The Classic

[Rob Allen]

Well one of the reasons I agreed to move to Colorado was so that we could explore more of the country easier. I mentioned to my wife that the Bassmasters Classic is this weekend in Knoxville TN, she of course said " we should go"

I argued with her a little about not being able to afford it to no avail. So we are leaving Thursday morning we will go to the expo Saturday and Sunday and then attend the final weigh in Sunday then book it home so I can find a job..

hopefully we will get lots of pics and i'll make some kind of report for you guys. The motel 6 in Knoxville North still has 3 rooms if anyone else likes idiotic road trips:)

[Babe Winkleworm]

That's awesome! You won't be disappointed Knoxville is a nice town! Be sure to drive down to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg as well. Just stay out of the country bar called the cotton eyed Joe. I left alot of money and part of my heart there.The world needs more Tennessee girls ;)

[mysuzytoo]

Safe travel!

[Boondock]

Very cool! Have fun

[Charger69]

Sounds like fun!

[Strokerdean]

I went to Grand Lake 3 ? years ago and had a blast. We found a ramp to launch that had a couple of parking spots. Once launched we ran the lake until one of the pros were found. Chased the pros around the lake, watched most of the top pros. The expo was cool, all of the new stuff was there including boats, motors etc. If they ever come closer to NM I may go again.

[Babe Winkleworm]

Report!?!

[Rob Allen]

Just got home late last night.

We left Wednesday afternoon just before the storm hit.
Headed south to US 40 and took that all the way to Knoxville. Stayed the first night in Shamrock Texas. Had a great steak and a really nice clean room and a little route 66 history. Stopped at a pioneer museum in Oklahoma was actually kinda neat but the wind was horrible saw lots of 18 wheelers on their sides.
Bass pro shops in Memphis is really cool easy to get to and right on the Mississippi.
Had my first experience with Waffle House there too. Good food and nice people which was our experience everywhere in the south. I am from the pacific northwest and i have to say we west coast people are jerks.( no that's not the first word that came to mind)

Traffic between Memphis and Knoxville was horrible people from TN don't know how to drive, great people, but 90 mph in a congested area where the limit was 70 was the norm.

Knoxville is a beautiful town, motel 6 north was very bad sheets and pillows smelled like cigarettes and prople were shooting up heroin ( i assume) in their black dodge truck right outside our door.
But on Saturday morning the skies were clear and the Cardinals were singing. We went down to watch the competitors take off but the parking lot was full, though we did see a few taking off as we drove through the lot.
We found some breakfast at a hole in the wall diner , don't ask me where, but the food was great. We drove down to pidgeon forge, wow what a sight to see, a 20 mile long tourist trap. Not my cup of tea but amazing to see.
We went to the air museum and i got to see a famous p-47 thunderbolt named the "hun hunter."

About noon we went to the classic expo saw lots of pros and retired pros hanging around
Spent an hour talking to the local skeeter dealer he and his wife were great people. We watched Chris Zaldain weigh in his big bag from the skeeter booth, there was a little celebration.
Sunday we walked through the rest of the expo. Got to meet Gary Yamamoto, he talked to my wife about fishing senkos while sleeping in the back deck of the boat.
Saw lots more pros, chris lane, aaron martens, soo many others. Shook hands with David Fritts and thanked him for getting me into crankbaits. Then i saw Zell Rowland, now just last summer i turned my wife on to fishing poppers and the rebel pop r in particular. So i made her go meet him and show him a picture of her 6lb Columbia river smallie she caught on a pop r. What a classy guy! He talked to her about poppers and then showed us a picture of his fiancee ( if think) with a fish she caught off the bank down in Florida.

One think that really struck me is all the small companies importing stuff from China and reselling. I don't know how many rods i picked up but they were all the same just different cosmetics and and labels.
Then we went outside and leaned against Bill Lowens boat to watch the dock dogs do their thing. That was fun too. After being packed into the expo like sardines we decided to skip Sunday's weigh in and took off for home.
We took sn alternate route home. It took up 7 hours to go less than 400 miles. But i got to see Kentucky Lake.
Then we went across the top of Tennessee, into Kentucky, across the Mississippi and into Missouri.
We 2 laned it through the Ozarks to Branson that also took all day and i got to see Bull Shoals. Super neat place i want to go back there to fish.
Branson is cool too but a tourist trap.
Bass pro shops didn't open til 10 am and we needed to make miles. We made one stop on the way home and that was at a casino in Wichita KS where we won 25 dollars and spent it on a good lunch. From there we drove straight home.

All in all it was a fun trip though all we really did in terms of BASS was the expo.
The south is a great place to explore,the people and the food are great. I want to go back.

[Rob Allen]

The Skeeter dealer really deserves more recognition
Andy Cole of Morristown Marine when i win the lottery that's where i am going.

[bowman30]

Great report Rob. Sounds like you two had a good time!