Father's Day -- 2017

6/18/2017

Jim Stege - Ed Stege - Scott Wood
Bloomington, Indiana (1973)

Father's Day was never well-celebrated around my home. Dad minimized most efforts to recognize his importance to us and he just worked that Sunday like most other Sundays. It was another one of those 'invented' holidays anyways.

But one of the efforts that we have been making around Stegbone's over the last 3-4 years is to make the place more kid and family friendly - to get the older 'boys' to bring mom and the kids when they come down, maybe on a different occasion than when the 'boys' come as a group. That's not exactly a new concept, but we are certainly trying harder with cleaner cabins, tidier property, and a few extra playful amenities around the property. A pool is probably a bit of a stretch - but we're open to your ideas.

But back to Father's Day and kids: I thought you might enjoy a few photos we have picked up along the way that have to do with our collective kids and their visible feelings from being around the fish camp.

"GET SOME REST AND DON'T WORRY - LOVE U!" -
On Father's Day weekend in 2013, a group of three stayed with us in Cabin #5. I was in #6 then. I found this sketch done by the young boy for his father on my table when they checked out. It carries with it a hint of many emotions that kids deal with now as they grow up more and more quickly and carry the burdens of the adults around with them. It's important to slow down that growing up and to help extend youth, and for we adults to let them know how much we care about them.

These two young Swiss boys had never fished before. In the winter of 2016, Larry Webb and Kyra Stauble helped them land a couple of 'big ones!' They were hooked. In general, all of our regulars are great at pitching in to make the most out of the experiences of our younger guests.

In 1999, Travis Carrick, the son of our wonderful first fish camp manager, Jimmy Carrick, tried his luck with an improvised 'gill net' off the south end of the dock. This became the image we used on our brochure for probably the first 10 years. It still seems like the essence of peaceful, boyhood exploration and contentedness.

When it came to exploration, these three Jax guys just crawled down onto their bellies and decided to examine what the river had to offer.

To the left is Logan Buchan, who visits regularly with his dad and mom. He has developed into a master bass fisherman and doesn't travel far from our dock to reel them in. He left the card to the right in appreciation for his last stay.

The Brown family from South Carolina has been coming down for many years. Here are three of their youngsters in our dock office when Mike Upton was with us - 2003 to be exact. They are young adults now and beginning to steer some of their young'uns our direction.

When we first arrived around 2000, we built a set of steps which are still there to the south of the South end of the dock. There was a sand beach under the cypress tree there and kids could do some pretty good swimming and playing. Terry's grandson Aaron is second from the right. He stayed with us in the early 2010's and is now doing well out in the Pacific Northwest.

The longer I stay around Stegbone's and the older we all get, the more important it seems that this place, and our lives in general, work to pass along strong values to our youth - whether those kids just happen to be passing by our cabin or are our own blood and soul. It is they who will ultimately keep this world turning.

We will be slightly changing our logo soon to visibly state how Stegbone's is heading more in this direction. Let us know what we can do to help your kids make the most of their youth. We want to help.

Catch ya later.
The Stegbone's Team