Wednesday, October 18, 2017

The Norske Nuke

So we thought it would be a good idea to light up Paul Bunyan's Stogie before the trip, and thought it would be an especially good idea to do it on the driveway. 

Here are the results from the test kitchen:










The morning after...





Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Menu Announced

The words and opinions expressed below are those of the Pot Wrassler alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of RRCC.com.   But then again they might.



Friday Lunch

BYO supplemented with Mullowney’s Bread/Irish Cheese/Avocado/Salami/Kumquat Picnic


Friday Suppe

Starter:
- Fresh Snapper Crudo
Entree:
- Fresh Gulf Shrimp Stir Fry Celestial featuring Pete & His Big Wang 


Saturday Breakfast

- Coffee & Ready-rolls
- Bacon
- Lowry’s RRCC Banana Bread


Saturday Lunch

- Estonian Steak Po Boys featuring Pete & His Big Swedish Torch and Tim & His Big Swollen Vulva


Saturday Supper

- Spit-Fired Proud Chickens & Ducks de la Poitrine de Mary
- Potatoes Anna
- Turnip Greens
- Iron Skillet Cornbread


Sun Breakfast:

- Coffee
- Conecuh Sausage
- Leftover Cornbread with Preserves

Monday, October 16, 2017

Everybody:  I said "aim for arriving at Hwy 13 bridge by noon" but I really meant we want to shove off by noon Friday.   Anyone riding with me or leaving with me should meet at my house at 7:30 am.  If you are meeting us at the put-in try to be there about 9:30 or 10:00.   Sorry for the confusion.

I'll post details about directions later this week.


Sunday, October 15, 2017

Trailer Trash

Vernon delivered the trailer today with a load of hickory and cherry wood for Proud Mary.   So we took the opportunity to do a little inventory for the first time since...ever.



That was just one side.

It was like a clown trailer, if the clowns were horder clowns.   Among other things we found:  multiple broken and unusable camp chairs, the old battery powered rotisserie spits from the pre-water wheel age,  two (flat) footballs, an Ice Mule, a washboard, one of Floyd's dildos, a cot no one has the guts to claim, twelve lengths of tie-down ropes we kept having to replace, forty red-white-and-blue shoe strings, and the original paperwork from the trailer purchase 9 years ago.  Also one full-sized replica scimitar:


Importantly, we also found some used up wooden items that need to be burned ceremonially, pursuant to Club rules, so their souls do not wander the earth aimlessly forever.  That includes the remaining wood gunwale scraps from Phil's canoe restoration and at least one paddle that has given its all to the RRCC.


Rob may also have a mandolin that needs to be retired.

We need to do all this at the Friday campfire.  Someone be in charge of remembering.

Friday, October 13, 2017

Real Maps, Real River Planning

Here is what the roster and boat situation looks like right now:

Skip  (Old Town)
Tim  (Own boat - Wenonah)
Rob  (Dagger)
Mullowney  (Own boat)
Myers
Cronin  (Own boat)
Vernon  (Grumman)
Phil  (Own boat - YES!)
Josh  (Own boat)
Dave C.  (Own boat)
Pete F.  (Own boat)

This is +/- Rob Cannon who may come screeching up at the last second.   There is evidence that he has been getting ready...



We'll work out the rides later but basically everyone needs to converge on the Hwy 13 bridge in Perry County before noon on Friday.  Pete will be staying within two hours striking distance in Muscle Shoals - where the Swampers will pick him up if he's feeling blue (how 'bout you?).  In the morning he'll cross over through Florence and can check out the Helen Keller stuff on his way into Tennessee.  Which will give him fresh material for even more tasteless jokes around the fire.   We will assume Vernon and Mullowney will also meet us there as usual unless we hear otherwise.

Our put-in at Hwy 13 is at River Mile 59.  We will camp Friday night somewhere upstream of the County Road 1788 bridge (R.M. 52) because that is the Saturday morning exit for people who need it which right now is just Jim Myers but could include more and could also make Saturday-only an option if somebody wants to do that.


An "exit" is not the same as a "take-out." You can't take a canoe out (or put one in) but it is available for those who can only make it one night.  In other words, it may require a little bushwhacking and no promises about what your car will look like after a night on CR 1788.  That's why we have not included Delta Dawn on the canoe list.  Jim will be taking turns in the duffer seat in each of our canoes.  Critiquing our strokes.  Asking if we're there yet.   

There's an interesting feature near that bridge.   The map shows a small green area which usually means a protected natural area or something of historical significance.

 
On the USGS quad it is marked as "The Mound/Cem"...


The Perry County Chamber of Commerce web site has this description:



It sounds like the kind of place where a friendly tribe of rivermen might gather for a peace pipe.

Sunday, October 08, 2017

New Faces

A few years back we got smart and started planning the fall trip just before daylight savings started.  That worked great but who set the clocks forward a month?   Hard to believe we are less than two weeks from launching.  Which is one week from frenzied packing, and negative weeks from essential pre-trip activities like menu planning and map gazing and gear maintenance.   Vernon, bring that trailer in your very next trip to town. 

We've got some introductions to make. 

First, Dave Coviello will be joining us for his first RRCC trip this fall.  We rolled out a big marketing campaign for the announcement you may have seen around town.



He is a friend of Rob's from college days and a card carrying member of the Can't Hardly Playboys once a month jam band with us.  He's got lots of river experience and access to a canoe which is important because he's left-handed and will need to bring his own left-handed guitar and left-handed river banjo.  We'll also need to restring the washtub bass for him. 

John Clack is a new Business Associate of the RRCC.   We have reached an agreement with John where he gets use of the Green Mule during the offseasons (i.e. year round) in exchange for storing it at his house and bringing me the occasional catfish.   John is also my garbage man.


In trip business:   of the two options described previously, we are going to do the shorter float.   So 16 miles in parts of three days will look something like 5-8-3 or some variation of that.  On Friday we can expect to be on the river at noon or a little after then have 2.5 hours of paddle time (which is not the same thing as travel time from put-in to camp - that could be much longer as we all know).  Cooks we could do Proud Mary either night or both with this schedule.    Also, for meal planing purposes we will use The Swedish Torch to cook lunch on Saturday, although it might be a good idea to do a test fire on Friday while the shuttle is being run.   Head count looks like about 10 right now.  Plus or minus 5.