Fishing in 'bama

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Leaving Fort Myers we headed north to the Osceola National Forest where we spent a couple of days at Ocean Pond campground. We had hoped to get some kayaking in but the weather did not cooperate as it turned windy and colder. Instead we went for a few walks, did some geocaching and read books. It may be hard to believe but it had been a couple of weeks since we had any "down time" to just sit and read. While we were there we mapped out our trip to Elkhart Indiana where we needed to be on the afternoon of March 3rd. Plenty of time to get there but we wanted to make one 3 day stay in Alabama. In order to do that we needed to shorten up a few other days and lengthen our driving days.

With plan in hand we continued our journey north and spent one night in Eufaula Alabama at Lakepoint State Park. It rained almost all day during our travels and all through the night. I don't know how much rain they got but the entire campground was flooded with 3-6" of water. The next morning when we woke up the rain had stopped but it was still pretty wet when we headed out.

Very wet!

Our next stop was one we had been looking forward to for some time. We have written about Steve and Joan several times in the past, well Joan has a brother (Jim) who lives in Eastaboga Alabama and said he would love it if we stopped by for a few days of fishing and relaxing on the Coosa River. So we were off to Eastaboga to meet someone we have never met before and moochdock on their river property. "Don't worry" Joan said, "you will love Jim and his family".  Several hours later we pulled up in front of their house in Eastaboga. After a short introduction and visit, their son Matt jumped in our truck to show us their place on the river. It was a great spot with 100 feet of frontage on the Coosa River. We pulled in, set up and visited with Matt. Jim arrive with their basset hound Hank. Soon after, Jim's wife Kathleen arrived as did their other son Jacob along with his fiancée Katie. The seven of us went to dinner that night and spent the weekend together fishing, eating and hanging out by the fire.

Check out Jim's awesome fire pit and mobile chair set up!

The weather was not ideal but we did not let that stop us from fishing and having fun. The snow that they had received earlier that week was slowly melting and the fires kept us warm. Saturday Jim fired up the smoker and cooked up some killer ribs and chicken.  The first day of fishing Kathleen, Jim, Barb and I went out. Jim was telling us what a good fisherman Kathleen was and true to form she boated a nice crappie within minutes of dropping the anchor. The next day Jim, Jacob and I were on the water by 7:30 and managed to get some really nice crappies and a couple of striped bass for our efforts. That afternoon, we cleaned the fish and had a fish fry along with cheesy grits, hush puppies and topped off with an awesome blueberry cobbler!

A cool shot Barb took in the area

Barb with a nice slab crappie

Jim and Jacob headed down the river

The entire family was incredibly nice, even though we had just met them, they treated us like long time friends and we had a great time meeting and hanging out with them for the weekend. A huge thank you to Jim, Kathleen, Matt, Jacob and Katie from Barb and I!!!!!!

The whole family, Jacob, Katie, Kathleen, Jim (with Hank) and Matt

Now it is time to continue north into snow country. Although we are not looking forward to the cold and snow, but we are looking forward to seeing our friends and family.