In this week’s Rollin’ Down The River feature I profile a recent kayak trip on the Chipola from the Highway 20 Bridge to Scott’s Ferry. Chris Matthews and I made this journey two weekends ago and as usual had talked several times during the week about the plans and details of the trip. One of my jobs was to bring Saturday night’s supper entrée. Now while I love to cook at the house, especially on the backporch grill, cooking on camp outs is usually stream line to the basics. So the Saturday night entrée was going to be hot dogs, the great American staple food for camp outs.
Well the hot dogs somehow got left in my refrigerator, along with the jelly for my peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, the other great great American staple food for camp outs. But Chris had a back up plan as we would be roughing it at a cabin at Scott’s Ferry and there is a little store at the Ferry. The store has frozen pizza that they can bake up right there. So it appeared our supper plans were in order.
After we had arrived at Scott’s Ferry and unloaded all our gear in the cabin we saw a large crowd gathering at the large pavilion. One of our sources leaked some information to us that there was going to be a fish fry taking place at the pavilion. As Chris and I made our way up to the store to pay for the cabin, we concocted a plan to use our social skills to see if we might garner an invite to the fish fry. When walking by the pavilion we spoke to the “chief fish fryer”. There was some small talk about us being on a kayak trip down the Chipola and he did not bat an eye before he uttered the magical words “Want y’all come eat some fish with us tonight,” he said. It turns out the family was gathering to celebrate the 65th birthday of “Nanna.”
If that was not good enough fortune, when we got back to the cabin we struck up a conversation with our neighbor. He had been frog giggin’ the night before and had down right nicely. When asked where he was from he replied from Cottondale. Of course we advised him we were from Marianna and started trading names to see who we all knew. It came out that his wife worked at Jackson Hospital, which is where Chris’s wife Debra works. Turns out that they actually work together in the same department at the hospital. Our neighbors, Gary and Robbie Finch, had also gotten an invite to the Birthday celebration.
So that night, instead of hot dogs or frozen pizza, we dine on fried mullet, fried scallops, french fires, hushpuppies and baked beans. I ate so much fish and scallops that I could not eat any of the 7 layer chocolate cake for desert. When it was all done we wished Nanna happy birthday and thanked the head chef. Simply Put, there is nothing like living in the south and that good ole Southern Hospitality.
From the front porch: Coach said laughter is the closet distance between two people.
Well the hot dogs somehow got left in my refrigerator, along with the jelly for my peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, the other great great American staple food for camp outs. But Chris had a back up plan as we would be roughing it at a cabin at Scott’s Ferry and there is a little store at the Ferry. The store has frozen pizza that they can bake up right there. So it appeared our supper plans were in order.
After we had arrived at Scott’s Ferry and unloaded all our gear in the cabin we saw a large crowd gathering at the large pavilion. One of our sources leaked some information to us that there was going to be a fish fry taking place at the pavilion. As Chris and I made our way up to the store to pay for the cabin, we concocted a plan to use our social skills to see if we might garner an invite to the fish fry. When walking by the pavilion we spoke to the “chief fish fryer”. There was some small talk about us being on a kayak trip down the Chipola and he did not bat an eye before he uttered the magical words “Want y’all come eat some fish with us tonight,” he said. It turns out the family was gathering to celebrate the 65th birthday of “Nanna.”
If that was not good enough fortune, when we got back to the cabin we struck up a conversation with our neighbor. He had been frog giggin’ the night before and had down right nicely. When asked where he was from he replied from Cottondale. Of course we advised him we were from Marianna and started trading names to see who we all knew. It came out that his wife worked at Jackson Hospital, which is where Chris’s wife Debra works. Turns out that they actually work together in the same department at the hospital. Our neighbors, Gary and Robbie Finch, had also gotten an invite to the Birthday celebration.
So that night, instead of hot dogs or frozen pizza, we dine on fried mullet, fried scallops, french fires, hushpuppies and baked beans. I ate so much fish and scallops that I could not eat any of the 7 layer chocolate cake for desert. When it was all done we wished Nanna happy birthday and thanked the head chef. Simply Put, there is nothing like living in the south and that good ole Southern Hospitality.
From the front porch: Coach said laughter is the closet distance between two people.
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