The last weekend of September was a unique experience. Unique in that 4 of the 5 Laleman brothers were in the same location at the same time. This is a rare occurrence because we don't live in the same towns and we don't travel together. What is even rarer is that most of us were fishing. The last time 4 of us did that was the ill fated fishing trip that put us in the Shangri-la Hotel is eastern Kentucky (see Shangri-la January 2016).
Brother Jeff was able to join us for this adventure, but he doesn't fish, so Jeff drove the boat. Brother Steve, wasn't able to join us as he was with his family visiting from North Carolina and actually catching fish at his nicely stocked farm ponds.
This adventure was planned by my brother, Tim. He wanted to rent a pontoon boat so my older brother, Ron, would be able to join in. Ron isn't as mobile as he was when our cousins nick named him "Two Shoe". Getting in and out of fishing boat takes some maneuverability and flexibility that is becoming becoming more difficult as we age.
We originally planned this trip in June when all 5 of us could attend. You remember this past June, when the heat index regularly reached over 100 degrees? We (that is Ron) said it wasn't going to happen in that heat, so I rescheduled for September when the weather would be better. Better weather includes cold and rain, but who's complaining. The pontoon boat had a canopy that two of us could fit under. One was the driver, Jeff, and the other was not Tim or me. So Tim and I got wet.
This adventure took place at Evergreen Lake, my favorite place to not catch fish. I don't catch fish there multiple times each summer, usually with my principal buddies Don and Paul.
We fished the area near where the pontoon was docked. This wasn't my favorite area to fish, but it was raining so we wanted to stay close. Tim is the "almost professional" in my family. I call him that because he fishes tournaments and even wins sometimes.
Of course Tim caught the first fish.
I told him to hold it closer to the camera, but he didn't want to get too far from his beer. Correction, beer isn't legal on Evergreen, so I will call it his beverage. I struggled to get a selfie with all of us in the photo. This was the best of the 4 attempts.
The real purpose of this trip wasn't catching fish anyway. It was to hear stories and spend time together.
Jeff and Tim stayed outside of Secor in Jeff's elegant camper. Tim's search for area dive bars resulted in our attendance at the only business in Secor that wasn't a grain elevator. The name was significant to us because we had spent so much time fishing and goofing around at the drainage ditch on the north end of the farm where we were raised. We even commemorated it on the family reunion T-shirts we had made last summer.
Fortunately Tim's son, Shawn, was able to join us for bar adventure and took our picture outside of The Ditch where the beer was cold, the pizza was good, and the waitress looked good with glitter on her tattoos.
This was a wonderful way to spend a week-end with my fellow Laleman boys. Maybe we'll do it again and get Steve (and even our sisters) to join us.
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