Hey Guys! Monday was a great day 9/9/2019... Three of us enjoyed a very quiet Monday sitting on the porch and drinking some cold ones. We really need to do some of that again on Friday?

River Day 09/02/2019

Jay, Ted and I were able to get together this week at Jay's for a combination River Day/Labor Day celebration.  As you can see in the (only) pic, the weather was terrific, both inside and out.

We took some time looking over the "new" acquisitions in the shop, and discussed how they were going to be arranged in the future.  We may have to start throwing darts diagonally.

For a change of scenery we sat in the back yard instead of the front porch this week.

Hope everyone enjoyed a Happy River Day!

River Day 08/12/2019

Ok folks, time to revive the weekly blog for National River Day.  Who says we can't recognize River Day even if we seldom go to the river anymore?  The Rivertarian group still gets together at least once a week, the only thing different is the environment.  And we won't even talk about Prayer Meeting night.

This week Jay, Ted, Tim and I got together for the weekly celebration.  Great weather, and company.

Even though we're about 3 months out, a good bit of discussion was on the annual Fall Camping Trip (always capitalized), and more specifically, the meal planning.  Glad to know we've prioritized somewhat.

We also talked about reviving the printed version of the National River Day blog.  The 1st two years we started the blog, we had those years printed in a nice, hardcover book, along with all the photos from the posts.  Since we've been a little lean in the number of posts, we decided it makes more sense to catch up the last several years in a single volume.  It also makes more sense to wait until the end of 2019, and then get pricing for the book.

No pictures this week, but since every one of us carries a phone, we'll change that in upcoming posts, wherever we happen to get together.

Happy River Day!

(Not quite) River Day 05/15/2019

Well, here's something to take everyone by surprise: an actual River Day post!  And it wasn't even River Day.  Not officially anyway.

So I decided to venture down to the camp for the 1st time this year, just to do a little fishing.  It was later in the evening so I didn't bother calling anyone else.  Don't get me wrong, we've still been celebrating River Day, just not at the river.  As a matter of fact, the last post to this blog was our Christmas celebration, December 2018.   Pitiful.

As you might imagine, the camp doesn't much resemble what we've been used to over the years, due to neglect, weather, flooding, and lack of use.  There were beer cans and bottles strewn around, the fire pit was piled high with bamboo, the yard was full of debris and was generally gouged and eroded by the river.  And of course everything is overgrown.

The only local I saw was Jesse.  Freddy wasn't around apparently, or at least didn't come out to visit.  Leo's yard looked newly cut, so I guess he's still coming around some.

Now all of this might paint a gloomy picture, but it was nice getting back to the river, and to the camp.  Kinda gives you that coming home feeling, especially since I was there on a Wednesday evening, the original River Day day (of the week).

The water level was still just a little high, but not too much for me to fish in the eddy pool in front of the camp.  I didn't bother looking for helgies, so I used some artificial lures for an hour or so.  I only caught two (red eyes), but I had numerous bites.  The current kept wanting to push my lure downriver.

All in all, a pretty good (almost) River Day.

River Day 12/17/2018 (Christmas Edition)

It wouldn't be right not to hold the annual Christmas celebration at the river, so at the river we were this week.  Jay, Tim, Ted and I made it down, with a special guest in attendance as well - good to have William with us to share in the festivities.

We had a beautiful evening - clear skies, no rain, and the coldest 50 degrees I've ever felt.  As you can tell in the photos, the river was up pretty high.  Lots of rain over the last week or two, with runoff from last weekend's melting snow brought the water up to within 15 feet or so of the firepit.  Between the usual debris and some furniture from Jay's house, we had plenty to burn.

Freddy showed up with gifts this year: a birthday tee shirt for Jay, a Dirty Dog, and a dead rat.  Not sure what he's trying to tell us, but it was good catching up with him.

We had our traditional gift exchange, along with an adult beverage (or two).  Unlike every other year that I can remember we did not play any Christmas music, and opted out of food.

As this will probably be the last River Day post of the year, I'm publishing more photos than usual.  Enjoy.

Oh, and let's not forget - we definitely had the best fire on the river!

Merry Christmas to all!

Well it was the last Monday of November 2018 and once again the weather was really bad! Lot's of rain and that kept Tim, Ted, and me Jay inside! Not much going on but it was nice that we did celebrate. Mark was working and not sure about Pat's status. The three of did discuss the annual Christmas gift exchange but did not come up with a final answer as far as a date? Looking forward to Friday pray meeting with you all, so until then safe travels to Mark and we will certainly keep a cold one in the fridge for you!

Fall Camping Trip: Oct 31 - Nov 4, 2018

Another great fall camping trip has come and gone for the Rivertarians.  This year we were back at the original location for this trip - Lake Sherwood in Greenbrier County, WV.  The group pictured above were this year's attendees.  Tim, Jay, Ted and Todd arrived on Wednesday the 31st (Halloween), I made it Thursday Morning, November 1.  Pat on Friday, and Damon on Saturday.

We ran the full gamut on weather - from the upper 60's to 28.  From sunshine to snow flurries.  And just about everything in between.

As usual, we enjoyed great food, great company, and an overall great trip.  I think our fallen brother would have really enjoyed this one.  He was certainly missed.

We took well over a hundred photos of the trip, so I'll let them speak for themselves.  I've tried to list them in chronological order of the way the trip progressed.  It's always a difficult task choosing which ones to post.  Forgive me if I have a few out of order.