A Trip Down Memory Lane

[Wildabeest]

The teaser... I’m heading out tomorrow morning on a 4500 mile roundtrip drive back east. It’ll be a trip over distance, but more importantly a journey through time back to the places I grew up in and the memories of the people who shaped my early life. I appreciate them and those experiences much more now than I did at the time, so my intent is to post some highlights of the trip since much of my youth was spent in the woods hunting with my dad. Hopefully it will be a good balance of pictures and words.

 

[MarvB]

Safe travels, looking forward to the posts!

 

[Happy Myles]

The photo put a lump in my throat. Have wonderful journey.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Drive safe ..... but fast, I wanna see that buck! Enjoy the trip!

 

[Wildabeest]

I wanna see that buck

Funny you mention that... There will be a post about that picture!

 

[Dave N]

Safe travels! Looks like you're going to pass right by my place!

 

[rwc101]

I make a very similar trip back and forth between Laramie and Virginia a few times a year. It's interesting how passing an exit or point along the highway can vividly bring back memories from years ago.

 

[Wildabeest]

I’ve done it several times, and like to do different routes - usually around food or culture. I’ve done the “BBQ route” through NC, St. Louis, Kansas City, the “Soul Food route” through AL, MS, LA. Unfortunately, elk opener here in UT is 10/3, so this might be the first “Fast food tour” :-(.

 

[rwc101]

I prefer the Knoxville, Nashville, St. Louis rout. The West Virginia Turnpike is a scam. LC's BBQ in KC has been my favorite. Skip the ribs and get the burnt ends. I try to do the trip in two days now, so I don't stop and dine as much as I would like.

 

[Wildabeest]

I prefer the Knoxville, Nashville, St. Louis rout. The West Virginia Turnpike is a scam. LC's BBQ in KC has been my favorite. Skip the ribs and get the burnt ends. I try to do the trip in two days now, so I don't stop and dine as much as I would like.

The real purpose of this trip routes me through southeastern OH and WVa, so the turnpike can’t be avoided. Those are my childhood stomping grounds. Turnpike tolls are a pain, but it is really a beautiful drive (if you can ignore the mountain top removal mining ).

BBQ favs for me are Q39 in KC and Pappy’s in St. Louis. Danny’s in Raleigh, although it’s not really NC style BBQ. I’ll definitely check out LC”s!

 

[SFC B]

Fall is the time I most miss IN. If you need any Northern IN info (places to stop, chow etc) feel free to PM me.

 

[tarheel]

Looks as if you grew up somewhere near Smithfield; I grew up right down the road near LBT. Enjoy your trip, be safe and try the barbeque in Wilson or Greenville.

In all our travels back and forth to the RMW we've traveled every major East/West artery from central Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. We love seeing America from the back roads.

 

[Wildabeest]

I intended to post some updates along the way, but it’s been a whirlwind of a trip so far and just haven’t had time. I made it from Park City, UT to Columbus, OH in 36 hours - driving straight through and stopping every 2-3 hours for combined charging / food / bio breaks. Caught a few catnaps while charging. Met my kids in Columbus (they flew in from NC) and visited with my aunt (the only surviving family member of my parent’s level of the family tree) before heading to my hometown in the southeastern part of the state to pick up the items that were there. My late brother’s girlfriend had everything organized and ready to go, so we visited for a bit and then loaded up and were on the road again. I drove my kids around the little town, which seems even smaller now than it did when I was a kid growing up there. I realized that “mile walk to school” was less than 1/2 mile, and things that seemed a world away at the time were actually not that far. As a kid, all I wanted to do was leave that place and never return. I don’t regret leaving, but I do regret physically and emotionally divorcing myself from the people and place that had a profound impact on who I am today.

The motivation for me to finally do this trip was heavily influenced by Randy’s recent article in Modern Huntsman. That article struck a lot of familiar chords with me. His sharing of the story of his “complicated” relationship with his dad (and his demons) and recovery of his dad’s mule deer mount was a kick in the ass for me to quit putting this off and deal with it. Similar to Randy, this place where I grew up is a complicated and confusing set of memories and emotions, which unfortunately are heavily weighted towards untreated mental illnesses, substance abuse and far too many untimely deaths. I thank @Big Fin for having the courage to share his story, as it gave me the strength to return to this place that I so wanted to forget but never could.

There was more stuff to take than I expected, so fitting it all into my car with 3 people and our luggage took some engineering and creativity. But we got some laughs out of people looking into the car as they walked by when it was parked different places. I guess they’ve never seen a deer head in the back seat of a Tesla before.



From OH, we traveled to WVa and took a break for some awesome whitewater rafting on the Gauley River - one of the top 10 whitewater rivers in the world. It was my kids’ first time on that river, and we had a great time. We rolled into NC last night where I’ve got a lot of HQ work stuff to catch up on since I’ve not been back here since COVID lockdown in early March. Will depart for 40 hour straight through drive back to UT on Thurs, arriving late Friday night in time for the UT Rifle elk opener on Saturday. I’ll post a final update and some more pics once I get back.

 

[Wildabeest]

Looks as if you grew up somewhere near Smithfield; I grew up right down the road near LBT. Enjoy your trip, be safe and try the barbeque in Wilson or Greenville.

Actually grew up in the hills of southeastern OH. Lived in NC for about 25 years before moving out west a couple of years ago.

 

[Tradewind]

Good luck

 

[Wildabeest]

After 40 hrs of straight though driving, I made it back to UT at 4:00am Saturday morning. Just enough time to change clothes, throw some gear in my pack, grab my rifle and head to the trailhead for UT rifle elk opener. Hunting was a bust, as I spent most of the morning fading in and out of sleep. Had a few does walk in on me, but that was it.

I’m going to be crazy busy for the next couple of months, so I decided to take the day off from hunting to unload and unpack from the trip. Quite a lot of memories to sort though. The best is that I was able to recover the shotgun I learned to hunt with. This 20 gauge single shot made by Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works originally belonged to my grandfather and was handed down to my dad as his first gun and then handed down to me and my brothers, although I claimed it as my own when I was kid. Never killed a deer with it, but it removed a large number of squirrel and rabbits, and even a few grouse and raccoon, in my hands. I loved hunting with this gun, and if my memory is correct, I was pretty accurate with it. For a birthday in my teens, I somehow convinced my dad to buy me a Remington 1100. I remember him saying many times after that how much more accurate I was when I only had one shot! As fate would have it, the 1100 was not there.



The gun appears to be in decent shape. The break is a little stiff but hopefully nothing a little oil and some use won’t fix. I’m anxious to shoot it, but even more looking forward to my son shooting it and eventually handing it down to him.

I was also able to recover my dad’s .22 Ruger revolver - still in the original leather holster with cartridge belt. I used to love it when my dad would let me wear this in the woods. I felt like the cowboys that I watched (and wanted to be) on TV.



I was also able to recover a few other shotguns, but none that held the personal meaning of the two guns above. My dad also had a 30-30 Winchester lever action rifle that I was hoping to retrieve, but it was not there. We didn’t use that gun much since there wasn’t much you could legally hunt in OH with a high powered rifle, but that gun had the same “cowboy” effect on me, and I loved it when we’d take it out to shoot cans and milk jugs.

And now the finale - my dad’s whitetail mount. This is special to me for a number of reasons, which I may cover in a prologue post. Bottom line is that it’s special to me because it was special to my dad. This deer shaped a lot of his life and service, and that’s how I want to remember him. He was most happy when he was either hunting or doing the myriad of other things related to it. Having this on my wall now will allow me to remember him for his passions.



The above picture represents 3 generations of hunting. My dad’s whitetail at the center, muley’s on the left that my son and I took on his very first hunt ever last year, and another whitetail that was taken by my brother. I’m proud to have them all now adorning the wall of my home!

Overall it was a good trip and I’m glad I did it. It was filled with memories of the past, some happy some painful, and even new memories for the future since I was able to spend some quality time in the outdoors with my kids. 4,800 miles of driving over 10 days. Saw a lot of beautiful country, more MAGA signs than I could imagine, and even the results of some successful hunting. Passed this truck headed east somewhere in Nebraska. Not a bad haul...

 

[FranklinME]

As my otherwise awesome teenager daughter hates me tonight this puts things in perspective. Thank you for allowing us to tag along.

 

[Big Fin]

Thanks for sharing. I am sure the trip was worth it.

 

[JLS]

As my otherwise awesome teenager daughter hates me tonight this puts things in perspective. Thank you for allowing us to tag along.

I’ve felt your pain, many times. Hang in there.

 

[JLS]

Thanks for the share. Sometimes family memories are uncomfortable to face.