A Date, South Dakota Style!

That consisted of lunch at KFC and an afternoon and evening of ice fishing (that turned disastrous!) . . . You may be thinking "how romantic?" Well, to us it was - it was simple and better yet, time alone! I had spent the morning in the car driving Cayel to Wyoming so he could spend his 2 days with Brian in Colorado. Before I even pulled into Spearfish from my trip back Josh had called twice wondering when I was going to be home. "It's not often that we get a day alone without Cayel," he said. Knowing that his heart was burning to spend time outdoors (with his wife of course :), I was game for ice fishing (anything to get quality time with my hubby).

So, it all began with loading up the truck with all the ice fishing gear (I realized mighty fast that this hunting and fishing stuff requires A LOT of gear and preparation). After a pit stop at Triggers (the new Outdoor Sportsman store) to get my fishing licenses we headed to Orman Reservoir (now remember for all you Minnesotan's - Land of 10,000 Lakes - South Dakota doesn't have lakes, they have Reservoirs). It was beautiful . . . about 35 degrees . . . sunny . . . little wind . . . and not a SINGLE person on the ice . . . Josh unloaded the truck and as he carried all the gear (don't worry, I carried the bucket with the minnows :), I trailed behind taking pictures and soaking up the sun!



Once we got about 1/2 mile out, Josh started drilling holes in the ice to check the depth. After about a dozen holes were drilled in random places, he picked the "perfect" spot (all I could do was keep my concentration on where the holes were being drilled so I didn't fall in, not that I would have fit or anything).


Finally, we got the portable ice house up, the heater going and the poles in the holes - it was so peaceful and the fishing began (or not, besides 1 dinky little Walleye barely bigger than the minnow, we didn't catch a single thing). I had no problem talking Josh's ear off and talking in a high pitch voice to the fish trying to get them to bite (pretty sure I wouldn't be invited with the guys on one of their ice fishing trips :).


It was about an hour after sundown and the wind started picking up, actually picking up is an understatement, it sounded like a tornado outside with the canvas from the ice house flapping around. Josh decided we should probably pack up and head back in. Just as Josh unzipped the ice house, the wind caught a hold of it and took me flying across the ice (thank goodness I was still sitting on the chair or the ice house would have been clear across the lake). As I screamed at the top of my lungs Josh hit the ground and held onto the ice house (just so you get an idea of how windy it was, the wind continued to push us across the lake even with the weight of Josh trying to hold us down). About 200 yards later we finally stopped and that was just the beginning of a HORRIBLE experience! As poor Josh peeled himself off the ice, he was soaking from head to toe. That's right, the beautiful 35 degree weather that I was bragging about at the beginning of the post, well it did a number on the ice, while we were toasty warm in the ice house, the sun was melting the ice and there was about 3" of water covering the ice. So, not only were we now more than 1/2 mile out from shore, the sun had set and it was dark and cold, the ice was now water covered, the wind was gusting up to 45 mph, and we were wearing rubber boots (thank goodness they were water proof). Josh informed me that there are these things called cleats that we could have put on our boots to help grip us to the ice but he didn't think we would need them so . . . there we were, freezing, wet and stuck! Every time we tried to stand up, the wind pushed us down or further across the lake (at one point I was on all fours crawling through the water just so my clothes would help grip me to the ice). Finally Josh grabbed the ice auger and we both held onto that and dug it into the ice as we took steps forward. An hour and half later, a dull blade on the ice auger and soaking wet and freezing cold, we made it to shore.

The fairy tale ending comes in the growth that we experienced together during that HORRIBLE experience. Never once did Josh raise his voice, get frustrated or show any hint of panic - instead, he encouraged me along and held onto me for dear life when the gusts took a hold and sent me flying down on the ice. As for me, I only broke down once and better yet, it only lasted for a minute or two. As they say, I pulled myself up by my boot straps (or ice auger :) and took it like a man! Of course when we were FINALLY in the warm truck and on our way back home, we were able to laugh at it. I made sure to remind Josh of how lucky he was that I wasn't a "typical" girl. I was wearing waterproof hunting boots (not high heals or tennis shoes), I had on a heavy winter jacket (not some dressy wool coat), I had on long underwear (not lingerie) and was topped off with a warm hat and mittens. His response (with a smile), "that's why I married you." And the love and patience he showed, is exactly why I married HIM!!

One more hunting/fishing experience to go down in "memory lane" . . .