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Annual fishing trip resumes; brings broken toe and shower race win

Subhead
For What It's Worth
Lead Summary
By
Rick Peterson, general manager

Last year COVID-19 put the kibosh on my annual three-day fishing trip.
For the past six years a couple of my buddies and I have been spending a few days fishing Lake Sharp on the Missouri River. We camp at the West Bend State Park in South Dakota.
It’s not really camping when one of those buddies has a 40-foot RV. As good fortune would have it, the other buddy has a 20-foot Lund that we fish out of.
You’re asking yourself, “What does Peterson bring to the party?” My contribution to the trip is that I handle all the paper work, such as campsite reservations and fees, state park parking fees, and I bring the minnows.
The first day of the trip was pretty much for travel and setting up camp. It had been two years since our last fishing outing, so we had a lot of catching up to do, and fishing would have to wait until the next day.
I have to tell you when the three of us met for the first time in two years, a fist bump just wasn’t going to cut it. A tight-gripped handshake led to a bear hug that only buddies can fully appreciate.
The fishing was great; 36 walleyes found themselves in the live well over the three days. All of them were 16 to 19 inches in length.
For our group the attraction to West Bend is the fishing, of course, followed closely by the accommodations. When you catch that many fish, you need a darn good fish cleaning station, and they have the best I’ve ever seen.
Next on the accommodations list is the bathroom and shower facility. Again first rate, very clean, always hot water, but also busy.
As a seasoned West Bend visitor, I have figured out the earlier you get to the shower in the morning, the less likely you’ll run into other showergoers.
So, early on Day 2, as I was making my way to the shower/bathroom facility, I noticed two others headed to the same place.
To give you a clear picture of the upcoming event let’s say the facility is at 12 o’clock, there is a guy at 3 o’clock, I am at 6 o’clock and the third guy is at 9 o’clock.
After a quick assessment of the two other guys, I determined the 3 o’clock guy wasn’t carrying a towel or bag, so he was a bathroom kind of guy.
The 9 o’clock guy had towel and bag in tow, so he was definitely a shower guy.
There are two shower stalls and you never know until you get inside if either of them is being used, so beating 9 o’clock guy to the door was of great importance.
I kind of took a quick sideways glance at 9 o’clock guy only to catch him giving me the same glance. The race was on.
This wasn’t a running race, but the walking pace was kicked up a notch or two.
With only about 30 feet left to the door, I had a slight edge on 9 o’clock guy and was feeling good about my pending victory.
The victory smirk on my face was short-lived because it was about at that time I rammed my right foot big toe into an elevated crack in the sidewalk. OMG! I just broke my toe.
I stumbled forward on my left foot followed by my now broken right foot big toe, and trust me that didn’t go well. Anticipating a face plant into the sidewalk, I was able to throw myself to the left and landed with great authority on the grass.
Lying on the ground with broken toe, sore body and completely embarrassed, I noticed 9 o’clock guy hadn’t even broken stride, didn’t offer up any words of concern or help – he was just headed to the door.
I couldn’t let 9 o’clock guy beat me to the door, so with broken toe, sore body and a deflated ego, I sprang to my feet (it was more like struggling to my feet) but continued my way to the door.
I am not sure if 9 o’clock guy was overcome by sympathy, but he seemed to let up on the gas and I was able to reach the door ahead of him.
By the time I had showered and dressed, my toe was black and blue and three times its normal size. The 9 o’clock guy was now in the shower and 3 o’clock guy was still in the bathroom.

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