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Speaker 1: Welcome to this country life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 2: I want you to stay.

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Speaker 1: Awhile as I share my experiences and life lessons. This

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Speaker 1: country life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters

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Speaker 1: Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast.

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Speaker 2: The airwaves have to offer.

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Speaker 1: All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate.

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Speaker 1: I've got some stories to share. Trucks, boats and airplanes.

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Speaker 1: Unexpected results from a planned out and can test your metal.

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Speaker 1: Scheduling those outings back to back can test your stamina.

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Speaker 1: But good or bad, we reap what we sow and

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Speaker 1: we'll never get anywhere standing still. Sometimes, in my eagerness

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Speaker 1: to please everyone and do everything, over extend and don't.

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Speaker 2: Really enjoy the opportunities afforded me.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna talk about if that's the case today

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Speaker 1: on a recent trip. But first I'm gonna tell you

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Speaker 1: a story. Corey Coleman, a crane operator, native Texan and

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Speaker 1: one of the one thousand, one hundred and nine folks

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Speaker 1: calling Oor City home, sent in this little jewel. He

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Speaker 1: calls the Jasper disaster a Buffalo River story. Now I

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Speaker 1: think Coors, missing his calling running that crane, he ordered

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Speaker 1: to be naming books and movies for a living. He

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Speaker 1: wrote this story pretty good too, and I'm about to

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Speaker 1: turn it loose, so in my voice and Corey's words,

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Speaker 1: here we go. I've been itching to see the Buffalo

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Speaker 1: River ever since I listened to the beargrease that featured it.

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Speaker 1: Something about the wildness, the history, and the raw beauty

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Speaker 1: stuck with me. After eight months of talking with friends

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Speaker 1: and slowly putting together a plan, we were ready the

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Speaker 1: gold float, thirty nine miles through some of the most

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Speaker 1: breath taken terrain any of us had ever seen. Four companies,

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Speaker 1: eight people, a mix of kayaks and canoes. None of

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Speaker 1: us were pros, but we weren't clueless either. When we

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Speaker 1: checked in with the park office, we were told the

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Speaker 1: river was low but floatable, and that sounded perfect, especially

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Speaker 1: for a group with varied experience. We figured slower water

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Speaker 1: mit fewer surprises. By that first night, we set up

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Speaker 1: camp during a lull in a decent storm, and when

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Speaker 1: we woke up the next morning, our first full float day,

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Speaker 1: the river had come up about eight inches, still floatable,

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Speaker 1: still within reason, but a little faster than expected. And

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Speaker 1: we were optimistic, a little more current, a few less shortages,

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Speaker 1: and that optimism lasted about four hours. By the end,

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Speaker 1: we'd only made it about five and a half miles.

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Speaker 1: Our goal had been ten. More concerning two kayaks in

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Speaker 1: a tandem canoe had flipped into rapids. People were okay,

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Speaker 1: but it rattled us with another storm. Forecasting we decided

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Speaker 1: to stop early and set up camp what we thought

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Speaker 1: was safely above the high water mark.

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Speaker 2: We were wrong.

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Speaker 1: The thunderstorm rolled through, heavy but manageable. We thought we

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Speaker 1: were in the clear and finally drifted off asleep until

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Speaker 1: about three am, when we woke to find our sleeping

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Speaker 1: paths floating.

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Speaker 2: In the span of a.

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Speaker 1: Couple hours, the Buffalo River had risen nearly ten feet.

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Speaker 1: It was immediate chaos. We knew the boats were gone,

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Speaker 1: no chance. The priority became clear. We were in waste

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Speaker 1: deep water, hauling packs and supplies the higher ground in

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Speaker 1: the One guy didn't even have time to get dressed.

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Speaker 2: He was fair and gear in his underwear.

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Speaker 1: About thirty minutes, we'd moved a week's worth of cappin

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Speaker 1: supplies for eight people, one heck of us crampled By sunrise,

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Speaker 1: we'd regrouped the while we started affectionately calling Hobo Cam.

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Speaker 1: The early light did a lot from morale, and we

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Speaker 1: took stock of what we had and what we didn't.

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Speaker 1: One gall had gone the whole morning barefoot, no one

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Speaker 1: had dry clothes, and the bullnettle man. We were calling

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Speaker 1: it fireweed. By the end, it earned the name. We

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Speaker 1: knew the Buffalo River Trail was somewhere north of us,

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Speaker 1: so two of us set off to find it. Eventually

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Speaker 1: we made it to Irby and were able to get

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Speaker 1: a shuttle back to retrieve our vehicles, and while waiting

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Speaker 1: at Irby Landing, we met some outfitters who were trying

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Speaker 1: to track down lost rental boats and clients. We weren't

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Speaker 1: the only ones, apparently, who were caught off gold. By

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Speaker 1: the time we hiked back in, our group had already

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Speaker 1: broken down camp and started hauling gear out. Everything was

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Speaker 1: dried out as best as possible. Everyone stepped up, nobody complained.

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Speaker 1: It was a full on team effort to get ourselves

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Speaker 1: out of the woods, literally and figuratively. We holed up

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Speaker 1: at the Gordon Motel in Jasper, Arkansas, to regroup and

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Speaker 1: get cleaned up. At the Ozar Cafe one of our

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Speaker 1: crew spotted a T shirt that read Jasper Disaster, and

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Speaker 1: it felt.

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Speaker 2: Like a sign.

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Speaker 1: After hot showers and a bit of reflection, no one

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Speaker 1: wanted to quit. We found another camp site and finished

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Speaker 1: the trip the best way we could, and we didn't

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Speaker 1: let the river beat us. In the end, we lost

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Speaker 1: four kayaks, two canoes, all of our fishing gear, and

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Speaker 1: maybe ten percent of our camping supplies, but we came

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Speaker 1: out of it tighter than ever. This was the kind

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Speaker 1: of true that could have broken friendships, but it didn't

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Speaker 1: made them stronger, And according to Corey Coleman of Or City, Texas,

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Speaker 1: that's just how that happened. Well, Corey, I appreciate you

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Speaker 1: sending in your story that's some great lessons and perseverance

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Speaker 1: and adapting to a situation that could have turned dire

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Speaker 1: and making the best of it out of that trial.

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Speaker 1: The bonds with those you care about strengthens. That's one

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Speaker 1: way to know that you're running in the right circle

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Speaker 1: of folks. Thanks for sharing. I have a problem with

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Speaker 1: saying no, I spent a career wanting to be a

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Speaker 1: helper and help folks, but most importantly I was raised

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Speaker 1: to put others before self. I know I can be

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Speaker 1: selfish at times, but it is the flaw of humanity

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Speaker 1: and something righteously work on and struggle with daily. There

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Speaker 1: was only one true selfless person to walk this planet,

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Speaker 1: and he paid the ultimate price for it, which validates

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Speaker 1: Oscar Wilde's saying of no good deed goes unpunished, but

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Speaker 1: saying yes nearly all the time the folks doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to be at the cost of oneself. And while I

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Speaker 1: have on occasion bore the brunt of coming up on

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Speaker 1: the short end of the stick, sometimes sometimes it works

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Speaker 1: to my advantage. And such was a recent trip with

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Speaker 1: my friend John Howard. John's a lifelong resident of our

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Speaker 1: town and served our community and stayed as a firefighter

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Speaker 1: for quite a while. He builds houses now a lot

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Speaker 1: of them, and has a dirt moving operation. He's quite

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Speaker 1: reserved and he doesn't talk a whole lot. His daughter

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Speaker 1: dances with Bailey at the dance studio, and it was

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Speaker 1: through that relationship that my family became friends with their family.

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Speaker 1: And what prompted the invitation to go fishing. Now I

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Speaker 1: know you're thinking, what's the issue. It's fishing and invitation

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Speaker 1: to go fishing. Who wouldn't want to go fishing. Brent,

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Speaker 1: you love fishing. I know all that, But this three

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Speaker 1: day fishing trip was eight and a half hours five

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty miles away in Venice, Louisiana, which isn't

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Speaker 1: a big deal. I love Venice and the funny talking

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Speaker 1: folks that lived there, aside from their overwhelming infinity and

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Speaker 1: love for that football team I shall not name that

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Speaker 1: they all seem to support down there. The people of

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Speaker 1: Louisiana are my people. I love them all. This U

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Speaker 1: was I needed to get some podcasts and other non

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Speaker 1: fun work related stuff done prior to leaving for a

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Speaker 1: hog hunting in Texas that would start the following day.

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Speaker 2: The fishing trip ended.

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Speaker 1: Now, that was a hunt with the good folks at

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Speaker 1: Magpool at the sell Mark Ranch, an iron and a

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Speaker 1: half from Dallas near Teague, Texas.

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Speaker 2: Y'all, don't start chunking rocks at me.

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Speaker 1: Having to coordinate back to back fishing and hunting adventures

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Speaker 1: is a.

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Speaker 2: Problem a lot of folks would love to have.

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Speaker 1: I'm blessed beyond measure to be where I am, but

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Speaker 1: I have other obligations with this job and my literal

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Speaker 1: outdoor adventures. Compared to my talking about them ways heavier

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Speaker 1: on the sutting behind a computer screen than stomping around

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Speaker 1: out in creation. I write all this stuff I say

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Speaker 1: on here so I can make sense of it to

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Speaker 1: explain exactly what I'm trying to say.

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Speaker 2: Now that means I have to type it.

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Speaker 1: My typing abilities are only slightly comparable to Edward Scissard Hands,

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Speaker 1: who's probably faster. So I got to work, wrote and

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Speaker 1: recorded two shows ahead of time for my gall river,

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Speaker 1: packed it back, and took off with my friend John

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Speaker 1: for South Louisiana. We skipped breakfast and left later than anticipated,

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Speaker 1: so we stopped in Pine Bluff eat dinner what most

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Speaker 1: everyone else can lunch anyway. After our Google search for fish,

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Speaker 1: we rolled up to the Underwater Seafood on Main Street.

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Speaker 1: It's a family owned concern, turning out some of the

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Speaker 1: best fried catfish I've ever eaten in a restaurant. It

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Speaker 1: was good, The Hush pubbies were good, the Coast Law

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Speaker 1: was good. But what impressed me the most was the

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Speaker 1: man who brought out our food. He stood at the front,

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Speaker 1: greeting people as they came in and visited with what

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Speaker 1: were no doubt regular customers When he came to our table,

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Speaker 1: he sat down our food, and before I could say

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Speaker 1: thank you, he said, bow your heads.

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Speaker 2: I was going to do that anyway.

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Speaker 1: I do it before every meal, either out loud when

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Speaker 1: requested or to myself, but regardless of where I am.

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Speaker 1: But this is the first time I've ever had a

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Speaker 1: waiter blessed my food and thank.

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Speaker 2: Us for coming in.

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Speaker 1: I appreciated the effort, and the food was outstanding, and

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Speaker 1: it pretty well set the tone for how the rest

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Speaker 1: of the trip was going to go. Continuing on on

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Speaker 1: our trip, we stopped near Gilsburg, Mississippi, and visited the

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Speaker 1: memorial dedicated to the members of Leonard Skinnert who were

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Speaker 1: killed in the infamous plane crash on October twentieth, nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy seven. I was eleven when that happened. The band

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Speaker 1: was set to perform in a little rock at Barton

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Speaker 1: called Seeum two days later, and it would be ten

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Speaker 1: years and seven days before the survivors of that tragedy

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Speaker 1: reunited and finished that tour, and me and some friends

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Speaker 1: were there in the audience when they did. We hustled

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Speaker 1: through New Orleans and made it to our destination of Venice,

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Speaker 1: sometime around midnight that night. We weren't fishing until the

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Speaker 1: next afternoon, so we lacked the area of urgency I

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Speaker 1: usually have on these trips. There was no production schedule

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Speaker 1: or deadline. It's just time and the opportunity to see

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Speaker 1: the sites and fishing environment, vastly different from what I

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Speaker 1: normally do. With my friend John, we checked into my

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Speaker 1: friend Renee, crossed the Cypress Cove Lodge. I met Renee

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Speaker 1: when me and a whole host of media and folks

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Speaker 1: were there last October. It was my first experienced fishing

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Speaker 1: on our southern coast and I absolutely loved it.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: On that trip, we spent two days fishing inshore for

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Speaker 1: red fishing speckled trout. Offshore was for tuna, and holy cow,

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Speaker 1: was that every exciting water is so clear you could

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Speaker 1: literally see one hundred feet deep. And when I was

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Speaker 1: fortunate enough to hook into one good night nurse, that

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Speaker 1: was a whole lot like work. I wasn't sure who

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Speaker 1: had who, but in the end I put him in

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Speaker 1: a headlock on the back of that boat and got

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Speaker 1: my picture tuk. He wound up feeling the heat of

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Speaker 1: my blackstone grilled back at Cassa day reeves. When that

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Speaker 1: trip was over, Man, what a time. This time we'd

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Speaker 1: be fishing offshore once again, but it would be for

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Speaker 1: red snapper, no trolling for chummed up tuna. We fished

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Speaker 1: with Patrick and his son, Paxton. Patrick is a friend

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Speaker 1: of John's and Paxton. He's a baseball player, just making

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Speaker 1: time until he gets called up to the big leagues.

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Speaker 1: He's filling his hours with elementary school and fishing while

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Speaker 1: he waits. We became friends pretty quick. Paxton and I

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Speaker 1: have a lot in common. We both like playing outside

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Speaker 1: better than sitting on the couch and naps after fishing.

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Speaker 1: They are a welcome activity. The first afternoon, we didn't

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Speaker 1: venture far off the bank, maybe a forty minute ride

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Speaker 1: off shore to an abandoned oil platform.

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Speaker 2: We look fanning to me anyway.

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Speaker 1: Once we got there, we cut up some frozen fish

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Speaker 1: called poogies.

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Speaker 2: The proper name I found out is men Hayden.

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Speaker 1: A little did I know as we were cutting up

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Speaker 1: these thin, silver, football shaped, mental looking fishing about the

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Speaker 1: size of a dog dollar bill, that these were of

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Speaker 1: great historical importance. Historians believe that these were the fish

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Speaker 1: that tis quantum, better known as squanto encouraged the pilgrims

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Speaker 1: to plant alongside their seeds as fertilizer after those big

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Speaker 1: brass buck of loving folks started tilling up the gardens

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Speaker 1: back in sixteen twenty. Here I am four hundred and

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Speaker 1: five years later baiting up a hook one thousand, six

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty miles southwest of Plymouth Rock with the

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Speaker 1: descendants of fish I'd only been anecdotally learning about in

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Speaker 1: school when I was Paxston's age. My education has now

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Speaker 1: come full circle. I have now learned everything. Anyway, we

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Speaker 1: were fishing one hundred and eighty six feet deep. That's

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Speaker 1: so foreign to me. That's like at six first downs

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Speaker 1: plus two yards. In the one hundred and five year

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Speaker 1: history of the NFL, only a handful of kickers have

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Speaker 1: made field goals from beyond that distance. And we were

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Speaker 1: fishing with a sixteen ounce weights that took a while

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Speaker 1: to get to the bottom as they free spooled off

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Speaker 1: thrills above the ways. We had two drop hooks rigged.

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Speaker 1: They were on eight inch leads, and the cut bait

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Speaker 1: was secured with circle hooks that had a point so

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Speaker 1: fine you couldn't see it. Man, those things were sharp.

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Speaker 1: You drop your bait, locking your reel, and wait for

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Speaker 1: a bite, which didn't usually take long. The key to

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Speaker 1: catching them, believe it or not, was not setting the hook.

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Speaker 1: When you got a bite, you were just supposed to

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Speaker 1: commence the reeling and let the fish catch himself. That

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Speaker 1: was harder than reeling in two thirds of football field

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Speaker 1: worth the line, which if you're wondering, equates to one

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five thousand and six cranks of a

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Speaker 1: fishing reel, or somewhere thereabouts. We filled the ice chest

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Speaker 1: that afternoon and the next day with more red snapper, amberjack,

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Speaker 1: and the possible record al Macko that John caught that

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Speaker 1: we misidentified as an amberjack that got himself flayed and

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Speaker 1: is now lying in a state of cryogenic suspension waiting

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Speaker 1: to be revived on my blackstone. It was a fantastic

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Speaker 1: trip called lots of fish, made some new friends, ate

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Speaker 1: a lot of good food, and slept very little, three

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Speaker 1: quarters of which would be repeated starting the following Monday.

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Speaker 1: About four hours after I went wheels down at the

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Speaker 1: Dallas Fort Worth Airport that, according to Moe Bandy in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, was the biggest airport in the world. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you don't know who he is, do yourself a

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Speaker 1: favor and let Google tell you how Moe got his

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Speaker 1: heart broke there.

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Speaker 2: Forty nine years ago.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, I was meeting up with my colleagues Matt Miller

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Speaker 1: and my boss Garrett Long for a nighttime hog hunt

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Speaker 1: on the previously mentioned ranch guests of magpull and hosted

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Speaker 1: by Kevin Reese and Jeff Hamilton. The majority of the

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Speaker 1: next forty five hours would be spent behind a rifle,

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Speaker 1: either at the range shooting footage and steel targets, or

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Speaker 1: in the field shooting footage and pork chops. The first

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Speaker 1: night I sat in a blind with Dwayne Liptak, a

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Speaker 1: former fighter pilot and Bronze stard with valor to vice

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Speaker 1: recipient for his actions on the ground during the Global

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Speaker 1: War on Terror. Now, we poked holes in a couple

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Speaker 1: of hogs before the sun lit up the other side

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Speaker 1: of the planet, and when it did, we sat in

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Speaker 1: the dark scanning the field for more bacon factories. I

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Speaker 1: was glad the pilot was there. He was going to

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Speaker 1: come in handy when it came time to land the

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Speaker 1: box blind that we were sitting in. After the thunderstorm

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Speaker 1: that blew up pounded us with high winds and big

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Speaker 1: fat rain.

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Speaker 2: I just knew it.

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Speaker 1: Any minute we were going to be airborne and flying

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Speaker 1: nap of the earth to a yet to be determined

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Speaker 1: new area of operations. Fortunately, the anchors held true and

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Speaker 1: the only thing that got that was us as we

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Speaker 1: abandoned the blind and got in Jeff's truck. The most

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Speaker 1: dangerous part of that night was the ride back to

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Speaker 1: the house with Jeff. Ah, I'm just kidding, Jeff, No, really,

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Speaker 1: I was terrified. I'm not sure Dwayne had a scary

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Speaker 1: flight in Afghanistan. I'm kidding, Jeff, kidding, Jeff, No, I'm

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Speaker 1: not kidding at all. The next day was more of

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Speaker 1: the same, minus the high winds and storming. The rides

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Speaker 1: with Jeff varied from between driving miss days in fast

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Speaker 1: and furious. Much like the hog hunting, long periods of

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Speaker 1: time in the field spent waiting on something to happen.

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Speaker 1: A lesson in patience. All hunters learned to accept this

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Speaker 1: time for relaxation and deep thought and reflection opportunities really

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Speaker 1: to learn more about yourself, and if you're fortunate enough

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Speaker 1: to be spending that time with someone, who volunteered to

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Speaker 1: put his life on the line for his nation in

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Speaker 1: any capacity, an opportunity to learn more why they do that.

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Speaker 1: Now I've seen the same thread through all of them

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Speaker 1: that I come to know in the military and the

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Speaker 1: first responders who outdoors people or not, and regardless of

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Speaker 1: religious affiliation, political beliefs, or ideology about foreign affairs, all

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Speaker 1: held true to a similar idea of others. But for self,

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Speaker 1: it's not hard to recognize the sacrifices that they make,

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Speaker 1: but it's hard sometimes to see the prices that they pay.

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Speaker 1: The folks I had the pleasure of being in the

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Speaker 1: company on both of those trips make me appreciate even

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Speaker 1: more how blessed I am to get to do the

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Speaker 1: things that I do, keep company with the people I

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Speaker 1: get to spend time with, doing things and being in

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Speaker 1: places with people we all find important enough to protect

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Speaker 1: to the last measure. Now that's what makes me say

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Speaker 1: yes to just about everything. I've met some pretty incredible

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Speaker 1: people and shared some incredible adventures because of it. No

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Speaker 1: good deed goes unpunished, No, how about, no great reward comes.

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Speaker 2: Without a little sacrifice.

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Speaker 1: Just like Corey Cole, our protagonist in the first story

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Speaker 1: in John Dwayne and all the others in the second

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Speaker 1: and everyone listening. We all, at some time in our

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Speaker 1: lives have been or we'll be asked to step up

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Speaker 1: and do something that we didn't plan on or sign

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Speaker 1: up for.

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Speaker 2: Or we will volunteer say.

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Speaker 1: Yes to an invitation that turns out better for someone else.

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Speaker 1: But life isn't measured in an upset float on the

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Speaker 1: river or a lack of rest on a series of

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Speaker 1: sleepless trips. The measure is the journey from start to finish,

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Speaker 1: and a trip without obstacles, well that just makes for

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Speaker 1: a shorter, more boring riot. Father's Day is next week.

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Speaker 1: In my case, signature Minie Trapper, pocking knife, and the

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Speaker 1: new This Country Life merch is online at the Meat

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Speaker 1: Eater dot com and at the store in downtown Bozeman.

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Speaker 1: For all you folks that may be vacation in the

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Speaker 1: Treasure State, stop buying. See my buddy Alex Zimmerman and

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Speaker 1: his band of Untouchables and they will hook you up.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to us here on the Bear Grease Channel,

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Speaker 1: home of history, science and buffoonery. Until next week. This

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Speaker 1: is Brent Reeves. Sign it off, y'all, be careful,