Target out of back of truck and decide we are going to have to put it on our shoulders. Crap. Temperature now actually reads 119. First hurdle is a 15 ft climb straight up a hill. We can only lift a carry this thing for about 15 yards before we have to break. We have 250 yards to go, you do the math.
6:00 PM: We finally made it and celebrate with high fives and chest bumps. Get out water bottles to replenish the 3 gallons each, we just lost. Decide that we are going to charge every person who shoots at Target a labor charge for what we had just done.
6:15 PM: Can’t find our tracks to get out of canyon. Moon goes off 2 ft drop and destroys his front bumper. Can’t tell what state his license plate is from. He is irritable and not amused.
6:30 PM: Still can’t find way out. This is not good. Like a Rock is still jamming until Moon hurls ipod out window and into canyon.
6:40 PM: Still can't find way out. The trucks bumper is barely hanging on. Moon is not a happy camper.
6:45 PM: Still can’t find way out. The feeling that we may be down here for awhile sinks in. I’m now irritable. A lone buzzard soars over, licking his chops. I contemplate taking a shot at him with .338 before he goes and tells his buddies what is going on. We find ipod.
7:00 PM: Finally make it out. Moons truck is in shambles and is smoking from under the hood. We celebrate, scream, chest bump, and I take a shot at Buzzard for being cocky. Missed.
7:45 PM: Pulling out of shooting station, where Moon hit target 10 times and I hit it once (there was something in my eye and he was getting lucky). Then we hear a hissing sound that is not a pleasant one. A small piece of dead cedar is sticking out of his front left tire. We had just run over full size dead cedar trees and this little twig does it. We patch tire and head back to camp.
8:15 PM: Arrive to camp with air gushing out of tire. We patch again and head to Benjamin to get some air.
8:30 PM: Benjamin, TX, one gas station. Air Machine says “Out of Order.” Crap. We decided to put spare on, Moon says “it’ll take 2 min.” Right.
8:45 PM: Spare tire won’t lower from bottom of pickup. We swallow pride and get owner’s manual out. We were using wrong end of rod to lower tire. We are idiots!
8:55 PM: Spare tire still not lowering.
9:20 PM: On road to Knox City, TX on 8 lbs of air pressure. A 12 mile drive at 30 mph. we get the feeling that we are on the road from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and this night could end up very much like the movie. Crap.
9:50 PM: Arrive to the Allsups in Knox City, Air Machine says “Out of Order.” We have a flat tire and there are super sketchy people driving by and staring at us. Moon buys 3 cans of Fix a Flat and 6 Chimychanga burritos.
10:00 PM: Pumped 3 cans of the “good stuff” in tire and it goes up to about 15 lbs of pressure, about half of what it needs. Sketchy truck pulls up right behind us. It has gold rims and blue lights glowing out the bottom of it. We make sure the guns are loaded, if we are going down, we are going in a “Blaze of Fire!” Jose walks up and says, “Hey, man. Whats the problem?”
10:05 PM: We are following Jose to another gas station, that “has air.” We are so desperate that we are actually following this guy. God help us.
10:20 PM: Tire is full of air, but is now leaking again. Jose says we are a bunch of morons, and that he can get the spare loose. He doesn’t. We demolish the Chimychangas (we shared with Jose) and brainstormed.
10:45 PM: An 18 wheeler pulls into gas station right beside us, Jose knows the man. He is dirty, and smells bad. We check our guns again, while they speak in another language for a bit. 18 wheeler man calls us morons, and tries to lower spare tire. He is unsuccessful and says we have “a real problem on our hands.” Now, there’s some new information for us.
11:15 PM: Jose’s buddy Frank shows up. Frank hasn’t seen a shower or a toothbrush since the 80’s. Frank gives us the moron spill again and goes for the spare tire. Doesn’t work. Frank confirms that we are probably dealing with the local drug dealer. We are not amused. Frank says his dad owns the mechanic shop in town, but its way too late to call.
12:00 AM: Jose and Frank are still helping us decide what to do. Moon offers Frank are decent sum of money for any tire that will fit his truck. Apparently this was equivalent to 3 months of work for Frank because he pulls a “Dukes of Hazzard” out of the gas station to look for a tire. I am now amused.
12:10 AM: Jose informs us of a “real nice” motel they have in town. I don’t want to sound conceited here, but our idea of a “real nice” motel may be a bit different. Now we’re thinking we will have to stay at the Bates Motel. Awesome. Neither of us are amused.
12:35 AM: Frank arrives with bad news. No 6 lug tires in town. Plus Sunday was the next day and no one would be open. “This is not good Mav.”
12:55 AM: Frank calls and wakes up his dad. I can hear his dad screaming in the phone before Frank gets out his sentence, “its #%$#% stripped, you’re gonna need a %^$%@ cutting torch to lower the tire.” Frank and Jose know where a cutting torch is. Now I am no brilliant person or anything, but I mention that tire is sitting right below the fuel tank, and a cutting torch just seems like a terrible idea, even in the middle of a crisis. Everyone agrees.
1:20 AM: Frank takes a look at the hole in the tire. Apparently, Moon and myself are morons. Frank patches the hole in 15 seconds and airs the tire up. No air escaping. We celebrate with screams, chest bumps, and give Frank and Jose big man hugs. I contemplate shooting at the buzzard again.
1: 35 AM: We are singing Like a Rock at the top of our lungs with Bob Seger and discussing how great the sleep is going to be in the cold camper.
1:55 AM: Arrive to camp and open camper door. It’s a solid 88 degrees inside. A/C unit blew a fuse.
I will go no further…
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Thursday Thoughts
Dove Season Approaching
Since I can recall, September 1st the opening day of Dove season has been a holiday in my family. I can remember being very young and my Grandfather (Papa) driving his red and white truck down to the back of our pasture for the opening day Dove hunt. He would set me on the back of his tailgate, and made me sit real still. I was one of his huntin’ buddies, and I can remember loving the sound of the shotgun. Well 20 years later, I still love that sound and though some of my huntin’ buddies are different, my love for Dove hunting hasn’t. September 1st is my favorite holiday for sure.
Colorado Trip
Me and a few buddies are taking a “Man’s Vacation” to the Rocky Mountains next weekend. It has been a solid 100 degrees here for about 10 days straight now, and though I do like warm weather, I can not wait for a change in temperature and view. Lubbock, TX and the Rocky Mountains do resemble each other greatly, so the weather is mostly what I am looking forward to. We took the same trip last year and it was “eventful” at the very least. The cabin sits right out on a lake stocked with trout, and there is a Casino about 15 miles away. However, the best part of the whole deal is the Player Piano that has over 80 songs that come from like the 1920’s. After a few cocktails, this thing is better than any Karaoke machine. I’ll post pictures.
Cousin Jenna
I spoke with Cousin Jenna today and she says that she hasn’t posted a blog in a long while because it “stresses her out.” I don’t even know what she means by this. Does she think we might pull a AP English teacher on her, and mark up her misspelled words and grammatical errors in red ink? I figure, if we all bug her enough she will get back on board with us. So please, if you know, think you know, are related, have dated, or see her on a regular basis, please let her know that she should write a lil something. Thanks Jeannaa
A Good Clean Joke (for a change)
A man was riding his Harley along a California beach when suddenly thesky clouded above his head... In a booming voice, the Lord said "Becauseyou have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you onewish."The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so my friendsand I can ride over anytime we want."The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic. Think of the enormouschallenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required to reachthe bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! Ican do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldlythings. Take a little more time and think of something that couldpossibly help mankind."The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, "Lord, Iwish that I, and all men, could understand women; I want to know how shefeels inside, what she's thinking, why she cries, what she means whenshe says nothing's wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy."The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"
Happy Friday and weekend to you all, CHEERS!!
Since I can recall, September 1st the opening day of Dove season has been a holiday in my family. I can remember being very young and my Grandfather (Papa) driving his red and white truck down to the back of our pasture for the opening day Dove hunt. He would set me on the back of his tailgate, and made me sit real still. I was one of his huntin’ buddies, and I can remember loving the sound of the shotgun. Well 20 years later, I still love that sound and though some of my huntin’ buddies are different, my love for Dove hunting hasn’t. September 1st is my favorite holiday for sure.
Colorado Trip
Me and a few buddies are taking a “Man’s Vacation” to the Rocky Mountains next weekend. It has been a solid 100 degrees here for about 10 days straight now, and though I do like warm weather, I can not wait for a change in temperature and view. Lubbock, TX and the Rocky Mountains do resemble each other greatly, so the weather is mostly what I am looking forward to. We took the same trip last year and it was “eventful” at the very least. The cabin sits right out on a lake stocked with trout, and there is a Casino about 15 miles away. However, the best part of the whole deal is the Player Piano that has over 80 songs that come from like the 1920’s. After a few cocktails, this thing is better than any Karaoke machine. I’ll post pictures.
Cousin Jenna
I spoke with Cousin Jenna today and she says that she hasn’t posted a blog in a long while because it “stresses her out.” I don’t even know what she means by this. Does she think we might pull a AP English teacher on her, and mark up her misspelled words and grammatical errors in red ink? I figure, if we all bug her enough she will get back on board with us. So please, if you know, think you know, are related, have dated, or see her on a regular basis, please let her know that she should write a lil something. Thanks Jeannaa
A Good Clean Joke (for a change)
A man was riding his Harley along a California beach when suddenly thesky clouded above his head... In a booming voice, the Lord said "Becauseyou have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you onewish."The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so my friendsand I can ride over anytime we want."The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic. Think of the enormouschallenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required to reachthe bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! Ican do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldlythings. Take a little more time and think of something that couldpossibly help mankind."The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, "Lord, Iwish that I, and all men, could understand women; I want to know how shefeels inside, what she's thinking, why she cries, what she means whenshe says nothing's wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy."The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"
Happy Friday and weekend to you all, CHEERS!!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Thursday Thoughts with a Thursday Catch Up
Catch Up
It has been awhile since I have sat down to write a few lines, so here is a brief update on what’s been shakin in my world.
Firework season came and went like a crazy whirl wind. We had a great year, sold lots of fireworks, put on 2 city shows and had a blast spending quality time with our family and friends. Plus I am pretty sure that I gained about 10 lbs from all the great food that we ate literally 3 times everyday, something I am definitely not used to in Lubbock. Thanks to all my family and friends who helped out and made the 2009 4th of July a very special week.
Post firework season was time to get back to real world, and included me getting a new insurance license that would allow our business to work for a much broader line of businesses. If you are not familiar with Commercial Insurance Packages, let me tell you that it is very interesting business. However, the test, studying for the test, and passing the test was as boring as watching C-Span for 10 days straight. All of this to be told that 90% of what we were learning and studying was never going to be used in the real business…Awesome. After a 8 hour/ 3 day study course and many hours of home study, I did pass the test, and am greatly glad it is over. I’ve only been out of college for 4 years, but getting back into that student/study mode was not an easy task.
TV Recommendation:
If you are like me, you are always searching for a new show or series to get into. Well I have a great one that came highly recommended to me, and it has not let me down at all. The show is called Mad Men and it airs on the AMC Network. It is set in the 1960’s Corporate America and is the story of five men who work in the Advertising agency in New York. The director and producers go to great lengths to throw the audience right back into the early 60’s with over-the-top business suits, crazy wallpapers, and enough cigarettes to make a viewer crave an oxygen machine. A real classic show that is going to air its brand new 3rd Season at the end of this month, so you have plenty of time to catch up!
Upcoming
I am very excited of two events coming very soon; Dove Season and College Football Season. These are two things that I cannot live without and two things that I prepare for endlessly. I will have full blogs devoted to both.
A Recipe for You
And last but certainly not least, I have a recipe for all you cookers that will knock the socks off of your family or guest. I found this in a magazine and tried at a cookout last weekend and it surpassed all the hype from the article, and comes from Barbecue World Champion “Oklahoma Joe” Davidson. A perfect fit for any cookout, its call the “Best Beans on the Planet,” (and yes they just may be):
Ingredients:
2 15 oz. cans of pork and beans
1 15oz. can of dark red kidney beans
1 15 oz can of black beans
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and diced
1 small red onion, diced
2 cups of brown sugar
1 lb. chopped barbecued brisket (I got mine from Dickies)
1 18 oz jar of your favorite barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
Preheat oven to 350 degreed. Drain beans and mix with all remaining ingredients in an aluminum-foil pan. Place the pan on a cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees for two hours. Let stand 30 min before serving.
Please let me know if you try them and how they come out!
It has been awhile since I have sat down to write a few lines, so here is a brief update on what’s been shakin in my world.
Firework season came and went like a crazy whirl wind. We had a great year, sold lots of fireworks, put on 2 city shows and had a blast spending quality time with our family and friends. Plus I am pretty sure that I gained about 10 lbs from all the great food that we ate literally 3 times everyday, something I am definitely not used to in Lubbock. Thanks to all my family and friends who helped out and made the 2009 4th of July a very special week.
Post firework season was time to get back to real world, and included me getting a new insurance license that would allow our business to work for a much broader line of businesses. If you are not familiar with Commercial Insurance Packages, let me tell you that it is very interesting business. However, the test, studying for the test, and passing the test was as boring as watching C-Span for 10 days straight. All of this to be told that 90% of what we were learning and studying was never going to be used in the real business…Awesome. After a 8 hour/ 3 day study course and many hours of home study, I did pass the test, and am greatly glad it is over. I’ve only been out of college for 4 years, but getting back into that student/study mode was not an easy task.
TV Recommendation:
If you are like me, you are always searching for a new show or series to get into. Well I have a great one that came highly recommended to me, and it has not let me down at all. The show is called Mad Men and it airs on the AMC Network. It is set in the 1960’s Corporate America and is the story of five men who work in the Advertising agency in New York. The director and producers go to great lengths to throw the audience right back into the early 60’s with over-the-top business suits, crazy wallpapers, and enough cigarettes to make a viewer crave an oxygen machine. A real classic show that is going to air its brand new 3rd Season at the end of this month, so you have plenty of time to catch up!
Upcoming
I am very excited of two events coming very soon; Dove Season and College Football Season. These are two things that I cannot live without and two things that I prepare for endlessly. I will have full blogs devoted to both.
A Recipe for You
And last but certainly not least, I have a recipe for all you cookers that will knock the socks off of your family or guest. I found this in a magazine and tried at a cookout last weekend and it surpassed all the hype from the article, and comes from Barbecue World Champion “Oklahoma Joe” Davidson. A perfect fit for any cookout, its call the “Best Beans on the Planet,” (and yes they just may be):
Ingredients:
2 15 oz. cans of pork and beans
1 15oz. can of dark red kidney beans
1 15 oz can of black beans
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and diced
1 small red onion, diced
2 cups of brown sugar
1 lb. chopped barbecued brisket (I got mine from Dickies)
1 18 oz jar of your favorite barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
Preheat oven to 350 degreed. Drain beans and mix with all remaining ingredients in an aluminum-foil pan. Place the pan on a cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees for two hours. Let stand 30 min before serving.
Please let me know if you try them and how they come out!
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