Trying to Get Back to Normal

Thank you for reading this week’s post, Trying to Get Back to Normal. Whatever normal means!

I post this on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which almost 3000 people were killed, triggering nearly unanimous and well-deserved outrage from the American people.

Over 600,000 Americans have died as a result of COVID, and we still have cretins not wearing masks or getting vaccinated. I don’t understand it…
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Readers may know I’ve been writing a travelogue for Global Outdoors. You can see some of those posts here- https://blog.globaloutdoors.com.
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Traveling Epilogue, by the numbers

On our trip around the USA, which lasted 153 days (give or take one or two), Susan and I traveled a total of 15,783 miles in our Sienna van. The van used 702.5 gallons of gasoline to do that, which cost me $2271.91. The fuel economy for the entire trip came out to 22.5 miles per gallon. The miles per dollar amount was just under seven miles per dollar.

We used roads in 29 different states. Additionally, I flew to Alaska.

We did not count how many state and national parks we visited. It was quite a few!

The trip, a huge learning experience for both of us, was an epic adventure from any standpoint! We hope to do more trips in the future, so stay tuned…

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Responses to the Rant

Last week’s post generated the biggest response of any post I’ve made over 11 years. Need I say, not all were positive? I had numerous unsubscribes. Seeee ya!

Positive responses, on the other hand, were more numerous than the negatives. I would like to thank first all of you who did not unsubscribe, and then especially those of you who wrote comments of encouragement. Thank you!

Some of those comments-

“Your rant is very much on target. Kudos to you for speaking up on your website. The selfishness and stupidity out there is incredible. And the fact that people in high political office are promoting this is unforgivable. I had to let you know you are not alone in your beliefs.”

“Amen, amen. Keep on ranting—sadly, though, it seems to change the minds of fewer than 5% of my Alaskan friends. Some of the worst are the ‘personal liberty’ proponents who don’t seem to realize that they give up personal liberty for the common good ten times a day when they stop at a traffic light.”

“I agree with all you said in your rant. Having troubles these days praising Florida as my home state.”

“Appreciate the rant. I’m pretty sure my politics are to the right of yours (I’m a hopeless conservative.) But I am stumped by the stubborn, callous leadership of a governor who is charged with helping the people of his state flourish and by the decisions (and information sources) of some of my friends for whom I have great respect. Vaccines and social mitigation techniques have proven effective. Full ICU capacity populated by unvaccinated patients should be enough motivation for all. We’ve lost our minds.”

“The ‘we’re free to do whatever the hell we want’ argument is also flawed. No one has the right to walk around with a gun pulling the trigger while they point it at people all around them, thinking it’s unloaded. Essentially that’s what they’re doing if they’re unvaccinated. COVID can be lethal and the unvaccinated are playing Russian roulette with other people’s lives.”

“that was one of the best stated cases for being vaccinated that I have seen, well done and I pray it hits home with some of your friends and followers.”

“I also enjoyed the rant. All I can say is ‘Amen’. I live in Lake County and I think we are regressing instead of progressing. I have two grandchildren in public school and a great granddaughter in preschool. I want them safe and a mask is such a simple thing to wear.”

I’ll let it go now. Hopefully all my readers and their loved ones will stay COVID-free.

FISHING-

Labor Day weekend- I never fish, or even venture outside much. I hibernate until the craziness is done, then cautiously venture back out again.

Dawn Patrol

Tuesday– Mike Conneen and I had a dawn patrol trip (it’s still summer in Florida) on the Banana River Lagoon. Mike did OK with the spin rod, tossing his favorite lure, the Vudu shrimp. Trout, snook, and a redfish fell to the bait. He mostly cast around schools of rain minnows.

I mostly watched him, catching only two small trout and one smaller ladyfish on a redfish worm fly until Divine Intervention happened in the form of a pair of tailing reds. The cast was true, the fish responded like one hopes, and a short time later I released a fish near the top of the slot. Made my day.

Mike and River the Wonder Dog

It still gets real hot here under that sun come midday.

Wednesday– went to the beach on a dawn patrol trip, hoping for some action. I got it too- in the form of big rollers. Apparently there was a hurricane off the coast. The surfers were having a field day. It’s a fantastic time of day to be on the beach!

I, however, only hooked and lost three small bluefish on a jig. After an hour and a half of fighting waves fruitlessly, I went to the Indian River Lagoon, where Divine Intervention happened again, in the form of a tailing redfish. Again the redfish worm did the job, and I got a photo of this one.

A colorful redfish on a drab black fly.

Thursday‘s weather forecast kept me home, and Friday was an errands and maintenance day. Hope to do more fishing next week!

That’s the report for this week. Thank you again for reading the post, Trying to Get Back to Normal. Life is great and I love all my readers!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go hiking! Take a walk! Do SOMETHING!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2021. All rights are reserved.