John Murray – My Boat is Here New Boat, Christmas and New Plates for the RV

I just got a call from the Ranger dealer at Cabela’s in Glendale, and my new Z521 has arrived. My Mercury Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke came in a little while ago, and now that it’s here, they can install the motor. We’re all excited about it, because this is the first one of the new Pro 250 Verados that any of us have seen, and we can’t wait to run it.

I’m still waiting on my Lowrance units, but those can be installed later; I can’t wait to get the motor out and run it. I should be out there sometime next week driving it around and getting a feel for it. I can’t wait either, this is the first time I’ve been without a boat in a while, and I can honestly say I hated it.

I’ve had to pass up fishing trips, and I’ve even had to turn down a couple of guide trips lately, so this will be a good thing to get my new boat. The upside to being without a boat is that I’ve been able to get more organized, but more importantly, I’ve spent some great time with Amy and T.J.

We had a great Christmas; we went to my Mom’s house on Thursday, spent Christmas Eve with some friends in the neighborhood, and more family stuff on Christmas day. I ate too much and watched T.J. make out like a bandit. He’s got more toys now than he knows what to do with, and I still think he’d rather be playing with plastic worms or in my truck. He’ll spend an hour in there turning on the 4×4 button and changing the radio stations, he just has a blast.

We got the license plates in for the motor home the other day, and when I opened them, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t do personalized plates, and they came back AMY8995. Amy thought I ordered personalized plates for it, but I assured her I didn’t, besides, I probably would have chosen a different number for it if I had. Sometimes I would choose number 1, and sometimes 666, you just never know; I’m kidding.

We took it as God’s assurances to us that we had made the right decision in Amy quitting her job and her and T.J. coming on the road with me. It was one more confirmation that this coach was becoming more and more like our home.

I’ve got a meeting this week with a sponsor, and hopefully it will turn into something positive, but for now I’ll get back to organizing tackle. Ya know, I’ve tried everything I can think of in the past 20 years for storing spinnerbaits, and I can honestly say that I’ve never found a good way to store them, I guess I’ll get a plastic bag.

For more on John Murray, and his career as a professional angler, visit: www.johnmurrayfishing.com