Saturday, July 1
(New Hampshire)
Annie writes:
Dan and I spent the day getting organized and taking care of things on our to do list. Dan is planning a fishing day with some guys from CITGO who will be in NH for the NASCAR race next weekend, so he is trying to get that all organized. We will now be writing the journal on a weekly basis instead of a daily basis. Thank you all for your support and we hope you continue to follow our travels and out career throughout the next season.
July 2-8
(New Hampshire)
What a busy 1st week home. The kids are with us and it is great to be at the lake with them and just be parked for a while. We have played tennis, went kayaking, went shopping, and Dan & Jeff are beginning a big project which involves finishing the interior walls and ceiling of the barn we had built here last fall. (It’s not really a barn - that’s just what we’re calling it. It’s really a 2 car garage with a huge upstairs room that we’re finishing off into living space.) Also, Dan worked all week to plan a fishing trip with some CITGO guys who were coming to the NASCAR races this weekend. On Saturday, he and some of the guys from his old bass club took a group of guys out to catch the famed smallmouth of this region, and they went to Squam Lake, which is where they filmed the movie "On Golden Pond". The weather was perfect, the scenery awesome, the fish were biting and they had a great time. I spent some time with the ladies while they went fishing, and we also had a lot of fun.
July 9-15
(New Hampshire)
CITGO provided us with tickets to our first NASCAR race, but instead of the 2 tickets we had expected we received 4, so we were able to take our 2 sons. It was awesome. We had passes first to the VIP hospitality tents, which opened at 8am. Jeff & Chris got to go on a pit tour, but Dan and I missed it because the organizers had introduced us as part of the CITGO Pro Bass Fishing Team, and then wanted us to stay in the tent to sign autographs session with Elliot Sadler, the CITGO race car driver, and Randy Tolsma, the truck series race driver. It was quite an experience, and we got to talk with these two guys for a while. It turns out that Elliot and Randy happen to be two of the nicest guys we’ve met in a long time, and CITGO should be proud to have them on their team, just as we were proud to be sitting at the same table signing autographs with them.
The rest of the week Dan and Jeff spent working on the barn. They worked 8-10 hours per day, but still have a ways to go. On Saturday we went to my niece Kaitlyn’s 8th birthday party, and we finally got to spend a little time with the rest of my family.
July 16-22
(New Hampshire)
Pretty much every day this week went something like this for Dan: Up at 4am to work on updating our website (www.DanielKeyes.com). Do that for 4 hours or so, and then start work on the barn. Work with Jeff inside of the barn for 8-10 hours, have dinner and be ready for bed by 9:00. The barn project is taking far longer than expected, and both Dan and Jeff are really ready for it to be done. The only reason they’re doing it in the first place is because they couldn’t find anyone to hang drywall, and they thought it would be quicker to just finish the job themselves. Wrong. They chose to do it in 1x8 V-groove tongue & groove siding, 1,200 square feet of it, and it’s turned out to be a lot of work. The good news though is that it is moving along, and it look fabulous - far better than the drywall would have, but Dan and Jeff are both rather testy now, at the end of two weeks of working this project.
Regarding Dan’s other project - the website - work has gone very well and there are a great number of changes that have been made. Everyone who has been crying for more "Ask Dan" and "Ask Ann" questions, as well as "Pro’s Tips", should be happy for a little while. Note that all of the changes we make to the site are listed on the bottom of the home page - so you can just check the "What’s New" list to see if there have been any changes since you were into the site last. (And don’t worry, we learned a lesson this spring about the importance of backing up our work. It’s an every day thing now.)
July 23-29
(New Hampshire)
Finally, after two weeks of work, we’re done inside the barn. Sunday and Monday we spent painting (actually just a clear-coat on top of the V-groove,) and it came out awesome. We’ve begun moving some furniture, beds, sofas, TV’s and the like, up from our storage garage and as soon as the carpet is installed we’ll put it all in place and have a really neat place for us and the kids to hang out.
Chris leaves for Africa on Sunday so we spent lots of time packing his luggage. Together all of his luggage can not weigh more than 30 lbs., so we have been trying to keep it to a bare minimum. I had a dentist appointment which I had not been looking forward to.
On Thursday Dan took the motorhome and boat down to Connecticut for an interesting weekend. He is helping out with the Bassmaster Junior Chapter Invitational tournament.
This tournament is the culminating event for B.A.S.S. Federation Junior Chapters, where numerous states who have qualified a state team meet to compete in championship-type event. It was very interesting, and Dan has posted more information, including links to related sites, on our website www.DanielKeyes.com, on the Fishing Pictures page. Be sure to check it out.
Link to:
August 2000
July 2000