TR: Opie, Wally, and Trent--not really so long, JUST TEDIOUS!

I was up in Boone yesterday for S.O. training in Bocce Ball, and Walt
invited me to stay at his place in Foscoe overnight, so that we could meet
up with Drew and Danny to fish Andrew_s C_eek Sunday mornin'. Now, while I
have played Bocce Ball in the past, I hadn't played regulation style, so
yesterday's trainin' was essential. Unfortunately, the training coordinator
was this old woman who had never played the game herself, much less knew the
rules and regs. I was the only male in attendance, save a male S.O.
athlete, who should have been the trainin' coordinator, as he knew the game
first hand and could have saved us all a great deal of time and sweat!
Apparently, the game is played without the aid of alcoholic beverages? This
was news to me. So was the part about the 60' x 12' court, and the little
bitty yellow ball? We always played utilizing the entire front and back
yards of every adjacent house in the neighborhood, drank large quantities of
beer and had no idea what a Pallina might be.

Trainin' was suppose to have ended by 1:00PM, but we were only up to a grand
total of 3 point, between the two teams of a 12 point game, when the big
hand was on 12 and the little hand was on 2. I stated that I was going to
have to leave shortly and 6 of the women said, in unison, "what could be
more important than what we are doing?" I very firmly said, "I gotta meet
up with some buddies to fly fish!" For some reason it was decided that we
had played Bocce long enough, and we parted ways.

I arrived at Uncle Wally's Summer home--which is 30 mile up the mountain in
Foscoe, NC from his Winter home in Morganton, NC--around 2:20PM. About the
time I was exiting my car, an old pick-up truck pulls in behind me. It was
Wally's yardman, flyshop customer and NOVICE fly fisher, Trent. I proceed
up the stairs to the front porch to join Wally in a few Mimosas and Mint
Juleps, and Wally instructs Trent to get on with the weed eatin', as "time's
a wastin' and we gotta go fishin' soon," or so Wally says to poor young
Trent.

Trent, havin' finished his yard chores, joins Wally and I on the porch. I
hadn't noticed just how big Trent was, from my vantage point on the porch,
but it became readily apparent that I shouldn't have mentioned to him that
he had neglected the over grown Rhodo trees on the side hill. Not to worry
though, as it turns out, Trent's one hell of a fine former PRISON GUARD, who
could have pinched my pointy little head between his thumb and forefinger!
The three of us sat around for an hour or so, reminiscing the good old days
and the time that we had spent in jail. Okay, Wally and I reminisced about
the time that we had spent in jail and Trent told us about life in a maximum
security prison. I, and I believe that I am unanimous in this decision, am
thankful that I never had to spend more than 6 or so hours in Raleigh's
Central Prison.

War stories told, we headed to Crockett's Spoon Creek, one of Wally's secret
spots. A stream that is know to but a few people on the planet. Those with
knowledge of this beautiful stream can be counted on one hand: Wally,
Trent, me and the couple that had hiked down the entire length of the middle
of the stream, as we were fishing up the stream. Thankfully, for that
couple, Trent jumped between them and Wally, before Wally could get his
hands on them. I refereed the discussion, and decided that their punishment
would be Time Out and as they said that they were lost, I sent them off in a
direction that would take them a week to find their car. We continued
upstream, although Wally did toss a few large rocks at the couple as they
scurried off. We had had a few strike, up to the point that we had met the
couple from hell, but no fish to hand. Things changed, dramatically, after
our encounter! Trent caught two nice fish, after I convinced him to remove
the 4 aught Stimulator that Wally had insisted he tie on. I, generously,
recommended that Trent tie on a traditional Adams and even provided him with
the fly, and then pointed him to a very fishy looking hole.

Trent 2, Op and Wally 0!

Op --Sunday's fishin' trip with Wally, Drew Patterson and Danny Goodwin to
come at a later date. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not, I'm still distraught over
losin' my cell phone on the stream today--