Catching up

We went to the FLW Tour weigh-in & saw a ton of friends we had not
seen in a while. Here SK with guys from Spain. Saw buddy from Italy,
Japan. :) east TN...

Dock at our camp

Yo Ish!

Had a good time, got to catch fish on swimbaits! Not sure when airs...

Filming segment

We are at a private Disney lake to film a spot about swimbaits for "Yo
Ish". Sunny day, but cool temps.

Frost...in Florida!!?!!

Spent night at rest area near Gainesville. I blame FLW at Toho! (we
aren't fishing due to off limit conflicts) see temp guage? Yep, 28!

Drive through Eufaula

Heading south. Sneak through Eufaula, one of the prettiest stretches
of southern roads.

Bikes on!

We are planning on riding around the campgrounds in Florida! Notice
the basket for Mr. Louie...

Five Minute Power Nap

Good to be home. Louie is NOT letting us leave without him this
time. :) Packing up to leave for Florida again for two weeks...hope
warm!!!

Back to Base

Just about getting to house...

Weigh-in Day 1, Classic baby, classic

On the stage!

FINALLY SK weighed in...told you last boat.

He had 12-13 which was MORE than expected,

so very excited for Team K!

Goes out boat numero UNO in the AM.

We have ordered pizza & calling it a night!

He's in 25th place, cut to fish Sunday top 25...

Gotta hold that spot!

Cooking Breakfast

Yep...bacon, egg, & cheese biscuit...TO GO! Rain, cold, perfect.

Take off Day 1, Classic

Steve and his cameraman going through the line to take-off!

It was a C-O-L-D 37 degrees this morning...with rain, BONUS.

Nothing to it, just another day at the office. :)

Steve boat number fifty.

New Shirts for 2008

Here is a preview of SK's new tournament shirt(old on bottom half). The new
color is WOW, slap ya & get your attention. The Yellow is so bright it throws off the camera even! Definitely find him in a crowd now. I'm liking it lots.

Woohoo Derek!

Be sure to log in to watch weigh-in live on bassmaster.com. SK is boat
#50, so later in day. They also have live launch coverage...

(hmmm nice warm hotel room, stand in rain cold nasty weather....)

Another cool deal to check is leader board during day on basszone.com Mark J
updates when he sees the anglers on the water!

Gulp

9 hrs 50 mins to launch!

(bassmaster.com has a countdown clock too)

Think Fish people!!

Bass Fishing Hall of Fame

Listening to Dirk Kempthorne, US Secretary of the Interior, speak.

Inductees tonight:
Charlie Campbell, Nick Creme, Elwood "buck" Perry, Virgil Ward

Views from High Cotton

Right in front of the restaurant

We had a great view of the moon

for the show last night

River

Staircase in front of High Cotton

JB did a fab job here
All the Elite fishermen had their cards

for the 2008 season inset in the stars!

Looked just like in Hollywood!

Notice the one on the left...

I was driving to get oil...these signs on way to Clemson. That's all I
am going to say...

More Official Practice Launch

SK going through the gate to the boat ramp

doing last minute prep work

Sunrise over Lake HartwellThe last boat out...no really...the LAST boat
Here's me last night, on our walk

to dinner down Main Street

Official Practice

Watching from Jeep...it's 36 this morning. Light wind that is suppose
to be brutal later. Waiting to see SK launch...men drivers. :)

More photos to share

SK at the "Boat Service Yard"...where all the boats for the mens & womens event sleep & recharge during the tournament. All the boats are hooked up to these VERY new trucks to be pulled to the ramp. Notice how tight the parking job on these suckers.

(Yes ladies & gentlemen, I have the week off from boat launching!! The actual launching...not getting up at the crack of dawn to see it all go down. I'll take what I can get!)

Very cool billboard around town, there is one in Anderson, SC too.

Photo is of current Classic Champion B Duckett winning last year.

The text: "Be a part of bass fishing history February 22-24"

It's here! Official practice starts this morning...and I mean MORNING!

Wednesday February 20, 2008

The bus that takes the ladies & men to the boat yard in the morning.

They had to be on the bus by 4:25...in the AM.

Official take off is 7:15.

That's a long morning even before the fishing begins!

It's a good drive down to the ramp in Anderson, SC from downtown Greenville.

Signs

This is from yesterday...
SK had a meeting in the morning. We headed out to the bus, then to the service yard to check on the boat. As we get closer, there are cars making illegal u-turns in front of us like crazy. The wreck is where we make a right to go to the service yard...so close. Thankfully, we came upon it when the action had passed, and they were just cleaning up!

Ok, so here is where the turn to go to the boat...anyone see the irony here.

"Hot-Fresh-Now"...some of SK's favorite words.

Dinner at Trio

We can walk down Main Street from our hotel to eat. Beautiful area.
Tonight was Italian. Cute restaurant, sat in the window table view of
Main Street. Food & service-excellent.
We are going to bed with full bellies, 3:45 AM wake up tomorrow!

Registration

This is one of the fun parts. Meet & greet with all the sponsors! The
trophy is the first thing that you see when walk into the room!

Boat Prep

SK getting boat ready for Classic.
If you run a vacuum without Louie here you can still hear him bark!!

Good Morning

Looks like today is going to be a better weather day!

We check into the hotel, & take the boat to the service yard this
afternoon.

It's Classic Week everybody!!!

First view from bed this morning through skylight.

Jeepin'

My brother's Jeep, parked infront of mine.

Operation Louie Drop

Made it to house. Louie will be in good hands for Classic week. Hyatt
is NOT pet friendly.

Start of Day

:) Made breakfast for Steve!

We are spending the morning tackle
shopping.

Catch of Day

The bass aren't biting that well...but unfortunately for the crappie,
crappie bit. Chef Steve prepares catch of the day!

Louie

Just testing to see if I can post from my phone...I know wild & crazy.

Practice Day Two-Classic

Boat Ramp at Tugaloo State Park, GA side
Deer tracks
Louie & I walked around lake,

while waiting to take Steve out

Louie standing on bench

Tugaloo State Park

Deer ran away when SK pulled up

The road east...then north-ish

Ok, so we left Amistad, Sunday at noon-thirty.

(Steve had to get one last cast on Amistad with Derek...

why not, I was doing clean up. Helped to get them out!)

Get home 5:30 in the AM on Monday.

Power nap until 8AM with the intention of leaving noon.

After a rules review, saw we had to have wrapped boat for practice.

Had to unpack unwrapped, throw all stuff into wrapped...

put on trolling motor, hardware, & electronics.

We went to bed at 8pm Monday night.

Got up at 2AM Tueday, drove to Hartwell.

Here was my view from the Jeep of the bus pulling the boat for the trip.

Tired, but we have three days of pre-practice to get through!

Nap scheduled for Friday. :)

___________________________________________________

My Valentines gift for Steve...nothing says romance like a RED space heater!!

Low tonight is 27 degrees...happy yet Kate?

(I know...that's not even cold)

Amistad Final Day Weigh-in

7 pound bookends out of Lake Amistad, Del Rio, TX

Edging out Joe Uribe. SK had 47-7, Uribe 39-6

Steve will be fishing in the FLW Championship,

The Forrest Wood Cup, Columbia, SC August 14-17

WooHoo!

Did I mention that the top prize there is $1,000,000?!

On stage interview with Chris Jones

Two flashback sunsets from previous days that I wanted to throw out there!