The Tickfaw 200 Y'ALL!

**redhotsommer** · 05-10-2012 09:41 PM

So…how often does a great adventure emanate from a single text message? This one certainly did. I actually laughed in a somewhat scoffing manner when I received said text from one Bob Zubik back in March. “Check it out,” I said to my wife, “BZ wants me to go on a Poker Run in Louisiana in May.” To her credit, she responded “I think you should go.” Sometimes I need that little extra push to get me to leave my everyday life, and the more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed…so after a week or so, I called him up and said I was IN. Our crew went through a couple fluctuations, with people saying yes and backing out, or really wanting to go but not being able to pull it off, but finally settled on BZ, Dennis (Obnoxus), myself (redhotsommer), and, finally, after realizing she still had remaining personal days left for this school year, my lovely wife Michelle.

Logistics were handled, hotel was booked, food and drinks packed and ready, and at 4am on Thursday May 4th, we were rolling south in Den’s dually pulling BZ’s 42 Fountain. It’s always good when a trip like this is uneventful, and this one was exactly such. 14-1/2 hours (and a whole lot of 93 octane) later, we pulled into Hammond, LA and immediately began to sweat. Heat and humidity usually don’t occur until late June or July for us in the Chicago area, and stepping out of the air conditioned truck into 91 degrees and 100 percent humidity was quite the shock to our winter-adjusted systems. We gassed up the boat and dragged it over to the Blood River Landing, where we would leave it for the night and launch in the a.m. With Dennis at the wheel, we pulled into a grassy area to park parallel to a couple other boats…he went to swing around the back of the other trailers and came to an abrupt stop…which was a REALLY good thing, since another 30 feet would have put us into the swamp. When our heart rates finally slowed, we dropped the trailer and headed over to the Funhouse, where we met some of our gracious hosts and organizers, bought three card hands, and had some cocktails to celebrate our long drive. The Funhouse at Blood River Landing is a really cool bar that only opens to the public a couple times per year. The band was excellent, the drinks satisfactory, and we met about 50 new friends ready to have a good time running boats. Then we hit the sack early in anticipation of a big day on the morrow.

**redhotsommer** · 05-10-2012 09:50 PM

We were up and out of the hotel by 8am on Friday, and it was already a balmy 82 degrees. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was looking like an absolutely perfect day for boating. Upon arrival at Blood River, we hooked up the boat, cleaned it, and loaded about 15 cases of liquid refreshment onboard to ensure we maintained our level of hydration. Then it was time to float the boat. We expected a huge crowd, which was why we arrived so early, but were surprised to see only 2 or 3 boats waiting to launch…nobody seemed like they were in much of a hurry. When we were ready to roll, it was around 10 am…and NOBODY else was even around! We had been given a map the night before, and just decided to try our luck, so we fired up the trusty 525s and started motoring.

Now…we are Chicagoans, and, as such, we are familiar with running our boats on a certain lake shaped like a big finger pointing at our fair city. This lake is deep, this lake is VERY long, and also quite wide. It looks a LOT like an ocean, in fact, and shares the same quality of an ocean in its openness…in less flowery terms, there’s a LOT of room out there. What we were immediately exposed to in this sweaty underbelly of America was a thin ribbon of muddy, debris-filled water winding through a cypress swamp. Our water at home is blue…this water was the color of refried beans. We were fairly certain that we would run the boat into the trees and be eaten by alligators. This is not an exaggeration. Despite our fears, we were able to successfully navigate out to Lake Maurepas without encountering a large reptile, and decided to head off into the abyss in search of Sun Buns, which would be our first card stop.

**redhotsommer** · 05-10-2012 09:58 PM

Once again, we encounter a particularity of Louisiana boating…the crawdad trap. These things were EVERYWHERE. Little Styrofoam bobbers set in lines of three or four, criss-crossing each other and basically causing a bunch of Northerners fits as we swerved and dodged them at 70 mph. We didn’t hit any (well, I glanced off one on Sunday), but I can’t imagine it would do your outdrives any good if you did.

We were the very first boat to arrive at Sun Buns, and parked in the standard way that is normal to the rest of the boating world…that is…parallel to the dock. Upon entering the bar, a gentleman asked us if we’d be staying, and we decided to open up our account on the cocktail tip, so we responded in the affirmative. He then asked if we’d be willing to park our boat in the local manner when more boats showed up…so about 15 minutes later when 30 more boats came piling in, BZ, Obnoxus and I quickly learned how to dock via the stern. Interesting concept. By the time we left, the docks were PACKED and the entire bar was shaking with the noise from the engines…it was awesome. Skaters, Nortechs, Donzis, Fountains, Cigarettes, they were all there. I was REALLY liking this place.

**redhotsommer** · 05-10-2012 10:05 PM

A couple more pics from Sun Buns. The last one was easily the most amazing audio/video setup I've ever seen on a boat.

That's it for tonight....more tomorrow...

**MILD THUNDER** · 05-10-2012 11:12 PM

Good stuff! Im jealous. More pics please!

**Blue Oval** · 05-11-2012 08:44 AM

Good job young man, way to get the pics up!

**Nevr2nd** · 05-11-2012 09:38 AM

Mike,
Its looks like fun, were you able to meet up with the cast from Swamp People?? Ha ha.

**rschap1** · 05-11-2012 11:06 AM

Congrats

Enjoy

**OBNOXUS** · 05-11-2012 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by Nevr2nd

Mike,
Its looks like fun, were you able to meet up with the cast from Swamp People?? Ha ha.

Actually,,,,,,YES !!!!! they were there !!!! LOL

**redhotsommer** · 05-11-2012 08:58 PM

Dennis...that was the Swamp Cuzzins....I guess there's more than one swamp-based show...I'm not quite sure how this reflects upon our society today.

**redhotsommer** · 05-11-2012 09:11 PM

On with the story:

We repeated our navigational success with visits to the Blind River Bar and the Prop Stop, meeting people the whole time and just amazed at how friendly everyone was. I had seen the famous Worm Bucket online, so when we hit the Prop Stop, I wanted to try one. I ended up having three. In like one half hour. Now I was genuinely in LOVE with this place! Our run back down river to Blood River Landing was in the company of a 42 Fountain with 1075s…WOW was it fun.

Some pics from Blind River Bar:

**redhotsommer** · 05-11-2012 09:20 PM

More from Blind River Bar...some nice powerplants....the first Banana I've ever seen...some local transportation...

**redhotsommer** · 05-11-2012 09:37 PM

The Prop Stop...home of the world famous Worm Bucket (which was QUITE delicious, I might add)....42 Fountains runnin' through the swamp!

This is where we encounter the local law. We came around a turn hot on the tail of the yellow 42, both of us passing a 30 Baja on a sweeping right hander...when what do we see but a bass boat pulled over by two local police boats. We blew through, went about another mile, and had to shut down for a no wake zone. Sure enough, blue flashers followed shortly. Dennis was behind the wheel (he being the sober one)...I was thinking we're totally nailed for reckless driving or something. The officer came up as friendly as could be, and told us he pulled us over because we threw a styrofoam cup out of the boat. All four of us at once said "That wasn't us!" "We wouldn't do that!" "We don't even have styrofoam on the boat!" (As I stood in front of a half-empty Worm Bucket in a styrofoam cup). The cop said..."OK, y'all have a nice day, then." And motored away. Now, we didn't throw anything out of the boat, but still...we were all amazed he just let us go. Apparently, that's the way things are down there...everyone just wants you to have a good time.

We headed back to Blood River Landing, Dennis somehow parallel parked the boat in a space about 6 inches bigger than the boat, two boats deep...and the rum began to flow...

**redhotsommer** · 05-11-2012 09:43 PM

The recipe for FUN. These nice people just HAD to get rid of the remainder of their Jello shots...it was quite neighborly of us to help them out!

**Magic Medicine** · 05-11-2012 09:46 PM

Sweet pics!!!

**weekend@burnies** · 05-11-2012 10:10 PM

thanks for sharing looks like a sweet trip

**Blue Oval** · 05-11-2012 10:23 PM

Where are the pics of the CBBC T-shirts?

**redhotsommer** · 05-12-2012 08:34 AM

Damn Mr. Mathers...a bit self-serving, aren't we? Lol. They are on Michelle's nice camera...I haven't downloaded them yet. And thanks for the voicemail yesterday....ironically, I WAS in trouble for staying out biking too long!