IN OUR HEAD
In Our History
very strange anomaly
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.. Through the years we've noticed an interesting bit of trivia.
.. It seems, for the most part, that fly fisher folk are not motorheads in the classic sense.
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| In The Mind's Eye |
.. They do appreciate the "Fish Truck," {We've had a few.}
.. They do extol the virtues of the "Fish Car." They even admire modern technology in contemporary vehicles.
.. But they don't seem able to sunder their minds from a preoccupation with fluff and fur on safety pins, (are there still safety pins?)
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| A FORD FLATHEAD AT INDY |
.. Stream-side topics of conversation are contemporary sports, finance, real estate, politics, fishing, etc.
.. Never have we heard a discussion about the pros and cons of on-plug-coils vs. crank-triggered magnetos. So be it.
.. We are schizoid - or worse. Way long ago and far, far away, we listened to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio. We relived it when the paper came out the next day. We were in the garage or the living room or the beach or the track or wherever. We didn't miss it.
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| First At 150 mph |
.. Those were the days of the "Indy Roadster." The vehicle was
primitive compared to today's cars. We remember the transition from the flathead ford V-8 to the Meyer Drake Offenhauser.
.. We remember the transition to rear-engined racers.
.. We remember some milestones like 150 miles per hour. Like 200 miles per hour. Like women racing. And all the other bits that stick in our head.
.. Today the engines are smaller, the cars are lighter, the speeds are double where they were when we were first captivated by the spectacle.
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| Jim Clark Team Lotus |
.. We grew up in that part of town where jalopies, hot rods, cruising, and dragging the main were integral to our world.
.. Indy roadsters were just grown up midgets. Some were built in garages near where we lived.
.. So were cars for the drag strip, Bonneville, El Mirage, Muroc, Riverside, and Daytona: just a couple of blocks away.
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| Team, Pippa Mann |
.. Each year we peeked in the draped windows of new car dealerships to see new models.
.. They appeared as if by magic on the appointed day. The commercial jingles on the radio echoed through the garage.
.. To this day we fiddle with cars. We admire them. We watch and marvel at the technology.
.. There is a quirk in our soul. We've had many more cars than girlfriends. We have caught more fish than cars though.
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| Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes |
.. Each year at this moment we split our loyalty. We fish the park and then "LISTEN" to the Indy 500.
.. We're going to watch the Monte Carlo F-1 Grand Prix at the same - or similar time.
.. We marvel at the technology of the Formula One cars.
.. Races held on road courses that are decided by tenths and hundredths of a second. Like airplanes
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| Fernando Alonso, Skipping Monte Carlo |
.. Some neighbors will be doing similar things, (this is rural Montana after all.) Most will not be fisher folks.
.. After today we will settle into the gentility of trout fishing in the neighborhood.
.. We've taken our sailfish on a fly. We've lost our tuna on a fly. We've fished the surf and the depths. {Even had a 'beach fishing car.'}
.. We've fished in Europe, Africa, India, Japan, and across the United States. We've used rattlesnakes for bait in Texas and in Hell's Canyon of the Snake River. We think we hooked a sturgeon on a fly - it might have been a submarine.
.. Why do these things spring to mind at this time of year? It must be
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!
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| Bigger Than A BWO |
.. Sunfish, Bass, Sharks, Perch, Salmon, Catfish, Carp, Chevy, Jaguar, Dodge, Cadillac, Ford, Oakland, Mazda, Jeep, Croaker, Albacore, Wipers, Stripers, Oldsmobile - and so on. What a mix confusing the neurons between our ears.
.. If we would have kept the cars that we destroyed racing we could add more millions to our net worth. That stuff and much more is long gone.
.. Now we splash the water and call it good. Sometimes we catch a fish.
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| WALLPAPER: CRUISING FOR FISH IN YELLOWSTONE |
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