Long Drives, Uplands, and Duckboats

I had a boat of mine up for sale for about a year. When I finally found a buyer, he was in New York. Seeing as I had bought the boat from a guy from Jersey, I agreed to meet him part way as long as we could combine it with a weekend that I could run some uplands. We ended up picking this past weekend - Horicon Marsh had their upland tests and that was pretty much on the way. I had gotten the boat out of storage 2 weeks before and had slowly been getting it ready to go, so no problems there, except I couldn't find the title. So I had to go to the DMV and get a duplicate (which didn't arrive in time of course). The 4WD was out in my truck as well, and I'd been too busy to look at it myself so I ended up bringing it in. They found the problem and had a decent price on getting it fixed, but also found that the rear U-joints were shot. So I had them fix the 4WD and then spent most of the day Friday replacing U-joints before I headed out. By the time I left it was 7pm and I knew it was going to be a long weekend.

After a few hours sleep, we showed up at the test. Elsi's normally very reliable so I wasn't too worried, but the lack of training since the last test which was 4 weeks was still a bit of a concern. The tests Saturday went alright. She had a low flush on each of the tests, getting feathers on both of them. So those were tough but she did stop after chasing each bird for about 15 yards. All in all though she did well, her line manners were not up to par, but certainly good enough and we earned a pass both days.

I didn't get to run as early as I had hoped, but I still got out of there before noon. So then it was off to drop the boat off. After a quick raid of the lunch buffet - a delicious spread of homemade dishes by members of the club - I headed out. But seriously, this test is worth going to just for the lunch - and the blueberry pie was incredible! Anyway, we were off. Through Milwaukee, Chicago, and across Indiana. I met the guy about 6 and the sale went off without a hitch. I was glad to make the sale, but certainly sad to see it go as well. The black brant is a great boat. Someday if I have room for 3 duckboats I'd like to have one around. Meeting someone for the first time after you have both driven cross country just for a boat is certainly unique. But duck hunters are a different breed. And generally, they're good folks. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and a cup of coffee before parting ways. So it was back on the road. I got back to WI late of course, but still managed about 7 hours of sleep.

So came Sunday. Usually, I can relax a bit more on Sunday. The few tests Elsi has failed have all been on Saturday, and for whatever reason she's usually a bit more relaxed on Sunday. Odd, but it seems to be that way. Well, not this day. She was pretty amped up for some reason. And her line manners were, well pretty bad by my standards anyway. I got on the list to run early, 2nd in one test and 6th in the other. So the first test she gets a low flyer for the first bird again, traps the second one and then another low flyer for the replanted one. The gunners didn't have great shots at either, so she ended up with two flyaways, getting some feathers on both and the typical chase before stopping. I'm getting frustrated with this now and seeing what we need to work on. The honor was ok, although I did have to reheel her, she was only a couple feet out. On the bubble for sure. The second test, by contrast went very well. 2 more flyaways, but they flushed nice and high and she sat promptly. She wouldn't however sit at heel for the honor, but she stood nicely and barely moved an inch. I didn't stick around to find out how it ended as I knew I was heading to Montana as soon as I got home. So it was a long weekend, I think I ended with about 1300 miles when I rolled in. Just in time to unpack, do some laundry, repack, and hit the road. But at least it should be a nice relaxing week.