Ryker's 8 yr old trip had to be pushed back to become his 9 yr old trip due to COVID. Rather than go somewhere with friends, Ryker wanted to go somewhere just with me. From one middle child to another, I totally get it little dude. So we settled on a 4 night camping/fishing trip through NE.
The first night we drove to Fort Kearney to camp and charge. The plan was to take the Tesla since it has ample cargo room, can charge for free at Superchargers, and also since we planned to camp at sites that had 50amp hookups. Worked out splendidly this first night. Laurel and her family were very gracious! They picked up some good local BBQ, also brought out firewood, smores, and some water. Talk about a welcome wagon! It was dark by the time we got camp set up and they arrived, but we soon got a nice fire going and hung out for awhile. Good times. The next morning, we fished a little at the ponds at this site, though I'm not convinced there was anything alive in them at all! Off to the next stop.
Leaving camp with a 95% charge (full), we hit the road, planning to swing through Omaha to sign some closing docs for a rental property, and then head north to Tekamah, NE and camp at Summit Lake Reservoir. 15 minutes into the drive, the gods decided to interject themselves into our relaxing trip. I saw a warning message saying something like: "Warning: your vehicle may not drive after you park it next". !!! After a fair amount of googling and deepeningly worrisome thoughts about the implications, we drove straight to the Tesla Service Center in Council Bluffs, IA, and rolled in there with 5% charge remaining. After a Burger King lunch (Ryker's choice!), we Ubered to Eppley, acquired a rental car, and were leaving the parking garage when a malfunction occurred with the gate, resulting in 3 popped tires from the spikes on the ground. Quickly I drove that vehicle back in the garage and parked it, as air was loudly escaping. After explaining the sitch to the people and acquiring a 2nd rental, we successfully arrived back at the Tesla service center. After transferring all of our camping and fishing gear, we finally left to continue our journey. I'm appreciative for having the money for a rental car without too much fuss, and I'm also appreciative they had rentals for our one-way trip... Onward! After signing closing docs for the rental prop, we head to Tekamah and set up camp at Summit Lake. In a little evening/dusk fishing, Ryker caught the first fish of our trip, a little catfish! He was sooooo excited to catch it. We snag some dinner at the local camp bar and grill, a decent ribeye steak and mac and cheese of course.
The next morning we eat a dry breakfast, prep our gear, and meet my old Army friend Kevin Workman at the boat ramp (conveniently 100 yrds away from our campsite). Kevin has turned into a semi-pro kayak fisherman; he travels and competes in fishing tournaments around the country as a hobby. We load into 2 of his fishing kayaks, Ryker is sitting on the back of the one I'm driving to start. The water level is quite low, they are preparing to dredge the bottom, in fact it is lower than the bottom of the boat ramp. This works out very well, since no conventional boats can launch; we have the lake to ourselves! The Hobie kayaks are smooth as silk in the water, very easy to pedal and steer. After finding some moderate luck fishing up the north shore, Ryker is very ready to pilot his own craft. We head back and launch the blow-up kayak we brought (thanks Granny Barb and Papa!) for me to use. Ryker was soooo happy to be his own master and steer that Hobie around. Pretty sure he enjoyed that more than the fishing. Kevin caught a monster channel catfish, and Ryker and I enjoyed a few more catches as well. Since it was grey and windy, Ryke was done so we headed in around 11 or 12. All in all, this experience was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Great to catch up with an old friend, and so awesome to have him teach us some of his mad skills.
Next stop: Fairbury! We drive down to my old haunt, the old stomping grounds. We set up camp at Crystal Springs, which brought back many memories. I used to camp out there with the Boy Scouts back in the day. Anyhow, after setting up camp and of course fishing a bit with no luck, we head into town... to go watch the latest James Bond at the Bonham Theater! Again, tons of nostalgic feelings and memories for me at this place. It is now run by a nonprofit and is a wonderful venue. Snagging a Casey's taco pizza, we head back to camp and pretty much go right to bed since it is late.
The next day, we grab some breakfast of champions (McDonalds), and head right out to the brickyard. Man oh man, that place has not changed one bit. Many good memories of fishing and grilling out there. The old rowboat was still there and fully functional! We spent all morning fishing and rowing around the pond. We kept chasing this school of fish who looked like they were spawning or something, yet never had any luck with them. We lost a few lures to the epic tree-lined shore. I nearly caught a bass with a top-water lure. In the end, I caught 1 small crappie, and Ryker didn't have any luck. A big let-down! Funny how hit-or-miss fishing can be.
After tearing down camp, we start heading toward home. Ryker has been looking forward to staying in a hotel (and to him, all hotels have pools haha)... yet I make the decision that we're just going to drive straight home. I paid Ryker $20, part of the money we saved by not staying in a hotel. He was still sad and mad at me for 1-2 hours, makes for a fun ride home.
Overall it was a fun trip for us. Catching more fish would have made it even more fun.... and also not having car trouble! But overall it was a success; it was wonderful being able to make these memories with Ryker and spend time with him exclusively.
We had Russell get tested and for the first part of our meeting we kept our distance because we didn't have the test results. This first photo is what I we did....they stayed on one side and we stayed on the other. I made funny faces to Enid, and she watched and smiled with me. It was so sweet, yet heartbreaking, because all I wanted to do was hold her! Test results ended up coming in and hour later and Russell was negative. This next picture is what we did for the next hour! SO WONDERFUL. 
