As soon as I returned from Lake Lewisville, our first stop in 2008, I took a short break and then pulled out all the information I had collected on Neely-Henry. I reviewed all of my notes and made sure I understood the mistakes that I had made there in 2006. I also researched current information on the lake, combined all of it, and began to develop a plan for the upcoming tournament. I had hopes of at least placing higher this time and showing myself that I had improved.
Time flies between tournaments and time stands still as well. The excitement of placing 7th at Lake Lewisville made me want to drive straight to Gadsden and start fishing. Life's responsibilities made me drive straight home to check on the family and to have a chance to do my research. It seems like the household chores will never be caught up. By the time the laundry is finished it is time to pack again. It is a time that makes you sometimes wonder if you shouldn't lock the doors and never go out again. It is also a time when each day of preparation grows the desire you have to get to the next tournament site so you can practice what you have been learning about that particular lake and, hopefully, put it to good use. So as we are desperate for time to take care of things at home, we sometimes live through what seem like endless days of anticipation about the next tournament.
The preparations had been made. The day had arrived to leave for Neely-Henry. I was meeting my family for lunch, as we always do before my trips, and then I was headed to Alabama as soon as I finished packing my truck. They were headed to Nashville for a ballgame. The heavy rains the day before ended up soaking the fields in Nashville, and that became a blessing for me. We found out right after lunch that the games had been cancelled. So my husband and son came back to the house to help me with the packing. I had asked my husband to check my tires before I left. When he did he found a nail just on the outside of the tread. So his alternate plans for the day turned into sitting for one hour and 45 minutes at the business where we bought them only to be told that they couldn't fix it because of the location of the nail. Luckily, he found a place close by that could fix it. If it hadn't been for that heavy rain canceling those games and my husband being there after lunch to help pack, I would have been rolling down the interstate with possible unexpected surprises awaiting me.
I finally got on the road headed to Alabama at which time I had to learn to look around two dings on my side of the windshield. I had one from my trip to Texas in 2006 and my husband picked up another on the way home from getting the tire fixed earlier that afternoon. The start of this trip was not exactly what I would call smooth. I was glad it was only a two hour trip this time. Needless to say, I was a little unsettled from the beginning, but I knew things would get better when I got to Gadsden and life became fishing and only fishing. I also couldn't wait to see everyone.