my spring break

Has arrived. I leave tomorrow at 9am. I have to stop at Rich O's and pick up my sunglasses...but such is life. I'm not sure where I'll camp tomorrow night. I'm thinking Smokemont campground which is just inside the Park boundary. It costs like $20, but I think if I get in after dark and leave at like 6am, they won't never see me.

I'm super excited for break. I really need to get out of Bloomington and go flyfishing. Tonight I finally changed the line on my reel. It had been a six-weight for my grandfathers old fiberglass Ulgy Stick that I had been using for a long time now. This Christmas my parents got me a graphite Orvis Clearwater five-weight (a much more appropriate rod for typical trout fishing). So I decided to string it up and go outside to see how my arm held up to some "with line" casting (as opposed to me just waving the rod around).

It has been raining hard for at least two days now. There are flood watches for several counties in my immediate vicinity. When it rains a lot, the drain under our driveway fails and a fairly large pool of water accumulates in our neighbor's yard. Perhaps three feet wide and eight or nine feet long.

I made a couple casts in the yard and figured I might as well cast into the pool.

I did and it felt really good.

The new rod is amazing. The five-weight line is noticeably lighter and the rod is noticeably more responsive and delicate. I made about twenty casts into the pond.

In the dark.

With my similarly-new chest pack on.

In the pouring rain.

The traffic motoring by.

Anyway, this is the equation for my spring break:

Raven's Fork Brook trout:


Plus Dr. Seán O'Connell:


Plus my new tent:


Equals spring break.

Here is my old tent (the blue one) with Mr. Daniel Hanks (whom may also join us). May very small North Face Vapor RIP.