Last year on Mother's Day, my father-in-law and I took a float down the Appomattox River and then had dinner made for us. I'm still not sure how that all worked out! But this year, we righted that wrong and agreed to let the ladies in our lives celebrate their day. ;)

My wife, Harriet, and her mother, Martha, decided to float the Farmville Blueway Trail. The Blueway Trail starts at Wilck's Lake, then you portage over to Buffalo Creek, you float Buffalo to the Appomattox River and you ride the Appomattox to Riverside Park. It's around a 4 mile trip, in and around town, but it feels really remote. It's a cool waterway to have in Farmville. You can find out more at the Friends of the Appomattox River website. I floated the trail when I first moved to Farmville.

This time I agreed to run shuttle for the ladies and to meet them at the portage, so I could help carry the canoe. The idea of my wife and mother-in-law enjoying multiple hours together on the water made me happy. My father-in-law, Bob, came to the house and agreed to watch his grandchildren, my two daughters, while I ran our ladies to the put-in. It was a team effort all around.

After dropping the ladies at the put-in, I got in the car, drove to the other side of the lake, then ran in .25mi. to the portage. The Town of Farmville had just finished installing a fresh set of steps on the lake side for easier portaging. It was excellent! Well Done Farmville! The steps certainly made it a lot nicer.

We got the canoe back into the water at Buffalo Creek and the ladies were off. My wife called me a hour or more later to be picked up at Riverside Park.  I packed our girls in the car and headed to the take-out. I arrived and carried the canoe back to the car.

Unlike my youngest, Eliza, who just laid around, my other daughter, Martha Lucy, helped me load the canoe and tie it down.

Recently we got a DJI Phantom Quadcopter at ARC-Farmville. As I handle most of the advertising images and content creation, it fell to me to learn how to fly. Tough job, I know. I took advantage of the big field at Riverside and did a little aerial photography.

This thing is WAY COOL!!

We headed out to my In-Law's house for dinner and I did some more flying with the PaddleVa Phantom.

I'm always surprised when it actually leaves the ground. ;)

It was a beautiful evening out at the lake. My father-in-law grilled some giant rib-eyes and we all hung out, listening to LPs and enjoying each other's company. As I sat on the dam flying the quadcopter at sunset, I thought how lucky I was to be loved by such an amazing woman, who also happen to be an amazing mother to our children. She learned those skills from her mother, a most graceful and lovely southern lady in her own right. It was great to honor them on Mother's Day. I think my father-in-law and I made up for the previous year's transgression. ;)

The next day I got out for about 2.5 hrs on Sandy River Reservoir. I met a fellow kayak angler, at the launch, who was coming in. He actually works with my wife in the ER and had bought his kayak from us. We talked fishing and I handed him some fresh Powerteam Lures to try out next time he hit the water. It was cool meeting him, as my wife had told me about this guy she worked with who enjoyed kayak fishing.

I staked out a spot and started working for a fish. Nothing going for the first hour. Then I switched to the new Okeechobee Craw Sick Stick from PTL, put it on a shakey head and tossed it. Bam! Game On!

I landed a nice 19.5" largemouth. He smashed the Sick Stick!

It was soo nice on the water, I actually took time to do a little shameless, cheesy promo shoot.

I did have one tragic moment, measuring for online tournament photos,  when the bass jumped off my hawg trough, as I was trying to get my picture, and landed right back in the water. It even kicked a little water up at me as it dove and swam under my kayak.

All in all, a pretty successful weekend. I only got on the water for a couple of hours, but I made the most of it. I was especially psyched to help facilitate getting my mother-in-law and wife on the water for Mother's Day. Between the two of them, they probably have close to 60+ years of paddling experience, and a handful of those years were together.

The season is upon us folks. Get out on the water and have some fun! I hope to see ya out there.
A shot of the main store in Farmville,Va from the quadcopter.