Fishing, Fireworks and Flats Boats

Yesterday, after a delicious meal with the Ormond Beach Lee family, the Kid and the jeep junkie were heading out to fish down under that big bridge.

Of course, when Cheryl saw this parking spot, she was not amused.

Got great shot of this pelican and 1/2 of the jeep junkie.

Mom watches the Kid baiting a hook.

All of the sudden, the jeep junkie jumps up on a bench and looks out over the water and we all see this.

Those are not people out wading around, that is a sunken boat.

Luckily, this area of the intercoastal is only about 3 feet deep so Dad sent the kids wading to shore, with life jackets, finally.

Then he and his buddy started bailing the water out of that boat and started heading for shore themselves. Fortunately, this happened in shallow water, close to shore. All arrived safely.


Now, of course, the jeep junkie had to go down to the launch ramp and get the full story. Apparently these dudes were from Georgia and down on vacation. That old flats boat had not been driven in at least 5 years and when they pulled that partially filled boat out of the water, the rusted trailer started cracking in half from the weight. the jeep junkie told them to stop and empty more water out of that boat before trying to pull it from the water.

the jeep junkie did comment they had a fishing story to tell the rest of their lives. We do too.

I only wish I had walked up there for more pics but I knew the jeep junkie would get the story, just not the pictures.

So anyway, by this time the girls had left and the jeep junkie was able to get a chance to talk to his Bud, as Cheryl frowns on consumption in a city park where there is signage prohibiting it. I did, however, notice nearly every fisherman and woman out there was doing the same thing.

As we were talking about these idiots from Georgia, the Kid came up with the following story line about Emma and Bubba.

Bubba asks, "Emma, did you get that thar $25 motel room down in Daytona Beach yet?"

"Naw, honey, they was all fulled up so I got us one over at that cool biker motel for $27 per nite."

"Dang it Emma, that is a six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer per nite more, you are just gonna half to give up one of them thar Big Mac's you eat every day."

"Bubba, you are so mean to me. That means I only get two Big Macs a day?"

"Yeah, girl, that's right."

"Can I at least get me a couple of those cold Pabsts from you then?"

Bubba responds, "I reckon that will be all right. Hey, do they have a place at that motel to park our boat, too?"

"Yeah, Bubba, the lady said it's all safe and evathin' since the Outlaw motorcycle gang will be in Charlotte for the big truck race. Plus, she said they got a lot of stuff going on now."

"Yahoo!", exclaims Bubba.

So Bubba heads out to the gerage and commences to mix that two cycle gas and oil combination up and fills up that machine, pulls on the starter rope and it, surprisingly, fires right up.

Bubba picks it up and heads out to weed eat all the weeds surrounding that old flats boat.

Once that was done, he grabs the tire pump and starts putting air in those old, flattened tires, readying it for the big trip to Daytona Beach this weekend.

He couldn't get them old tires filled with air so he climbed under that front porch he is so proud of and took a couple tires off his house so he could mount them to that old boat trailer.

They hook that trailer up to the old Dodge truck, throw the kids in back and head on down. Making it down in the late afternoon and Bubba decides he is gonna take the family out on the water in his flats boat.

They head on out, with no life jackets on, just before dusk. Bubba, being the fearless guy that he is, doesn't bother with putting suntan lotion on his neck, further worsening his problems. Nor does he make sure the plug is in the boat. About 100 yards offshore the boat sinks and the family has to wade back to shore, and Bubba, he is still looking for his dignity.

And that is the saga of Emma and Bubba and the flatsboat, as inspired by the Kid and embellished by me.

We had a good time working up the story line for that episode in the life of Emma and Bubba and hope you enjoyed it.

Later on, we got to see some fireworks shot off on the Beach in front of one of those hotels near the Taj Mahal. It was pretty cool. Earlier we had seen them shoot off down at the stadium where the Daytona Cubs were playing. No, bus, you are not the only one with that situation.



The following is not fireworks, it is the Moon and looked real cool, almost orange, and better than the fireworks.

Got this final shot of the CJ as I was heading back to the Beach.

Another good time with the Ormond Lees. Thanks for having me a part of it.