Deja Vu Thanksgiving

It was like we had gone back in time to BC. This is what we refer to as "Before Children". Daughter #1 stayed in Texas and daughter #2 along with her Marine are in Okinawa. We decided to go back to our old ways and skip the turkey. Turkey for two has a nice sound to it but results in leftovers forever. There is only so much dark meat and I am no fan of the dry white meat on a turkey. We had our old standby which is Cornish game hens. I will need to get a new rotisserie motor so that I can do the birds on the barbecue again. It was very nice day even though it was a bit quieter than the previous couple of decades.

I carefully perused all the adds that came in the 5 pound newspaper in preparation of my usual Black Friday shopping excursion. It was a nice day and I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

My usual excursion on the dreaded Black Friday is Sportsman's Warehouse and Ace Hardware. That's it as I would not go within a couple of miles of any mall. Most of the day was spent preparing my list and gathering things for the upcoming elk hunt. No, there will be no guide. I seem to be done with considering using a guide. My first guided event was a disaster (My Elk Hunt Sucked) and the next one was actually pleasant (Big Game Outfitters) but neither produced a shot. My odds seem to be better without "help". We shall see.

I was drawn for a cow hunt just north of Flagstaff in December. I am an experienced cold weather camper and backpacker as I used to do both ages ago in Michigan. I have all the gear including a nice heater for the tent. It is not as much fun to camp by yourself. I was pondering the wisdom of camping by myself in a place that can dump exceptional amounts of snow in a short time. At the of end of my careful considerations that took all of about 30 seconds, I rented a motel room in Flagstaff. One area that I shot an elk is about 15 minutes from the motel and another I would like to go to will take about 35 minutes. I will still take a small tent, sleeping pad, and my good bag in case I get stuck for some reason. Otherwise it will be a hot shower and a regular bed at night.

This reminds me of when I used to go deer hunting with Dad in Mio, Michigan. Dad did not like to camp. I believe the words were, "I saw enough camping in WWII." We would stay in town and drive about 15 minutes in the morning to where we would hunt. There are some good memories of those trips!