As it were…

My father-in-law and I wanted to go fishing this weekend, but we had some obstacles to overcome first. 

We needed to tow the boat with his van, which had another trailer on it, with a large piece of farming equipment on the trailer.  So he brought over his EMCO front end loader, put the bucket over the widget, and went down to chain it up.  The bucket was too high though, so he asked me to lower it. 

Then began my education in Front End Loader Driving.  When he learned I’d never done it, he had me do everything.  So I picked the thing up and drove it where it needed to go.  The only hitch was that Joe (my father-in-law) had forgotten that the steering was still in "crab" which means that when you turn, both front and back wheels turn the same way, so you sort of drive sideways instead of actually turning.  Once that was worked out, I finished up and parked it, thus ending that First.

We then needed to put a new size ball on the hitch on the van.  He had two mounts, and one was too long and the other was bent,  So we fixed both with a cutting torch and grinder (not a first for me), and got that set up.  We put the boat trailer on the van, but there was water in the bottom of the boat, so he pulled the plug and asked me to drive it to the hill in the driveway, so it would all drain toward the back.

Then began my First Experience Driving With A Trailer.  I didn’t tell him I’d never done it, because I was pretty sure I could handle it. I guess I should say that I’ve towed a trailer before, but it was a small one, behind a car, going straight ahead.  This was a full size conversion van, towing a long trailer, and I needed to go forward and back multiple times in the yard without hitting anything.  I did it flawlessly.  Faboo.

So a little later we went fishing.  We went to Healy lake, where we’ve gone several times before.  This was actually our 4th time at that lake I think, and as before, nary a nibble.  Joe keeps taking us back there because he’s always had good luck there, but together he and I have caught one small fish, and that’s it.

As with every other time however, we had a very good time.  We saw a couple loons coasting the shore, a couple geese came in to relax for a while, and it was calm and peaceful.  I love small lake fishing.  It was a little chilly, but really not all that bad.