Tradgang Generosity = Trip of a Lifetime (with pics!)

[Fattony77]

Let me start by saying that this post is not intended to be a "look what I did" post. Rather, it's a post to remind us all that a moment of generosity on our part, could affect someone else's life in a way that could impact their life (and the people in their lives) in ways that we never would've imagined it would. Let me explain how that happened to me...

Several months ago, I saw a post here in the PowWow, that was made by Mr. Jerry Russell, with a give-away. I thought, "Why not?" I put my name in the hat and shortly thereafter, forgot about it.

Fast forward awhile to Christmas Eve, and I receive a PM from Bisch. Now, I had not previously had any occasion to communicate with him, though I knew who he was through his friendly posts and numerous "hero pics" here on the 'Gang. The title of the PM was "Bowfishing in GA!". I honestly thought that he had sent me the message by mistake. Well, he hadn't. He explained that he, RC and I had been drawn for this trip. I was astounded! I looked back at the post, and sure enough, I had won something awesome!! Merry Christmas to me!

As the time for making this journey approached, I began to find more and more things that I could do on this trip, that would otherwise not have been realistic opportunities. I'll tell you about them as chronologically correct as possible, and insert photos where applicable.

Here we go!

I left later than I had planned, on Thursday April 28. It was around 8pm when I drove away, putting Muskogee, OK in my rearview mirror. The sun was setting behind me, and the darkness ahead of me represented adventure.

I drove nearly 12 hours, before the rising sun started shining into my eyes causing them to squint, and then to feel heavy.

I'm on a budget that didn't allow for any motels, so I began searching for a truck stop or a campground as I passed through Birmingham, AL. I didn't find anything suitable near there, so I continued down the Interstate until I got to Talledega. Surely, there are camping areas near there...Yes, but unbeknownst to me at the time, this was the Friday morning before the big NASCAR race, and most of the camping areas were full. But, while I'm in the neighborhood, a couple pics for my racing-fan family members.
     
It was near here, however, that I found a truck stop that would do for a napping area, and proceeded to attempt to catch a few "z"s.

[Fattony77]

After about an hour and a half of turbulent and uncomfortable sleep, I gave up trying catch any more of those elusive "z"s, and hit the road again.

I happened upon this street sign in rural GA, and it struck me as funny...

Later, I arrived in beautiful Forsyth, GA and met my new friends Bisch and Jerry Russell. Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances kept RC from being able to join us. I truly hope that whatever those circumstances were, I hope that they were resolved in the best way possible, and that our paths might cross at some other time in the future, RC.

My first evening was to be spent in a blind, hoping for my first trad kill on a big Georgia hog.
The pigs had other plans, it seems, and I would not get a chance to try out my string tracker from Chad Orde.

After almost getting lost on my way back to my Jeep (things SURE look different in the dark, lol), I made my way back to camp and was finally able to get caught up on some much-needed sleep.

The next day, we went fishing! I have to take this time to remark about how beautiful Alabama and Georgia really are. I was honestly impressed with all of the awe-inspiring scenery. Case in-point: Sunrise on Lake Juliette
 
And more of the lovely lake...
 
Though they aren't near as pretty, here's a couple of shots of my new friends Bisch:
 
And Jerry (hard at work trying to find us the next fish)

[4dogs]

[Fattony77]

After our day-trip of striper fishing, Jerry informed me that the small town of Juliette, GA was where the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" was filmed. So, in our down-time before bowfishing, I went over there to get some pics for my mom, who is a big fan of the movie.
 
 
 
 

Our night of bowfishing didn't yeild any pictures, because we put our phones into the dry-box to avoid water damage from the thunderstorm that set upon us at the outset of our venture. Jerry steered us expertly around the lake, so that we were rained on as little as possible, and we were able to get a few shots on some nice fish before the water temperature made a drastic drop, and the fish went deep. When we called it a night, we were all ready for our bunks, having had a full and extremely fun day.

[Fattony77]

The morning of Sunday May 1st, Jerry, Bisch and I said our goodbyes. But my adventure was far from over. During the planning stage of this trek, I realized that the Atlantic Ocean was only about 200 miles away from Forsyth, GA. I have been to the Pacific several times before in my life, but had previously never been further east than Chicago. So I set off to see "the other Shining Sea," by way of Savannah and Tybee Island.

This was in downtown Savannah, and I thought it was cool.
 

The beach/ocean:

 

 

Ooops! How'd that get there?!?!?

I hate taking "selfies" but I kinda had to...
 

[elkhunter-27]

Congratulations on a great adventure and thanks for sharing!  

[Fattony77]

So as I traveled the hi-ways of GA, I talked on the phone with a friend from high school. My friend and I went to high school in Phoenix, AZ, but he had moved to Alexander City, AL in the 22 years since we had last seen (or spoken to) each other. While on this trip, I was scheduled to stop by and see him on my way home. But, during our phone conversation, he mentioned that Paula Deen's restaurant was in Savannah. Seeing as my mom is such a huge fan of her's, I had to find out where it was. To my surprise, it was only a few blocks away from where I would be driving through, so I went to get some more pix for my Mom.

The restaurant front.
 

My view from the table.  

The vittles (minus the mac & cheese).
 

As I said, my Mom is a big fan of Ms. Deen's, so I asked some of the servers if they would mind me taking a special picture for her. They were extremely gracious and pleasant and made this little sign for her, to just say "Hey."
 

Then I went across the street and got something special for my girlfriend.
 

Then it was on to my friend's and a reunion 22 years in the making.
 

[SKITCH]

Wow. Great trip Tony!   Looks like you made the most of every minute!!  Who needs sleep!   Glad you got a chance to see so much.

[Fattony77]

I stayed the night at my friend's and thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing into the late night hours. Before 7am, I was on the road to the last part of my trip.

Again, during the planning stage of the trip, I was watching some videos of Byron Ferguson on YouTube, and the host of the video mentioned that Mr. Ferguson lived in Hartselle, AL. I looked on a map, and discovered that it was not far from my friend's town. Again, I thought, "Why not?", and sent Mr. Ferguson an e-mail. I explained that I was going to be in the area, and wondered if I might be able to meet with him, and get him to sign my copy of his book, and I would buy a couple of his DVD's as well.

Much to my surprise, he said that he would be around, and to give him a call when I got close! Needless to say, I was ecstatic!

I called him when I was about 30 minutes away, and he gave me his address. As I arrived at his home, I was inexplicably nervous. I rang the doorbell. He answered the door, and I have to admit, I was (more than) a little star-struck. He eased my nerves quickly, as he invited me into his home, and asked me to sit down. He is a very down-to-earth guy, and we proceeded to talk about many things. Everything from hunting, to my line of work, to personal experiences with tragedy, and of course, archery.

We talked for around an hour, before he said, "I have something you might be interested to see." He took me to his shop, where he produced a broken wooden disc signed by none other than Mr. Howard Hill! We talked of Mr. Hill for a while, and then went back into his house and took care of "business," where his sweet, lovely wife, Wanda gathered the items I requested and made sure that he signed them all.

I said my "Thank you"s and got in my Jeep and left. As I neared the end of his street, I was horrified as I realized: I DIDN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES!!!!!!        I tried frantically to call him again, as I turned around, but my phone wouldn't call out!

I pulled back into his driveway, and he came out of his truck (probably wondering what this nut-job wanted now). I explained my mistake, and he graciously allowed me to take another dreaded "selfie".
     

As we took this pic, Wanda came out and said, "I would've done that for you." So I got my regular camera so that she could.
 

 

Miss Wanda then explained that if I printed these, I could send them to Mr. Ferguson and he would sign them and return them! I thanked them profusely, again and left. On my trip back home, I saw more of Tennessee, and then put the hammer down and made it home early the next morning, after a quick nap in Little Rock, AR.


So that is my story. I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did telling it. And I hope that it inspires you to be giving and generous to your fellow man. You never know just how much it might bless them and the ones closest to them.

Thanks for reading.
-Tony

[Leland]

Great story ,thanks for sharing.
Leland

[rraming]

Awesome!

[Gil]

Nice

[shedhunta]

Wow.  That is really cool.

[DHOWARD]

Great story.  I'm glad you got to see Alabama my home state.

[awry]

Wow .. echoing Skitch, sounds like you made the most it. Great write up and pics!!

[WESTBROOK]

Congrats on a fun trip, looks like you maximized your travel time.    

[1kwikstik]

Sounds like a fun time!

That was an awesome write up, Tony! I too am glad I was selected and able to be a part of this trip! I had to do a "short and sweet" version. But I made it back safely after meeting a couple of great Trad Gangers, and my son and daughter in law  had a wonderful wedding yesterday!

Bisch

[Fattony77]

Glad to hear it, Bisch! We should definitely get together again and do some more hunting.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I wanted to make it a worthwhile read. And this kind of vacation is exactly what I needed to restore my faith in humanity. In my line of work I mostly just see the bad side of people. So it's great to see that there are still so many good people left in the world.

[jt85]

Glad to hear you guys had a good time