Thanksgiving: We go to Wal-Mart and get stuff for a picnic. We take the picnic stuff to Lake Livingston. It is a state park with fishing piers and campgrounds. We had a great time. After lunch we went to the fishing pier to watch people fishing. This may seem to be a pathetic way to pass time but we met some morons that made the stay enjoyable. The kind of stuff that Charles Kuralt no doubt found, but good taste prevented him from documenting.
The only people fishing were a mom, dad and an eight-year-old kid. Dad had a belt that was designed to hold lots of stuff. He had a canteen, compass and a multi-tool. They were tent camping in the park to get away from crowds. The fact that the campground was packed with a zillion people, mostly kids and dogs, was lost on them. While checking out the campground we encountered the largest pile of dog doo, in the middle of the road, I had ever seen. That sums up the campgrounds at State parks.
The mom had a pink Zebco but the boy had a spinning reel. He was holding it with the reel on top of the rod and was winding it counterclockwise with his right hand. The dad kept showing him how to properly hold it so he would not lose the rod and reel if he caught a big fish. His dad would grip the rod with the reel on top and place the reel support between his fingers of his left hand, demonstrating the "proper" grip. They were fishing with cheese (as if I needed to tell that part). Well, W.C. Fields always said, "Never give a sucker an even break, and never wise up a chump." Most people have only heard the first part of that quote, but the second part is what I consider the most important.
Around 5:00 PM the dad pulls out his compass. After studying the thing for several minutes, within 30 minutes of sunset, he points toward a point on the horizon, directly below the sun, and declares that to be west. Susie catches herself before falling off the dock and I am able to control myself. With a nod it is mutually agreed it is time to leave the Clampetts to themselves. It couldn't have been a better Thanksgiving.
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