Hello from the Hawkeye State

[akorcovelos]

That's awesome, small world indeed! Akor, you'll have to give them the business from me if you run into Nate or Brenda. They treated me awfully well while I was up there, and I was lucky enough to be around when they were reviving their weekly fish boil. Helped with a little setup and got educated on the intricacies of boiling fish in a kettle over open fire....pretty awesome stuff. I spent all my time on Silver Lake in the summer and Wilmot Mtn (mountain..haha) in the winter. I was working in Chicago and Milwaukee at the time and that area is a great little country oasis with easy access to two metro areas.

yep, we are NOT city folk, but both our careers require us to be close to a city, so Antioch was the perfect spot. an hour either way to Chicago or Milwaukee, and a crazy fun chain O lakes to boot! We're trying to find someplace to get a retirement condo on {insert lake} that will have a slip with a lift, and close to the condo.

Been looking in Land Between the Lakes, Tablerock, LOTO, etc...Willing to further south as well, just have to see what life brings us.

[Krob1114]

Welcome to the forum.
I don't meet many Iowans. Couple years ago, at the LIberty Bowl game in Memphis: Iowa State vs. Memphis; I sat right in the middle of a bunch of people from Iowa and we had a blast. Great people in your state, but I'm guessing your a Hawkeye.
Hope you get your Cobalt shipshape and have a great season.

[Iowariverrat]

Sounds awesome, Akor. Definitely enjoyed my time out that way and would love to drag the beast over to run the chain for a weekend at some point. I always really enjoyed the Ozarks, but things have gotten so wild there even in the last 10 years. I imagine if you look hard enough you could find something sweet down there. Plus, you might run into Marty Byrd...

Appreciate it, Krob! In the grand scheme there aren't that many of us to meet, glad you ran into some good ones at the bowl game. Generally our fans are enthusiastic and well lubricated. The Iowa/Iowa State rivalry really is heated here at home and living about 5 miles from the U of I puts me in the thick of it. Hawkeye fan by birth, but we always cheer for State and UNI if they aren't playing the Hawks. We don't have any MLB, NFL, NBA teams so you see folks get awfully invested in their college teams, even D2 and D3. I'm not familiar with Greers Ferry Lake, but I've spent a couple long weekends at Lake Ouachita over the years and I certainly enjoyed my time. Good country down there...like home but hotter and more humid somehow...

[Tuono]

Welcome IRR! I want to hit the big river this year. I know what you mean about mods as I’m addicted to upgrades too. Cheers and safe boating

[Iowariverrat]

Definitely let me know if you ever get something on the books.

I know Pool 10 and Pool 12 the best. Pool 10 is my favorite - mostly off the grid small cool old river/railroad towns. The Pikes Peak (yep, that Pike) overlook is worth checking out (picture attached), shows the confluence of of the Wisconsin River w/ the Miss. Had a cabin in Harpers Ferry growing up, love it up there.

Pool 12 is probably the closest/easiest to get to from Chi, and the Dubuque/Galena area is much more developed with shopping, restaurants, night life. We always seem to wind up at Offshore, near Bellevue, at some point. They almost always have live music and there are usually 10-15 boats anchored just "offshore" joining in the fun. There's a hotel next door, too, in case the party gets overenthusiastic.

[Tuono]

Oh man does that look and sound like a great time. Beautiful! I’ll keep you posted
Thank You!

[Tuono]

Just dawned on me we’ve RVd at Wyalusing on that hill 10 years ago.

[Iowariverrat]

It's an awesome area, and now you know that you already knew!

Spent the afternoon yesterday scrubbing and crawling around, thought I'd better post some pictures for my efforts. She cleans up pretty well for being old enough to drink...

Had some surprise help when I was scrubbing the deck....this is my 10 month old GSP named Kaiser. He learned yesterday that he can jump from the ground to the back deck. Let's hope he doesn't realize he could clear the fence in the back yard...

[akorcovelos]

Always amazed at how timeless these boats are. Looks like it rolled off the showroom floor yesterday!

Do you hunt the GSP?

[Iowariverrat]

Thanks, Akor...Not quite showroom clean, but we're getting there...

Haha he hunts from the second he wakes up until he goes to sleep. Birds, squirrels, deer, small neighborhood children... we're doing more bird specific training this spring. He was a little young last fall and we mostly worked on standard obedience, collar/silent recall training, blood trailing, etc but he is very very birdy. Our backyard neighbors have some type of squawking incredibly annoying bird pet and Kaiser is biding his time until he has a shot...

Has a great lineage as well, Sire is from Germany and received the highest possible marks in their testing as well as the US equivalents - can't remember all the acronyms, but I've got his AKC paperwork somewhere...Dam is from a breeder about 90 min from me. This guy has the set up...He's a big wig at John Deere, lives on 500 acres mix of woods and prarie in CRP, and has about 15 shorthairs.

[akorcovelos]

Awesome! Couple Bird hunters here, me included. I run a couple labs and a bloodhound. Hope you get access to that property since you bought a dog from him!

[CaptainTom]

Welcome Iowariverrat! Great looking Cobalt and GSP! Looks new! I'm hoping to see video of your Cobalt firing up in the water.

I'm a fellow Iowan (go Cyclones!) and grew up boating in Pool 12. My Grandma has a cabin on the river there in the Bellevue Slough. I spent endless summer hours boating there as a kid and hanging out on a sandbar near mile marker 562. Not a Cobalt though. Jon Boat, stand-up jetskis and a mechanically finicky soggy decked Bayliner. I'm in Texas now but very much miss boating on the Mississippi. I lived in Coralville for 3 years after college and always wanted go boating on the Coralville Reservoir.

Regarding jumping bird dogs, I have a Vizsla (from a great breeder in Iowa) that is no longer allowed to go boating. I had a pontoon before the Cobalt and we would take her fishing and she absolutely loved it. But on the Cobalt now, she can't relax and just wants to fish which means leaning over the edge of the boat as far she can and racing around the boat. I should have trained her better boating manners.

If you know a guy in the Coralville area name Gump, tell him Osier says hello!

[Iowariverrat]

Awesome! Couple Bird hunters here, me included. I run a couple labs and a bloodhound. Hope you get access to that property since you bought a dog from him!

Very cool! I'm excited to get him out this year, it's been really cool watching him mature and start to grasp things. Yep, full access to come train with his dogs anytime they're running or board him for next to nothing. They love having their own dogs back. If it wasn't 90 min away I'd make more use of him. There's just so much good ground way closer.

Welcome Iowariverrat! Great looking Cobalt and GSP! Looks new! I'm hoping to see video of your Cobalt firing up in the water.

I'm a fellow Iowan (go Cyclones!) and grew up boating in Pool 12. My Grandma has a cabin on the river there in the Bellevue Slough. I spent endless summer hours boating there as a kid and hanging out on a sandbar near mile marker 562. Not a Cobalt though. Jon Boat, stand-up jetskis and a mechanically finicky soggy decked Bayliner. I'm in Texas now but very much miss boating on the Mississippi. I lived in Coralville for 3 years after college and always wanted go boating on the Coralville Reservoir.

Regarding jumping bird dogs, I have a Vizsla (from a great breeder in Iowa) that is no longer allowed to go boating. I had a pontoon before the Cobalt and we would take her fishing and she absolutely loved it. But on the Cobalt now, she can't relax and just wants to fish which means leaning over the edge of the boat as far she can and racing around the boat. I should have trained her better boating manners.

If you know a guy in the Coralville area name Gump, tell him Osier says hello!

Oh man, they let all types in here! Good to hear from you, Cap. I'll get you an authentic first start of the year video when the time comes. I'm not even allowing myself to put the drain plugs back in until spring cleaning is done...I know I couldn't resist firing it up in the driveway and as of now I'm still on good terms with my neighbors...

I know exactly where you're talking about. We'd always cruise down there from Frentress Lake! The River is quite something. I enjoy big wide open water but there's something special about the meandering path, watching the scenery change and towns go by... The Coralville Res is pretty awesome for what it is too, and being less than ten minutes from my driveway to sitting in the boat makes up for what it lacks. Nothing wrong with any water going vessel, either! Some of my best memories are on Jon boats and jet skis in water I doubt my 220 could even float in.

Oh I know about the bird dog zoomies...gotta see/do everything all the time all at once! One thing I started doing with Kaiser is taking an extra 30 min or so before getting in the boat and doing water retrievals to burn off some excess energy. Then he'll usually calm down and assume his position in the front seat long enough to get to a beach/cove where we do, you guessed it, more water retrievals. Makes for a little more cleanup/prep/planning, but a much more enjoyable boating experience. Maybe try something like that combined with taking her out more often with you alone where there is less chaos if she's not behaving. Repetition always seems to help mine and it's heartbreaking to think she'll be missing out on all the fun!

I don't know a Gump, surprisingly....but I'm willing to bet I know someone who does! There are about 2 degrees of separation in this town