As many of you know I took a trip down to brother Gene's to absorb his and Bob's tuning tip's which were priceless along with visiting with some of my GTA brother's. Upon arriving at the bus stop in Anderson I was greeted by my brother Gene which I was meeting in person for the first time. I loaded up my gear in his Car and we were off and headed for Belton with his trusty dog Dee Dee introducing herself with some licks to the face along the way. Upon arriving at Genes spread I unloaded gear and got the layout of Genes ranch with a big back yard perfect for target shooting. Gene showed me his shop were the sweet tuning takes place and were I would be getting the inside tips on tuning.
The day's and tunes passed by and each day it was getting to feel like home so much so that I didn't want to go back to MI. hehe. The morning's started with a cup of Java on the back deck with a beautiful sunrise, bird's chirping and a great smell in the air. We would then head to the shop and get into the tuning project's of the day every now and then taking a break to chat about tunes and check outside for Squirrels moving about. I had taken some Squirrels while down there some in the morning over Coffee and some just relaxing on the deck after a long day sipping a cold one and dropping a nutter from just about anywhere in his yard lol. We took our lunch in town at the local store, good eat's there or at the EL TITANIC and yes that's the name of the local Mexican restaurant hehe but they had some super food and the place didn't sink while we were there hehehe. I must say that Gene was a super host and I had a experience that I will remember for many years. I was treated like family and heck I was with some of my family down there. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Bob while down there and took a small drive to Bob's spread and spent some times talking tunes and checking out his squirrel rich yard hehe ask Bob about the nutter he took per the Wife's request.
Bob had also made some trip's over to Gene's place to help out with some trigger work on some shooter's and we got together for pic's and hit the EL TITANIC to get a bite. Bob is another Gentlemen that was a great pleasure to meet for the first time, another golden memory for me. Another family member lives down south here and had called up to let us know that he was stopping in to meet me and I was happy to hear of his upcoming arrival. Tommy Cupples aka TCUP showed up at Gene's and had invited me to go up to his house in the mountain's, can't leave without going up there with him he said and he was right.
By that evening we were headed up for the hill's with a quick stop by the store to pic up supplies we were headed into the hill's. Now I finally have a first hand look at what Bob and the others who had gone up to Tommy's mountain house were talking about. The dirt/rock road leading up to Tommy's place was like climbing pike's Peak at night with Tommy zipping back and forth on the switchback's and hard on the pedal to keep the momentum up as we climbed the steep grade.
We made it to the top with a couple hail Marry's from me hehe and settled in for the night. Now Tommy's mountain house is something to behold just a beautiful home set up on top of the mountain and looking down at the world below. I spent a day and a half up at his spread and he took me on a tour of the wood's up there. We had camo'ed up and with shooters in hand headed for a hotspot to look for nutters along with his Dog Annie, great dog by the way. There had been a freezing rain storm that had passed through the whole area up there and had taking the top's out of all the tree's and I mean all of the tree's. The forest floor was covered in broken tree top's and limb's from this storm and made for a up and over trip as we moved through the wood's. We didn't spot one nutter anywhere not one and we deduced that the nutters had moved down to the lowland's since their food and homes were wiped out up here. :0 We did hear a Tom Turkey while hunkered down in the wood's waiting for a nutter and the Tom was close directly behind us. Abby Tommy's trusty guard dog warned us of the danger hehe and barked at the Tom and he moved on. Tommy treated me to great food and drink steak's on the grill and cold one's and some fine wine to wash down the fine food. The evenings were spent on the deck taking in nature's beauty which I never get tired of. We also did some scouting around on Tommy's 4x4 bikes and Tommy showed me some beautiful area's along wit some rare plant's.We would spend the evening's checking out the night sky full of star's and sipping some beverages of relaxation while warming the bones by the fire pit, don't get no better then that when your roughing it lol. My last day down south was kinda of a bummer since it really felt like home down there and I had the great pleasure of meeting some people that had been my family but had taken awhile to meet them. The kindness generosity and knowledge from these brother's of mine I will carry with me forever and long to return to my southern family. Thank you Gene for taking me into your home and shop and sharing your experience and friendship with me, your truly a brother of mine. Thank you Bob it was a real pleasure to meet you and gain from your experience and knowledge as well, another brother of mine. Tommy it a real experience meeting you bro, what a guy and what a place you have I had a time to remember up at your mountain house with you and your another brother that I will miss. I could go on and on about these brother's of mine and I'm truly blessed to have met each and everyone one of you. Each of you have giving me some great memories that I hold dear along with some pic's that I can look at and relive the great times. Thank you all for sharing your life with me I am a richer man for it. I now have to get to work hehe I have tunes finished and one's to be done but it sure is nice to work at something you enjoy ain't it. Her are some pic's of my adventures from brother Gene's to brother Tommy's place. Ed
