Well i finally have the truck unloaded and the trailer put away for the winter. We were home Friday morning but two weeks away makes for a lot of things to do upon return.
On our last night in Kansas a couple of local trappers stopped by and we showed them how we fleshed beaver to prepare it for the tanning process. It was a lot of fun and i look forward to hearing about their continued successes. on their beaver lines.
The final morning found us checking & pulling the remaining sets with some catches but no coyotes or cats. When we got back to the lodge we tore down the skinning rig and loaded up for the trip
home. We fueled up and said our goodbyes to the friends we made in the area. We departed around 1:30 pm for the 13 hour drive back.
About 4:30 pm we blew a trailer tire on I-80 near Atlantic Iowa about an hour and a half west of Des Moines. We changed the tire on the side if the freeway with all of the semi traffic adding to the 30mph winds. It was snowing and they were issuing blizzard warnings for later that night. Our dilemma now was that we were gonna still be driving all night and no longer had a spare. We made our way to the local
walmart and bought a tire/rim that was close to the correct size and got back on the road. From there we stopped only for fuel and finished the trip to my house around 4;30 am. Joe still had to drive another hour and a half to finally get home himself.
I sit here and think about the great times we had and the great people we met I have to say Kansas is an amazing state. I can’t think of a single bad experience or person that wasn’t extremely welcoming to a couple of Michigan guys.
Numbers were never the concern for us and we both had successes. The real catch for us was the amazing beauty of the area and the local hospitality. Trapping all day and not paying any attention to anything going on in the world was like a huge reset button for my soul.
Thanks to Big Joe for being such a great trapping partner and for putting up with me nonstop for two weeks. Thanks also to the people we’ve met and for all of you that were cheering us on behind the scenes!