January 7th-10th, 2010 pt.2

Round 2 kicks off to a good start; managed to get enough sleep to shake off last nights’ festivities.  JackDaniel pulls in on his Goldwing with H riding pillion.  JackDaniel wastes no time introducing us to real grits, not like the stuff I had tasted at Denny’s way back in New Hampshire, this was the real deal.  That glass you see there is freshly squeezed orange juice.  Floridians wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

Few moments later it starts to rain.  JackDaniel decides to swap the Wing for his pickup.  Amanda, H, and I hang out at The Swamp waiting for JackDaniel’s return.  I guess this would be a good time to take a look around.

This here is the toilet to "The Love Shack", which is situated across from the trailer we had slept in.

Amanda going for a rear-naked choke hold on the bed of "The Love Shack".  Not so sure if that was a good idea.

With the crappy weather and all, JackDaniel thought we’d get a kick out of meeting his friend whom I will refer to as “J”.  JackDaniel and J go way back…that’s about the extent of what we know about J at this point.  When we arrived at J’s driveway, we couldn’t help not to notice the various “No Trespassing” signs as we were driving in.  It was almost comical, but at the same time, a tad bit creepy.  The trees became denser as we drove further in towards the house and that dang banjo music started to creep back inside my head again.  It can’t be all that bad.  Besides, little H is here with us. 

We walked inside to the living room to find J sitting in his recliner, clad in camouflage thermal underwear, watching a fishing show on the television.  We sat on the sofa next to him and introduced ourselves.  We immediately got into talking about hunting.  It was hard not to because the room must have had at least 6 trophy bucks mounted on the walls, one that was taxidermied halfway and made it look as if it was walking through the wall, a couple of ducks, fish, and one big wild turkey in its entirety.  At one point J was showing us how he calls for wild turkey, which is not as easy as you think, and a friend of J’s, who I will refer to as “T”, walked in and was wondering why a live turkey was in the house.  That’s how good J was. 

For lunch, J treated us to some smoked mullet him and T gigged the other day on their air boat.  For those of you don’t know, gigging is when you use a pole which has been tipped with a multi-pronged spear to fish.  It was gooooooooood eatin’. 

Pounding back a salty dog for the first time.  Vodka & freshly squeezed grapefruit juice served in a salted-rim glass.

Amanda picking some grapefruit off from the tree

Amanda carrying grapefruit back to the bar

J's outdoor bar decked with confederate memorabilia

Amanda adding a toonie to the collection.  The bar had various coins glued to the table.

Later on JackDaniel, J, and T were gutting coolers full of mullet out in the yard while we watched.  It was scary watching how fast they worked with a sharp blade.  Mullets are the only fish that have a gizzard which is normally found in birds.  These were saved as a delicacy. 

Going for a hike in the back yard

Amanda and H hiding in a hunting blind

I see one!  Hurry up and gig it!

We went back to The Swamp and had fried mullet and gizzards for dinner.  It was soooo good.

Southerner’s breakfast.

That’s a noose around a…whoa!

Mmm, deep fried goodness.