Derek and James arrived Friday evening Nov. 21. Luckily, United (and Frontier) Airlines partner with Great Lakes Airlines, and they offer commercial service to quite a few small towns in Wyoming, including Worland. With that service, they were able to catch a local flight to Denver, then hop the flight from Denver to Houston. That's the way I travel to Worland when I visit there, and it sure beats them having to come and pick me up in Cody (90 miles) or Billings, MT (about 3.5 hours). Anyway, their flight arrived sort of on time - arrived about 10:20 instead of the scheduled 10:05), and after a little confusion inside the airport due to all the construction, we were on our way to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. I'd been telling Derek about the great food and brew they have there, and everyone was hungy and thirsty, so we were looking forward to it (and greatly enjoyed it). After BJ's, we headed to my house to hang out and drink a little more beer before hitting the rack.
Saturday morning, the folks show up at my house to pick everyone up. Since five of us were going, we had to put the back seat in the Excursion, and that made things a little tight in the back, especially since we were carrying some fishing gear and tackle boxes. Derek rigged up a sling to hold the rods on the coat hangers, and we were able to get everything arranged to fit, and off we went. We hit the road about 10:00 and headed down US 59 towards Victoria. South of Victoria, we caught 77 and headed through Corpus Christie, Kingsville, and ultimately into Harlingen where we caught Highway 100 into Port Isabel and across to the island.
Upon our arrival, we had to check in with the rental agency, and that process went smoothly. Then it was back to the condo to check things out. We arrived at the condo about 5:30 or so - enough time to get the Excursion unloaded, check things out and make a run to the grocery store for supper so we could sit down and watch the Texas Tech/Oklahoma football game. Turns out our hurrying was all for naught because Oklahoma not only handed Tech (who was ranked number 2 in the nation at the time) their first loss of the season, they gave the Red Raiders a good 'ol fashioned country ass whoopin'. I stopped watching at halftime and proceeded to grab a beer and head to the roof terrace to relax and enjoy the night view of the Gulf and island.
Sunday found us sleeping in some, cooking a big breakfast and then some exploring and errands. Derek and James needed to get their non-resident fishing licenses, and I needed to get my combo hunting/fishing license since I knew I would be going pheasant hunting within a few weeks up in Hereford. We also needed a few items for the offshore fishing trip the next day: mainly a small beverage/snack cooler and some Dramamine. I'm one of those fortunate individuals who does not suffer from motion sickness - and I've been in some pretty rough stuff. Derek was pretty sure he'd be OK, even though it had been a long time since he'd been on big water, because they'd go fishing in the Kenai Inlet in Alaska, where he grew up. James we weren't so sure about, so we got some for him just in case. Turns out, it was a good thing we did. More on that - and the offshore trip - in the next story.