Chapter 3

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing the homeowner thing (cutting grass, trimming, redding up around the house, laundry, etc.). Rather than cook, I opted for some big Italian subs to be delivered.

Linda and I sat around the table in the kitchen and ate our subs, chip and dip. I had a beer, but Linda stuck with iced tea, as alcohol doesn’t play well with her meds.

I’d done a quick scan of the brochure and summarized what I’d read to Linda.

“OK, the place is North of Goodland, Kansas, which is about as far North and West as you can go and not be in Colorado or Nebraska. I haven’t looked it up yet, but I guesstimate it’s about 1,000 miles one way. The hunts are six days from Sunday to Saturday with room and board and guide included. I figure to allow three days each way, so I’ll be gone a couple of weeks. Maybe a few days more, since there is supposed to be great bird hunting there, or maybe a hog hunt on my buddy Steve’s friends farm in Oklahoma. He’s been pestering me for years, and all it costs is a hunting license.”

Linda laughed. “I guess it serves me right for going to visit Sis for three weeks a couple of times a year. You deserve some fun for holding the fort. You almost never take more than a few days off at a time. Go for it, if you can get Loren and Bob on board.”

“Next thing- there are only two dates open, and we need to decide almost immediately. One is the second week of October, and the other is the last week of October. I’d prefer the second week for a couple of reasons. First, the weather is likely to be better for hunting, even though it may be a little early in the rut, and second, you can’t count on the weather out there to not turn crappy and the last week of October might even see snow. Odds are you’d be OK, but you never know. Do you have any problem with me being gone for at least two weeks, mid October?” I asked, a little diffidently.

Linda thought about it for a bit. “I don’t see any problem, really. I don’t have any doctor’s appointments then. How about work? I know that’s winding down the construction season, but you might still be needed on some projects.”

“That’s just over a month away, and the engineering is pretty well done for what we have underway. I would likely only be doing inspections, and my minions are qualified to do those as well as I am. Time to let them stretch their wings a bit. It will do them good to know that I’m not there to back them. You know, I bet you could go visit Barb while I’m away, I know she won’t come up here because “she doesn’t like the cold weather”. I grinned as I mimicked my sis-in-law.

“That’s not a bad idea, Tommy. I could fly down and back on that cheap Disney run, like I did back in April.” Linda chuckled. “You have Barb’s tone down exactly on that standard answer, you know?”

“I ought to- I’ve heard it enough.” I laughed. “OK, since we’re agreed, I’d better find out if Loren and Bob are cool with that schedule. I really need to nail it down so I can get an RV.”

“Well pick up the phone and call, you goof!” Linda said, with a wink.

So I did.

Loren picked right up, we went over the list of gear, and settled on the earlier date. She was going to call the hunting ranch in the morning as soon as they opened. She checked with Bob on the extended trip, and he was OK with it. I explained what we’d have to do to hunt wild pigs in Oklahoma on the way back.

She didn’t have much of anything in the way of real gear, so I suggested that she pick up what she could at Bass Pro or Cabelas down her way, and then anything else we could pick up at the Cabelas in Kansas City, which was right beside the Interstate (I’d been there once before). Loren said she was going to drive up to get here a day or so before we had to leave. We kicked around a few other things before calling it quits.