Author: dickenslj

When people ask me why I love fishing and golf so much,  I respond that it’s all that I have left.  Ailing knees and an unstable shoulder relegate me to the world of low impact. Golf and fishing have knowledge, decision making and coordinated execution.  More importantly they are excellent buddy activities.

On the East Coast Swing,  I got to play the Pete Dye River Course at Virginia Tech with my good buddy Chris Milhous.  I picked him up at his home in Marrietta, GA and we drove through the remnants of Subtropical Storm Alberto to Blacksburg.  Luckily Chris is a good story teller and driver so the trip felt short.  We played an awesome course and Chris is an even better golfer so I learned from him as well.  Unfortunately that learning did not translate well for the fraternity brother reunion tournament, The Red Stackloaf Invitational.

The Stackloaf adds in a beer drinking dimension requiring excellent decision making, the “chug mulligan” .    You may take a mulligan (retake your shot) provided you chug a beer before you do it.   The decision is when and how many chug mulligans to take.  Chug mulligans early and often ruin your decision making and coordination for the rest of the round creating a vicious circle.   However, these vicious circles are often hilarious to observe.  I watched one in my foursome this year do 5 chug mulligans in two holes causing one of the others in my foursome literally fall down with laughter (notice the crooked hat and dirty club in the picture below).  This year’s Stackloaf was fantastic but the fishing was even better.

I fished with two great buddies, Dr. Pat McMahon and Pete Mathieson, who also happen to be well connected skilled fly fisherman.  We spent a couple of days fishing, Penns Creek and the private waters of Spruce Creek and the Rolling Rock Club.   Fishing I think has better stories.  The waters we fished had lots of extra large trout.

Rolling Rock Creek is beautiful providing amazing aesthetics.  We were joined by Pat’s friend George who owns Albert’s Meats.  We had a great barbecue stream side.  I have included the pictures here to dispel the doubt placed around my “fish” story.

The East Coast Swing will be done again.  Maybe fewer longer stops and a few less miles. Golf and fishing help you hone your decision making skills and are useful beyond.  No question doing the Ridgeline Tour now while I am able was a good decision.  Some cliches like “seize the day” are still wise.

At the Bucknell Reunion we saw the Class of 1968.  They did not look like they could still walk 18 holes or wade a stream or hike in the mountains or kayak a river or bike the wine country.  Thats only 14 more summers then never again.  The Tour must continue. It’s all I have left.

The next blog entries will be from the European Tour.  Look on the side bar for the schedule.

Well the East Coast Swing is complete. The Honda Ridgeline logged 4,680 miles in 18 days with events in  Cleveland, Pittsburgh, the Upper Delaware, Washington DC, Siesta Key FL, Atlanta, Virginia Tech, Bucknell,  and the Rolling Rock Club.  Siesta Key and Bucknell featured reunions.

My brother’s family, my family and my mom and dad gathered in an 8 bedroom, 6 bathroom, 2 pool complex.  I thought May would be before hurricane season but we were wrong.  I have worked with insurance companies for years who  factor global warming effects into their models for longer hurricane seasons and more storms.

Still I booked Florida anyway and Subtropical Storm Alberto washed out most of the planned activities.   Luckily the family got along well and cut me slack.  We failed to go fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, boating and beach barring.  We did some golf and beach walking. There was a tour of Mayakka State Park to see gators, birds etc. My brother’s daughters planned a surprise Siesta Key Fiesta to celebrate recent birthdays.  Hats off to them for making the most of it.

A great thing about family reunion’s is reconnecting with nieces and nephews because they are growing up and there is always new interesting news.  My nieces brought their significant others with them, a marketer for industry disrupter PayPal and a naval pilot.  They got along well with my kids and I hope they stick around.  With our children now adults it will be hard to get them all together again, but we will try.  They are great people and give me faith in America’s youth breaking the negative stereotype.

Bucknell was a different reunion with frat brothers of 35 years.  We revert back to how we interacted back in the day. Trash talking, jokes and phrases were pulled out from years ago.  I “shotgunned” a beer although a light beer slowly.  It’s really fun to belly laugh with guys from long ago.  We went through a lot of growing up together and the bonds really are strong and brotherly.  I still count them among my best friends. ‘Ray Bucknell!

One of the highlights of the Bucknell Reunion was playing in an annual golf tournament, the Red Stackloaf Open.  Look for another blog entry on Golf and Fishing shortly.

Dan Willcoxon once told me, “You can’t make old friends.”  When I say that to others they always nod with understanding.  It might have to do with old friends   know you from a different time and hence in a deeper way.  I got to reconnect with some old friends the past couple of days.

The Honda Ridgeline has logged 2400 miles since the last post stopping in Cleveland, Pittsburgh,  the upper Delaware River, Washington, DC, and then on down to Siesta Key, FL.  I’d say the rhythm has been a little too fast.  I should be spending a little more time at the stops and spreading out the schedule.

In Cleveland, Lori and I got to see my daughter, Emily and my son, Jack for the first time since having brain surgery.   We were all glad to catch up and see each other intact.  Jack is in the middle of moving from Pittburgh to California and Emily is starting graduate school so we had a loads to talk about and I stayed up too late trying to keep up with youth (Craft beer is much more potent than Bud Light and not recommended for healing from brain surgery).

I put Lori on a plane home in Pittsburgh and went to visit some great old friends from my college days, Dr. Pat McMahon and Andy Kimball, Esq.  However, I knew them from before their professional achievement and we still interact in puerile ways.

We like to drink beer and trash talk to each other while competing at a game, any game.  I found myself at shuffleboard table playing for $10 a game and ordering another beer at 1 in the morning just like it was something I do normally.  It was great reconnecting and catching up.  Great experiences with great friends is the best way to live.

From Pittburgh, the Ridgeline rolled to the northeast corner of Pennsylvania in the wilds on the West Branch of the Upper Delaware.  I got to take some dirt roads with big potholes and puddles using my truck all wheel drive and ground clearance.  Even better I got to fly fish with Dr Z who taught me 40 years ago.

Dr. Bill Zegarski first took me fishing in 1977 on a creek near Monroeton PA.  In 1978 I had a lot of “car trouble” making me late for school as I learned how to fish a little better.

I will say the student has remained the student and Bill is still the master.  I was amazed as he used binoculars determine what kind of bugs the trout were eating.  He is a legend on the Upper Delaware and everyone respectfully calls him Dr. Z.  Dr. Z graciously shared his private access to the world renowned fishery.  It was an awesome experience and great to reconnect.

It’s a far cry from the wilds of north eastern PA, to Old Town Alexandria making for diverse set of experiences.  Played the swanky, Belle Haven Country Club with old fraternity and football friends, Dave Phillips and Larry Zmuda.  Dave had kids returning from school, and graduating and Larry had a son getting married in South Carolina in 3 days but they still took time to visit and Dave even put me up and made his wife go out to dinner with me.  Old friends are great because  you can tell stories from the past as you create new memories.

The pace of these visits was too hectic and next time I’ll slow it down a bit to make it even better.  So next I drove to Siesta Key FL for a family reunion.  Next post, How to have a Family Reunion in a Tropical Storm.

I have added Out West #1 to the Tour schedule check the sidebar web pages.  If you want to read about the first week of retirement keep going.

I have heard from some family and friends that they’re afraid of being bored or are uncertain what they would do if they retire.  They don’t believe in the promise of retirement.  I encourage those of you like that to work on getting out of your comfort zone and to think hard about what you could do with time and freedom.  Here’s why.

May 7th, the neurosurgeon released me to normal activity warning me that I am still healing and will have about 50% of the normal energy to do things.  I feel like a prisoner set free.  In the last 7 days, I have played 100 holes of golf, attended a Chicago Fire game, attended a charity gala and been out to dinner downtown connecting with neighbors, forgotten friends, workmates and current golfing buddies.  I was not rushed or time compressed and was rested and able to thoroughly enjoy all of it.

The East Coast Swing starts this Friday.  Looking forward to family, friends  and adventure.  Next blog will be from the road.

The initial Ridgeline Tour set of events is posted on the side panel of this site.  Look for “East Coast Swing”.  Future blogs will be from the swing.  If you want to know more about my planning for retirement please read on.

To gain insight on how to retire, I non intuitively asked my children.   On Easter 2017, each stood up and gave me a 10-15 minute presentation on what I should do with the rest of my life.  Here are the results:

Kid #1- Here are your guiding principles: Pursue an intellectually stimulating and emotionally appealing area. Leverage expertise and skills. Be philanthropic but also be competitive and results-driven. Strive for greatest good for the most people.

Kid #2- Your passion is sustainability and clean water. Here are places to learn about it. Here are different technologies. Here are ways to join in as a volunteer, an employee or an entrepreneur.

Kid #3 – Remember this is retirement and you can find a new lifestyle. Perhaps you should work less and play more. Why don’t you re-establish and strengthen relationships with family and friends. Go do some cool things.

I presented my 2018 retirement plan back to my kids, Easter 2018.  Here are excerpts:

Goals: 1. Seriously plan and seek great experiences with family and friends.  2. Complete an investigation in clean water and build a plan to join in.

Daily Activity Structure:  2 hours mental and physical well being, 2 hours learning, 5 hours work and play

Accountability: Quarterly read out to the kids on progress against goals.  Next read out is 4th of July.

After a bad day at work or life, I would always say, “at least I’m not in a foxhole in Afghanistan” and move on with a good attitude.  I’m now going to change that to ” a week long stay in the Edwards neuro ICU”.  Here is why.

For those of you following my health, here is a final description.  The tumor was benign and I should fully recover without ongoing medication.  I will resume all normal activity by late May.  For those who want to follow or join the tour, read on.

In January of 2017, I sat in the Honda dealership enduring the long purchase process with the “finance guy” who once he got to the trade in said, “What are you doing?” and “Really, why!”.  Outside sat my high powered Audi S5 convertible, thrilling to drive especially on a warm summer evening with the stars coming out.  And, after careful research, I was trading it in for a Honda Ridgeline pick up truck.  The guy’s question was legitimate since my driving was mostly around my suburban town and into the city for work. I hadn’t “hauled” anything in years.  At the time I had no answer for the “finance guy”.

Today I understand the pick up was a catalyst to get me moving on. Many of my family and friends asked the same question as the finance guy and I had to start coming up with answers.  So I told them of all the new capabilities I might need for all new things I might do in the future.  I began seriously thinking about how I could find the time to do those things.  It meant I needed to retire.  Reason one for the blog name.

A  ridge line is also a hugely desirable topographical feature to those that drive or hike in uneven terrain.  When driving a ridge line, the road ahead is highly visible lacking surprise  turns and sudden cross traffic.  You can make good time without being white knuckled.  In hiking a ridge line, that visibility is also very helpful because it is hard to get lost and weather doesn’t sneak up on you.  Whether hiking or driving you get the best aesthetic view along the ridge line.

Some may argue the summit is the best view.  But a summit is a point or destination and a ridge line is a line or journey.  The philosophers are pretty clear on which one is better so Ridgeline it is.

Next entry will be after my wife and I go for a Tour stop in Cleveland. My daughter is turning 21 and we are taking her and her friends out to celebrate.  Combining an old convalescing worried dad with a bunch of 21 year college women on a Friday night has the makings of a train wreck.  I’ll let you know next entry along with Tour events, locations, and dates.