LAST week the Journal headed South-West to Dallas to give a White River presentation to the folks at the Dallas Fly Fishers Club _ and learnt some new tricks for staying awake while road trippin.
Most of the time was spent sitting behind a wheel but it was worth it to catch up with some friends and talk to them about the White River and Norfork Tailwater.
We saw some old friends, like casting instructor Ken Cole, met a bunch of new folks, got to know some better like president Fred Dupre, and enjoyed their meeting immensely.
As a nice touch Ken conducts fly casting classes for those who want to learn the basics or improve their skills, outside the Addison Conference Centre where meetings are held.
So if you are in Dallas go along and check out their monthly meetings, and join into their club outings. The private pond with monster bluegill sounded particularly appealing
The Journal also must give special thanks to a friend of several years, Dale Steffans, who with his wife Carol, put me up for the night in their lovely guest house and plied me with some great Tex-Mex and Margeritas.
For an Aussie guy road tripping through the US still has a lot of appeal. And the spring countryside through east Texas and south Arkansas was pretty spectacular. New roads, even seemingly cookie-cutter interstates, have all the appeal of a new river.
Plenty to look at and see. But thank goodness for the XM satellite radio. If you are struggling to stay away we recommend the political talk channels _ just don’t choose the one with your natural leanings. Try the “dark side” its sure to stimulate your mind, formulating rude responses to both the hosts and even better “talkback”.
As a former political journalist I kept myself entertained listening to G. Gordon Liddy, who even Aussie political watcher heard of through his Watergate connections, on American Right station and some guy on the liberal Air America station who described himself as haveing a voice like “Joe Pesci on helium”.
But as you can see out in the boonies, with spring in the air and the roadside clover in bloom, what else could you listen to but country. But if you are trying to fight off the road blues try the political talkback trick.
Incidentally if you are involved with a Trout Unlimited chapter, or FFF Club, or any organization for that matter that needs a speaker on fly fishing, either the White River, the journal’s native Tasmania or other topics you can inquire through the store.
