Fly Fishing Extraveganza

---

My father was waiting for me to get home on Thursday afternoon after another wild day as Mr. Steer the Substitute. He claimed he had a surprise for me over the weekend, and what do you know, he did not disappoint.

We got in the car Friday morning at around 6AM and drove. I mean DROVE! For 16 straight hours; 2 movies, 3 hours of Rush Limbaugh, the Dan Patrick show on ESPN Radio, and about 75 old school rocks songs...11PM that night, we pulled into the middle of nowhere in New Mexico and called it a night.

The next morning was amazing. We got up at 7AM and drove straight to the fly fishing hotel where our guide Mark was waiting for us. We sped over to the put in of the San Juan River, supposedly one of the top 3 fishing rivers in our great country. My dad used to fish this same river 20 years ago when he was doing rock/oil research...

As those next 6 hours unfolded before us, I was truely in a state of awe. Words simply cannot describe the prestine beauty of where we were. I was in a small state of shock for the first couple hours, but luckily it didn't effect my fishing ability. I won't tell you how many fish we caught because, frankly, I lost count after about 50. I still think I beat my dad by one though!! Blue sky the entire time...leaves changing to bright yellow the entire time...Rainbow Trout as big as a small child...brown trout that worthy of mounting everytime you pulled one out of the water...it was an experience to remember for the rest of my life. To make matters BETTER, we were the only ones at the fishing lodge we stayed in so the cook was making us private dinners and he served us in front of the television where our Astros were losing the World Series. It was truely remarkable. These pictures just don't do any justice whatsoever.

---