My trip to the Classic...Day 1

[blakstr1]

Day 1 - Wednesday 2/22.

After a long and tiring night of 20 + hours of driving, we finally arrived at Kissimmee.  We headed straight for the motel to try and check in early so I could finally sleep and refresh from being up the past 42 hours.  We got the great news from the motel attendant that the rooms wouldn't be ready for another 4 hours, so I shot some re-wetting drops on my contacts and we headed down to find Big Toho Marina to see what was going on.

Upon pulling in we notice about 60, 2006 Toyota trucks with empty Triton trailers in the parking lot, obviously these were the pros and they were out practicing.  I parked and we walked over towards the launch when I noticed Mark Zona getting his microphone in place over at one of the ESPN trailers.  We walked over and introduced ourselves as Michigan guys, he was thrilled!  He couldn't believe we drove all the way down, straight thru, pulling a boat, just to be at the Classic.  He gave us some hints to try when we did go fishing, but really just chatted with us for a good 25 minutes prior to taping a segment for Basscenter about Pitching and Flipping Mats.  He said the pros would be back in about 3:00pm so we decided to brave the 83 degree weather and kick back along the water with some of the BASS sponsored adult beverages.

We could see boats starting to come in so we made our way over to the ramp and actually were able to stand out on the docks as the trucks splashed in to get them.  I was able to get a great deal of pictures at this point and talked to a few of the guys.  Mike Iaconelli did a little break dancing on the way out of the lake, but fell due to the moving dance floor, he sure can draw a crowd. 

When the boats were all finally removed from the lake, I talked to Jerry from ESPN, who told me they were trying to find more volunteers for the week and gave me a number to reach Rocky from the Florida BASS Federation.  Rocky was head of the volunteers and told us to meet him at the Radisson Friday morning at 4:00am and we might get picked but he couldn't guarantee anything.  Not the kind of odds I typically like but I told him I would think about it and try to make it there that early morning.  After the traffic died down we made our way back to the motel to get some well needed sleep, finally after 1300 miles and 39 hours!