Dang, What on earth did I do without ya??

Every single one of us has had in our possession, something that has been really important to us, and for one reason or another it has slipped out of our fingers. Maybe it was a photograph of a lost love or a coin with a certain important date on it, or an article the we read and cut out cause we wanted to save it. That one thing we lost might be something very small, like a special Elk ivory that had been saved and handed down. It might also be something large, like a piece of land that you've left your imprint on for years only to see it sold to the highest bidder.

I can think of some things that I've lost in one way or another that I've thought about many times over the years. Things that were passed down to me and then through my negligence, are no longer with me. It really, honestly pains me to think of a couple of things, and I think of them often. Not because of their great monetary value, but simply because they were important to someone else before they were entrusted to me. I'll write more about these things another time. Right now I wanna concentrate on something different, something that is more of a feel good thing, and I wanna feel good.

Do you know what it is like for an Elk Hunter to be without his pickup truck? It's really weird I tell ya! I've been the owner of many a pickup truck. Yep I've had big ones, little ones, medium sized ones, foreign ones, domestic ones, good lookin' ones and not so good lookin' ones. The thing is, I've had me some pickup trucks, and I've enjoyed em', yup I have.

Truck #1 was a 1960 Ford 1/2 ton short box. This was a boxy little number that wasn't big on looks, but it had all the potential in the world to be a 16 year old's dream rig. Problem was it drank almost as much oil as it did gas and therefore it was not in my possession for long enough for me to get attached. Yeah, my Dad took it back down to the dealer that I bought it from and got me my money back. There was a reason I got her cheap, but keepin' her would have gotten pretty expensive.

Truck #2 came to me as a 1972 Ford 1/2 Ton 4X4. This truck was a looker. It had big tires and wheels and shined like a new penny. I'd been drivin' an Econoline SuperVan that I really did like, but when I drove by the Ford garage and saw this 72 4X4, I was hooked. So I said goodbye to my Van (by the way, this was a window van and I had installed a window mural of Elk that went all around the van. I was cool lookin', really.......) and drove away in my first 4X4.

Truck #3 was the result of me being too cheap to keep runnin' gas through the really thirsty 4X4 and wanting to find a rig with a bit less of a thirst for fossil fuels and my hard earned cash. That's how I got myself a Chevy Luv. She was a 1977 mini truck, and I'm a 1959 XXL. I was young though, so foldin' myself up and getting myself pried out of the cab was still a doable thing at that point. She got great mileage and got me out in the hills, up in the mountains and back and forth to work. What more could I ask for?

Truck #4 was what I asked for. See the 77 Luv got to overheating and I wound up sellin' her to a local mechanic before I had to foot the bill for all the repairs that were coming soon. Anyhow, my Dad had a neighbor down the road a bit who had an old 70 Ford 1/2 ton, and he was lookin' to peddle it. It was pretty dull lookin' and all, but she ran out alright and I picked her up for a little bit of nothin', so I was pretty pleased. I kept her until I fell in love with the only rig I'd really like to have if I didn't have a pickup truck, a FJ40 Landcruiser!! I still miss that rig and would buy it back from the folks who I sold it to if they'd ever decide to sell it. Yeah, I was hard up and needed the cash, so I sold my FJ40 to a couple in North Powder about 25 years ago. They said that if they ever decided to sell her, that they would let me know. Would you believe it?, they still have her. I check in every now and then, and they aren't ready to sell. Arrggghh.

Truck #5 was another 77 Chevy, only this one was a Full Size 4X4. I bought it off a friend of mine who had fixed her up and was selling it. It was good ole pickup and I had an canopy on it with a bed in it. It went camping and hunting a bunch but again it fell to me once again deciding that I wanted to get something that saved me some change at the pump.

Truck #6 was my gas saver. She was a 1987 Mazda B2000. She was a pretty thing too, black and chrome with white pin striping. The only new vehicle I've ever bought and I really enjoyed her. My oldest son named her BlackJack. She was the CabPlus version of the B2000 and had jump seats in the back. I spent a lot of time on the back roads of Eastern Oregon in this little rig and I believe I even shed a tear when I sold her, sniff..........

Truck #7 was the anti-gas saver. A 1982 Ford F250 4X4 SuperCab. This thing was a mile long and built like a tank, just ask the new Ford pick up I ran into. Five MPH crash and that new rig looked like it had been in a roll over. My truck, hardly a scratch........ The problem with this rig was that, as in my first Truck, it was, shall we say, NOT mechanically sound. I poured more money into it than what I paid for it and it still never got more than 10 mpg. Oh well, I enjoyed my big pick-em-up truck.

Truck #8 was the pickup truck that wasn't supposed to be. I had been lookin' to get me a new rig and had checked out a couple of em and was headed out with my two boys to test drive what I thought would be my new wheels. Neither of the pickups I'd gone to look at were what I had hoped they'd really be, so we were headed home when we came across this 1999 Dodge QuadCab 4X4 that caught my eye and made me do a double take. We went back and checked it out and ended up drivin' it home. I had that truck until I just needed more seats for my kids that had grown in size and number. That's when I traded her in on a Durango. Not a bad rig mind you, except that my buddy kept sayin', "Why on earth are you driving a daggone hearse". I drove the 2004 Durango for 5 years, I did, yep, me and my hearse. Then I got back in the Pickup Truck way of livin'.

Truck #9, and my current mode of transportation, at least when I'm not on my Kawasaki Vulcan 1500, is a 2008 Dodge QuadCab Hemi. I do love driving this rig. Comfy and tough all at the same time. Gas mileage isn't great, but hey, it's got a Hemi afterall. I can't believe I went all those years without a pickup truck. I can haul stuff again, no really, I can!! And there's so many things a person can haul. Well, I hauled stuff over the years in a few rigs that weren't designed particularly well for hauling, but hey, you gotta get the gear into the hills and back out, right? I think I'll stay in the pickup truck way of doin' things. You see, I'm a pickup man, That's what I am!

You take care Elk Camp alums. Until next year this is the elkaholic sayin', "Drive a Truck kids".

New Years Resolutions

Hello my friends and fellow Elk Camp lovers and Elk Camp wannabes. It's been a long time since we last got together and I think it's high time we had a little chat. Heck, its been so long I can't seem to figure out just how I want to approach this here letter. I'm not sure if I need to apologize fer not gettin' on here more often and sharin' whats on my mind, or if I should just come right out and start emptyin' my brain of all the stuff I've stored up since we last chatted. I do have a lot to say, really, I've just kinda been storing it up for a while.

So, what about these resolutions, anyway? I know for certain that I've had many resolutions in the past that I simply could not or would not keep or live up to. You know the ones I'm talkin' about, don't you? Things like; I'm going to lose weight this year, and I'm going exercise every day this year. The list really goes on and on, and I'm gonna spare you the pain of reading through the list of stuff that you and I have simply failed to do.

Yep, this year I'm gonna write down some resolutions that I'm pretty darn sure I can handle. That way I won't have to be feelin' bad when my expectations are bigger than my executions. So here's my list, and in no particular order of importance either, cause I'm bound to forget somethin' important to begin with and then I'd have to start all over you know. So, again, in no particular order of importance, my list of doable resolutions.

1) I resolve to put more miles in on unpaved surfaces than I did in the past year. This ought to be easy, cause I didn't spend near enough time huntin' last year.

2) I resolve to wear more camo, denim and flannel. Thank you Santa for providing me with more camo, denim and flannel to wear.

3) I resolve to attend at least one Sportsmen's Show this year. I always do this, so this should be a piece of cake.

4) I resolve to watch more huntin' shows on my HD 1080P 57" rear projection behemoth of a television set. See I finally figured out this DVR thing, and I can record this stuff to my heart's content. See I live in this here rainy, wet Willamette Valley, and I gotta have somethin' to do when I can't get out in the woods.

5) I resolve to drool over pictures of humongous Bull Elk in my Bugle magazines. Excuse me while I get a handkerchief.

6) I resolve to take my Motorcycle fishing. She has a little trouble casting, but she's got plenty of power to pull in a biggun'. Really, doesn't this sound fun? Pack up the Travel Bags and a tent and fishin' gear and hit the highway in search of a place to drown a worm or two? Yeah, I'm gonna do this!!

7) I resolve to daydream about Elk Camp. This I can do, over and over and over and over, well you get the picture. Man I sure do, I can picture this stand of tamarack and there's this...........

8) I resolve to write at least one blog entry each and every month of 2012. Now this one may be a bit of a chunk to bite off, but it simply needs to be done. There are people out there that are waiting, eagerly I tell ya, to read this stuff, honest!

Now for some stuff a little more on the serious side, not that I'm not serious about the first eight entries, but this other stuff is bigger.

9) I resolve to wake up each day and be thankful for what God has provided me with in terms of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors.

10) I resolve to strive to be a better husband, father, friend, and professional. Every year should be an opportunity to grow in every aspect of my life.

11) I resolve to get myself in better shape. I know, this is the one resolution that so many many of us tend to falter under, but I need to do this. I'm not gettin' any younger, and i want to be able to enjoy getting out and about, so there you have it, in better shape I will get!!

And finally, here's the biggie, at least if you are an Elk Hunter.

12) I resolve to be in Elk Camp. Now normally, this would seem to be a pretty easy one, but it has now been two years since I've been in Elk Camp. Two years in which I've questioned my decision to not be there. Two years in which I've spent a lot of time wishing I'd seen Brad and Deb get their Elk. Two years that have seemed like Ten. Two years of knowing that those two Elk seasons can't be brought back. Two years of missing seeing my best friends being in their happy place. I know that I had good reasons both years, and that the things I was doing were important, but there's just too much to be missed this coming Fall, I just know it, and that's why I resolve to be in Elk Camp.