Ricky and I hooked the "hillybilly hotel" to the truck and headed to Junction last Thursday morning for the trapping convention over the weekend. We made several stops along the way taking our time since we didn't need to be there until later in the evening.
I had a few errands to run while in Georgetown then we stopped in Bertram to see Uncle David's new store. He has some amazing woodcraft items that he carved by hand. My parents met us at the Burger Bar for lunch when we got into Llano. It was so good to see them as it had been awhile...thanks for the nice visit! Ricky and I finally got to Junction late afternoon and before long we found the state park a few miles out of town where we would be camping on the South Llano River. We loved this place! It was very nice and well kept. Turkey and deer were roaming all through the park which was a welcome sight for us. We felt right at home.
The "hillybilly hotel"
Once we finished getting the "hotel" set up and the bed made, we took a short walk hoping to see the river, but found that the area had been closed for turkey roosting season. WHAT?! A large part of the park was closed just for this...interesting. So we decided to just head back into town to get a few necessities, rent a couple movies to watch, and eat some supper before we headed to the convention center to help set things up for the weekend. Where to eat for supper was a no brainer with Cooper's BBQ being one of our choices. Ricky and I shared a huge pork chop with all the sides to go with it...YUMMY!! Well worth every penny. We still think the Cooper's in Llano is the best, hands down. Afterwards we met up with our friend and fellow trapper Dan at the convention center and helped unload the trailer with furs and stuff for the convention. After we got everything sorted and set up in different booths, Ricky and I set up our table with his woodcraft items to try to sell over the weekend. It was getting pretty late and we wanted to watch one movie before bed so we headed back to our "hotel" for the night. Avatar was the entertainment for the night and we are still not sure if we liked it or not. Ricky slept through most of it so I guess it's really me who's not sure if it was a good movie or not! Just different.
Friday morning came quickly and we were up and ready to get to the cafe for a good breakfast before a long day. Most of the morning was spent visting with friends who we hadn't seen since last year and helping them set up their tables. My cousin from Llano was there which was a nice surprise! We really enjoyed visiting with Tom over the weekend. People started to come in after lunch and the rendezvous was well under way. Ricky got a famous trapper, Mark June, to come all the way from Nebraska to do a couple demos and he was awesome! His demos had so much personality and he was very entertaining to watch. I loved how he would get the little boys involved in his demos by acting like coyotes. It was funny! Later in the afternoon we ventured out to a ranch close to town to watch on-line trapping with three other well known trappers. It is always interesting to see how different their techniques are and see what is actually in their traps the next morning. By the time we got back to the convention center it was time for supper then back to the "hotel" Ricky and I went. We were exhausted and ready to call it a night.
Cousin Tom and Ricky trading trapping stories I bet
The hubby and me
Mark June's booth...he said he sold ALOT more in Texas than anywhere else!!
Mark's first demo
Setting a trap for coyotes
Saturday morning we missed the alarm so we weren't able to go with the trappers to see what got into their traps during the night. We did find out that there were two foxes, a nutria, a few coons, and a possum. Nothing I haven't seen before. I always enjoy seeing bobcats so I was glad I didn't miss out on anything! Soon after we arrived to the convention center Ricky and a couple other guys did their own demos. Ricky talked about trapping coyotes and he did a great job. I enjoy seeing him in the teaching role especially with young boys because he can relate with them so well. Mark June did another demo soon after Ricky was done and was even funnier than yesterday. That guy is a GREAT presenter! You can really see how much he enjoys his job. The ladies did some crafting then there was the annual skillet toss (I got 1st place) which is always fun. Speed trap setting was next then soon it was time for lunch which was FISH!!! We were all hungry and ready to relax a little bit. The auction was right after lunch and it was fun to see how high some items went. My sweet husband has such a soft spot for kids and there were two teenage boys who came with my cousin, Tom. They really wanted a set of traps but obviously couldn't afford to keep bidding in order to win them so Ricky got the highest bid and gave them the traps. I wish I took a picture of their reaction...priceless! I was reminded again why I love that man! After the auction it was time to clean up and the rendezvous soon came to a close. We said our goodbyes and headed to eat somewhere on the way back to our "hotel." Knowing how much I love Mexican food we decided to try a restaurant called La Familia which was recommended by a lady in the cafe the other day. I have only one word for that place...YUK! It was not good at all and we were actually worried we would be sick that night, but thank goodness we weren't. Never going back there again. We rented one more movie since one of the other movies we rented the other night didn't have closed captioning on it. We got the 8th movie in the "Love Comes Softly" series and absolutely loved it! It was the perfect way to end our night.
Ricky's demo
Mark June's 2nd demo
Skillet Toss
Speed set trapping 
Knowing we wanted to be home fairly early on Sunday we hooked up the "hotel" to the truck and headed out of the park around 8am. We really enjoyed our weekend away from home just being with friends and having some alone time together. The Spring convention will be in Ft. Stockton in April and we are already looking forward to it. Doubt we will be hooking up the "hillybilly hotel" for that trip though as it will be a much longer drive!! Thank you God for blessing me with such a wonderful husband who I still enjoy spending time with doing something he loves.
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