Our last day.
We need to check out of the cabin no later than 11:00 am. We got up again at 6:30 am. T said she was feeling better and wanted to try again. We got ready and went back to the same spot downstream of the spring.
Again, the water was cold and fast moving. Plowing through it is a pretty good work out. T dawned her waders today. There were more people out this morning, being Friday, some were probably playing hookie. We got our lines in the water just after the 7:30 am siren. As time went on, more people showed up and we were not having any luck. For the first time, I did actually see a fish caught by another angler. T was tiring and so was I. We called it off about 9:00 am and headed back to pack and check out.
We got home without incident around 12:30 pm. While we did not catch anything, we had a good time and it was nice to get away from the house for a few days.
Friday, September 23, 2016
Day 4, Thursday September 22, 2016: Montauk State Park
The alarm went off at 6:30 am. I got up and started to get ready to go. T did not sleep well and is still not well. She encouraged me to go ahead without her. I did. I went back to the area we were started in on Tuesday. I was in the water and ready to cast when the siren went off indicating that fishing for the day had begun.
I was only out for about three hours with the same overall results as Tuesday. One change was that I actually had a strike today. On just my second or so cast, a fish hit the lure and promptly ate the lure. When I pulled the line in, the fly was gone. I chalked it up to improper knot tying on my part. But, it gave me hope that this was the type of fly they would hit this morning. I tied on a new fly (in fact I tried several different flies) but I did not get another strike.
I went back to the cabin for lunch and to check on T. She was still feeling poorly so we stayed in the rest of the day.
In the evening, like clockwork, we went over to the lodge to get our tags for the last day.
I was only out for about three hours with the same overall results as Tuesday. One change was that I actually had a strike today. On just my second or so cast, a fish hit the lure and promptly ate the lure. When I pulled the line in, the fly was gone. I chalked it up to improper knot tying on my part. But, it gave me hope that this was the type of fly they would hit this morning. I tied on a new fly (in fact I tried several different flies) but I did not get another strike.
I went back to the cabin for lunch and to check on T. She was still feeling poorly so we stayed in the rest of the day.
In the evening, like clockwork, we went over to the lodge to get our tags for the last day.
Day 3, Wednesday September 21, 2016: Montauk State Park
Another pretty morning, but T is quite ill this morning with some sort of tummy trouble. Not going to go out this morning.
We were hoping she would be better in the afternoon, but she wasn't. So, we just lazed around the cabin and let her rest.
The plan at the end of the day was to get up around 6:30 am and get over to the same spot we were at on Tuesday (just downstream of the spring) and catch the fish having breakfast.
Again, around 6:30 pm, we went to the lodge and bought our tags for the next day. T seems to be feeling better. We also picked up another hand net and stringer (we only had one of each) for all those trout we would be catching tomorrow.
We were hoping she would be better in the afternoon, but she wasn't. So, we just lazed around the cabin and let her rest.
The plan at the end of the day was to get up around 6:30 am and get over to the same spot we were at on Tuesday (just downstream of the spring) and catch the fish having breakfast.
Again, around 6:30 pm, we went to the lodge and bought our tags for the next day. T seems to be feeling better. We also picked up another hand net and stringer (we only had one of each) for all those trout we would be catching tomorrow.
Day 2, Tuesday September 20, 2016: Montauk State Park
We had no grandiose plans for this trip except to relax and enjoy a little fishing. Around 5:00 am this morning, I was awakened to the large “pop”. My first reaction was that it was just the ice machine dumping its load of ice. Then I remembered we don’t have an ice maker in the cabin. I listened intently for several seconds and, not hearing anything more, went back to sleep. The balcony on our cabin faces southeast so that the morning sun serves as our wake up call. Around 7:00 am I arose to start breakfast. We are having bacon and basted eggs. I started the coffee and opened the door to the refrigerator. There I discovered the source of the “pop” I heard at 5:00 am. One of T’s bottles of sparkling water had exploded. The interior of the refrigerator was littered with glass fragments and frozen sparkling water. Interestingly, nothing else seemed frozen. There was a case of soda sitting right next to the doomed bottle of water and it was fine. My theory is that the bottle of water was sitting just in front of where the cold air comes into the compartment. Anyway, it could have been worse…it could have been a bottle of Champagne.
I got the coffee and bacon going. T got up and showed me the proper technique for basting eggs. We finished breakfast and left for the Montauk Spring at 8:30 am. Fishing officially is between 7:30 am and 7:15 pm in September at the park. We did not know how crowded it would be. It wasn’t crowded at all.
We started on the segment of the current river just downstream of the Montauk spring. This is a fly fishing only section with fast moving cold water. The depth of the stream, for the most part, allows you to wade into it up to your waist. We found a good looking spot. There were a lot of fish in the water. You just wanted to reach in and grab them...but that's not fair or legal. We started fishing and spent the remainder of the morning re-learning the techniques of fly fishing. T lost two flies. I lost none but spent a good portion of my time repeatedly untangling my line. We saw quite a number of fish but they apparently were not hungry for what we had to offer. T said she got a few nibbles. Whenever I cast my lure in among the fish, they all just scattered. I got to test out my new waders. They did well. T when “au naturel”, not using waders but just shorts and her new shoes. She said the water was exhilarating.
By 11:30 am, the sun was bearing down on us and we were tired from wading through the fast moving water. We packed up and headed back to the cabin for a rest and lunch. T got to hold up the result of our first morning out.
I got the coffee and bacon going. T got up and showed me the proper technique for basting eggs. We finished breakfast and left for the Montauk Spring at 8:30 am. Fishing officially is between 7:30 am and 7:15 pm in September at the park. We did not know how crowded it would be. It wasn’t crowded at all.
We started on the segment of the current river just downstream of the Montauk spring. This is a fly fishing only section with fast moving cold water. The depth of the stream, for the most part, allows you to wade into it up to your waist. We found a good looking spot. There were a lot of fish in the water. You just wanted to reach in and grab them...but that's not fair or legal. We started fishing and spent the remainder of the morning re-learning the techniques of fly fishing. T lost two flies. I lost none but spent a good portion of my time repeatedly untangling my line. We saw quite a number of fish but they apparently were not hungry for what we had to offer. T said she got a few nibbles. Whenever I cast my lure in among the fish, they all just scattered. I got to test out my new waders. They did well. T when “au naturel”, not using waders but just shorts and her new shoes. She said the water was exhilarating.
By 11:30 am, the sun was bearing down on us and we were tired from wading through the fast moving water. We packed up and headed back to the cabin for a rest and lunch. T got to hold up the result of our first morning out.
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| Morning's Catch |
We planned to go back out after lunch, but we were both tired and T was not feeling very well. So, we just relaxed the remainder of the afternoon.
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| Balcony |
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| Grill where all the trout will be cooked |
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| Swarm of buzzards overhead |
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| Deer in the parking lot |
For dinner, T made chow mein. We went over to the lodge around 6:30 pm and purchased our tags for tomorrow.
Day 1, Monday September 19, 2016: Montauk State Park
Today we started our week-long adventure to the Motauk State Park. Montauk is one of several trout parks in Missouri. We visited Montauk once before and stayed one night in one of their cabins. We did no fishing, but swore we would be back. This week we are back. We will be staying four nights in one of their two bedroom cabins with full kitchen and fireplace. While the temperature is supposed to be in the mid-80s this week, the fireplace will add a charm to the cabin.
It is roughly 150 miles from our place to the park. We left today around noon. The trip down I-44 was uneventful. We got of the Interstate at Rolla and drove the last 50 miles on State and County highways to the park. We stopped once in Cuba, MO and picked up some BBQ from our favorite BBQ place (Missouri Hickory). We met the owner. T told him that we always stopped anytime we passed by. He was very proud. We also stopped in Rolla to pick up some items at the grocery. We have plenty of food for the week.
We got to the park around 3:30pm. Since 3:00pm was check-in time, we immediately went to the lodge and got our cabin keys. We were put in C28. It is a quadruplet cabin and we had one of the two second floor “cabins”. Nice accommodation. While we had previously purchased our MO fishing licenses, we still need to purchase a daily trout tag. The guy at the lodge said they would start selling the next day’s tags at 6:15pm each day at the lodge.
After getting moved in, we relaxed for a bit and at some of the BBQ we picked up in Cuba. We then drove around the park, making our plans for the next day. It was about 6:00pm when we headed back to the lodge. We decided we probably needed to check our gear just in case we forgot something. T had already realized she did not bring any footwear appropriate for wading in the fast moving streams. It was a good thing we checked because we discovered we did not bring any of our flies. Therefore, in addition to our trout tags, we also bought T a pair of shoes and five pairs of flies.
We retired to the room, had a quick dinner of frozen mozzarella balls and went to bed early.
It is roughly 150 miles from our place to the park. We left today around noon. The trip down I-44 was uneventful. We got of the Interstate at Rolla and drove the last 50 miles on State and County highways to the park. We stopped once in Cuba, MO and picked up some BBQ from our favorite BBQ place (Missouri Hickory). We met the owner. T told him that we always stopped anytime we passed by. He was very proud. We also stopped in Rolla to pick up some items at the grocery. We have plenty of food for the week.
We got to the park around 3:30pm. Since 3:00pm was check-in time, we immediately went to the lodge and got our cabin keys. We were put in C28. It is a quadruplet cabin and we had one of the two second floor “cabins”. Nice accommodation. While we had previously purchased our MO fishing licenses, we still need to purchase a daily trout tag. The guy at the lodge said they would start selling the next day’s tags at 6:15pm each day at the lodge.
After getting moved in, we relaxed for a bit and at some of the BBQ we picked up in Cuba. We then drove around the park, making our plans for the next day. It was about 6:00pm when we headed back to the lodge. We decided we probably needed to check our gear just in case we forgot something. T had already realized she did not bring any footwear appropriate for wading in the fast moving streams. It was a good thing we checked because we discovered we did not bring any of our flies. Therefore, in addition to our trout tags, we also bought T a pair of shoes and five pairs of flies.
We retired to the room, had a quick dinner of frozen mozzarella balls and went to bed early.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Day 23, Tuesday, September 6, Manhattan, St. Louis, End of Trip
We arose this morning late, almost 8:00 am. Yesterday was a long day. We packed and got out of the room by 9:30 am. We did not eat any breakfast. We started to explore Manhattan. The first task was to find the campus. The "downtown" are has changed so much. Our first try ended us on the road to Fort Riley. We finally found it. Once we found the campus, we were able to navigate to Jardine Terrace, the married students apartments where we spent four years. Many of the 50's vintage buildings have been replaced with new buildings. BUT our building (W) was still there. Below is our building with our apartment being on the second floor, third from the right.
Next was to find T's old dairy hall and dairy bar.
Did they still make the same ice cream soda as they did 40 years ago???
We parked the car at the Student Union and proceeded to walk onto the campus. We were studying a map in the courtyard when a very pretty young coed came up and asked if she could help us find something. I was speechless, but T thanked her and explained we were just reacquainting ourselves after a 40 year absence. She welcomed us back and went on her way. I was still speechless!
We departed KSU around noon and spent the next six uneventful hours driving to St. Louis without stop. Not having had any breakfast or lunch, we decided to stop at the Three Flags tavern (just a few blocks from home) and have oysters and steak for dinner. We got home about 7:30 pm. The house is in good shape, but there is a lot of yard work to do.
So ends our Summer 2016 Western Trip. We traveled a total of 5,950 miles over 23 days. The main deviation from our original route was "dropping" by Arches National Park between Mesa Verde and Greeley, CO. The final route looked something like this:
Our next trip will take place during the week of September 19. We will be going just down the road (140 miles) to the Montauk State Park for a little fly fishing. We have a cabin booked for four nights.
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| "W" Jardine Terrace |
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| Many of the old apartments have been replaced with these |
Next was to find T's old dairy hall and dairy bar.
Did they still make the same ice cream soda as they did 40 years ago???
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| Yes, it was excellent! |
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| Seaton Hall Engineering Building |
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| New construction all over the campus |
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| "New" 1996 entry to the Library |
We journeyed to Caldwell Hall. In the basement was the computing section where both of us spent many a long day (and night) typing on key punch machines and feeding punch card decks to the computer.
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| This was the door where you submitted your decks and picked up your results. |
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| Ahearn Field House (where they played basketball) |
We departed KSU around noon and spent the next six uneventful hours driving to St. Louis without stop. Not having had any breakfast or lunch, we decided to stop at the Three Flags tavern (just a few blocks from home) and have oysters and steak for dinner. We got home about 7:30 pm. The house is in good shape, but there is a lot of yard work to do.
So ends our Summer 2016 Western Trip. We traveled a total of 5,950 miles over 23 days. The main deviation from our original route was "dropping" by Arches National Park between Mesa Verde and Greeley, CO. The final route looked something like this:
Our next trip will take place during the week of September 19. We will be going just down the road (140 miles) to the Montauk State Park for a little fly fishing. We have a cabin booked for four nights.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Day 22, Monday, September 5, La Junta, Manhattan
We got up and had a nice breakfast at the hotel. We packed and arrived at Bent's Old Fort at the stroke of 9:00 am. We were not the first there, but there were not many so we had a good tour of the fort. We believe this is our third visit to the fort. The first was about 30 years ago with our kids. The second was about 15 years ago. They have really improved the fort and the presentation. There were living history people in dress and they had a 20 orientation film. T had thought about taking the guided tour which started at 10:30 am, but the self-guided tour information provided convinced her the guided tour was not needed.
The present fort is a recreation of the original which burned down and otherwise went back to nature. The current forts' reconstruction was possible due to very meticulous drawings and measurements made by a visiting engineer back in 1846. The fort was originally built in 1833 on, what was at the time, the US/Mexican border as defined by the Arkansas River.
What is really neat about the fort today is that you can go everywhere and touch everything. You can go behind the bar and examine the brandy bottles in the pool room and you can pick up the hammers and pump the forge bellows (which I did) in the blacksmiths shop.
We left the fort around 11:00 am and headed toward Manhattan, KS. We arrived at 7:00 pm (lost one hour to Central Time). We have checked into our hotel and tomorrow morning we will tour our old stomping grounds before heading home. Tonight is our last night away. We are anxious to get home.
The present fort is a recreation of the original which burned down and otherwise went back to nature. The current forts' reconstruction was possible due to very meticulous drawings and measurements made by a visiting engineer back in 1846. The fort was originally built in 1833 on, what was at the time, the US/Mexican border as defined by the Arkansas River.
What is really neat about the fort today is that you can go everywhere and touch everything. You can go behind the bar and examine the brandy bottles in the pool room and you can pick up the hammers and pump the forge bellows (which I did) in the blacksmiths shop.
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| Cemetery |
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| Parade Ground with Hide Press in the center |
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| Interior of Front Gate |
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| Trade Room |
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| Counsel Room |
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| Officer's Dinning Room |
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| Cook's Quarters with one of the living historians |
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| Indoor Kitchen |
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| Blacksmith shop |
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| Carpenter's Shop |
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| Pool Room |
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| Corral |
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| One of two turret embattlements |
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| Prickly Pear along the wall of the corral to discourage intruders |
We left the fort around 11:00 am and headed toward Manhattan, KS. We arrived at 7:00 pm (lost one hour to Central Time). We have checked into our hotel and tomorrow morning we will tour our old stomping grounds before heading home. Tonight is our last night away. We are anxious to get home.
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