The month of April is one of the more consistent times in my life…
I awake for first light, give Colby a quick cuddle, pack lunches for guests, load all my fishing gear up and head off to the river for a full day of guiding for winter steelhead.
Fishing is often tough for these extremely frustrating fish but Fly Gal guests are most commonly return clients who have concreted themselves in our lives as friends, so each day on the water is full of laughs and stories…
…especially when the day takes an unexpected turn.
This year the routine was a little more hectic than I had planned for… a busy lodge (I live at the Fraser River’s Edge in the winters) kept me on my toes and with guiding each day, office work each night, a trailer renovation and the cleaning of rooms between guests, I was lucky to get four hours of shuteye before waking up to do it all over again.
I had been looking for a trailer for my property up North that I could live in during the summer steelhead season. When a friend’s dad asked if I knew anyone who was interested in his 1999 twenty-five foot Nash trailer for a fair price, I of course jumped at the gun and an hour later ponied up the cash, hit Home Depot for some reno materials, rolled up my sleeves and started destruction.
Hearing the news, my parents looked at me like I was crazy… “you don’t have time to breathe, how in the hell are you going to have time to fix up a trailer?” I cocked an eyebrow… “less sleep?”
They shook their heads and smiled… not surprisingly, I am a woman who “gets it done” when I make up my mind about something…
Friend Ben and Fly Gal guide Greg Wolf sacrificed some time to knock down walls with me and late nights of herba mate and romantic movies (ahem, or the Note Book on repeat) helped to get my small project completed in time for May 1st where I was set to leave town again for an extended period.
I repainted the trailer an uplifting blue, knocked out the separating wall (replacing it with a curtain), gave the kitchen a metallic lift, reupholstered the couches with cream and tan vinyl, replaced the God awful brass that had diseased the place, made the back wall a full sized plasma television, hooked up the Bose sound system, stocked my liquor cabinet and spiced everything up with a feminine touch.
I finally had a home again… a small and simple one that, yes, technically labels me as a girl who lives in a trailer.
I was able to sneak in the occasional hour for training as well as a rare day off to get article deadlines met, or bring Colby to see Mom and Dad… but for the most part I was on the extremely unfamiliar road of routine.
There were a few days of “breaks”… I was able to sneak a day of fishing for myself with photographer Jeremy Koreski to shoot some photos for Patagonia …
Was able to spend a day showing the crew from Discovery Channel’s Refined how to target winter steelhead on the fly. http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/refined/refined-an-online-series/ (I believe this clip only plays in Canada)…
Grab a weekend to take my little sister out for her stagette in Seattle…
Find a day to celebrate my 30th birthday in peace and quiet at the spa alone. I always guide on my birthday but felt like thirty years of working my ass off deserved a much needed eight hours of silence and no emails…
Was able to see some old friends after guiding…
And finally fly to Chicago for a very quick 20 hour visit to demonstrate to Steve Harvey and his audience the very basics of the fly-cast. I showed up at the studio to be rushed into my own room where the very kind cosmetic people slathered my face in enough makeup to ensure that I couldn’t blink for at least two hours.
We had our annual spring women’s casting workshop…
And I trained Fly Gal’s Catherine LaFlamme on the guiding scene so she could help relieve some of the pressure next year.
April flew by fast and I am so thankful for this blog as it allows me the time to sit back and reflect on all of the wonderful people and experiences that I get to meet in this life on the road…
April 30th hit me hard in the stomach and a frantic rush to move out of the lodge and pack for my next trip had me on my feet the second I wrapped up the guiding season… I am excited to share the May update with you!
Thank you for reading and for giving me a reason to relive all of the blessed moments.
Sincerely,
April.
