It’s been busy week here in Vermont. Somehow we’ve transitioned from a chilly, rainy and blustery 40 degrees last Sunday to highs in the 70s today. Local anglers are watching the Battenkill River like veritable hawks, waiting for the first sign of the full-on Hendrickson hatch and consistent fish rising. We’re not there yet, but every day dawns full of hope, and half of the Orvis office escapes the office early to stake out a prime stretch of river and watch for heads.
Monday and Tuesday were spent in the office; Tuesday marked by a field trip to the local Equinox Land Rover Driving School. New instructors were undergoing training and needed guinea pigs to practice on… my (awesome) boss put me in a slot and I spent an hour of the afternoon learning how to drive a Land Rover over an off-road course. My instructor was an 8-year Navy Seal veteran; we spent the time talking about photography, travel and military tactics.
Not a bad break from emails and meetings.
Wednesday I headed down with some of the Orvis Adventures crew to the Orvis Sandanona Shooting facility and school in Millbrook, New York. It still seems pretty damn weird to be traveling to the Hudson Valley to do… well, anything. After a morning of business, our small group of four headed out onto the sporting clays course for some recreation. My grand total sum of shotgunning experience was a chance at ten clays in hunters education in Montana, where I was just barely good enough to pass and continue on to the next course.
Under the careful tutelage of the skilled Sandanona instructors, I was thrilled to discover that I am not a completely hopeless cause with a shotgun, though pretty rough around the edges. The whole experience was far more fun than I had anticipated, and a shotgun has moved onto my list of “need to buy at some point in time.”
The last two days of the work week were spent in the Orvis Fly Fishing School right here in Manchester. I’m about to go through instructor training with Orvis on Tuesday, and it’s fascinating to see the Orvis methodology of teaching. The opportunity to work on my fateful tailing loop was also well-appreciated, and I had some one-on-one time with casting pro Pete to buff my double-haul.
Photographed a wedding of a fellow Orvis-ite yesterday, danced ’til I had blisters on my feet, and started working out logistics for my first striper trip at the end of the month.
Today is a day of computer work, uploading and processing images, and getting ready for another busy week. And maybe a little Hendrickson-hunting this evening.
