PENSACOLA, Fla. -- A road trip goes where it leads, but this week's "lightning strike" to the Gulf of Mexico was one of the strangest trips of all.
My daughter Amy requested a road trip for her birthday. School starts next week, but a couple of open days gave us all the time we needed.
My son Matthew loves saltwater fishing, so he made it a threesome.
Our destination was Big Lagoon State Park, a combination of white sand dunes and salt marshes between Pensacola and Orange Beach, Ala. It abuts a big lagoon off Old River that shares its name and is part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The park contains a small campground with small sites nestled among dunes and live oaks that contain enough room for tents, trailers or RV. Each has water and electricity, and each loop has a nice bathhouse with showers. The daily fee is a reasonable $20.
However, the sites are cozy and hide no secrets.
A young couple named Katie and Jeremy rented the campsite across from us. Jeremy is a walking quilt of tattoos, nipple rings and ear gauges. He's also a fishing fanatic. They camped with another couple, a guy named Clinton and a woman whose name we didn't learn.
Crabbing is popular in this part of the Gulf, and my kids wanted to try it. We bought a couple of crab nets, and Jeremy showed them how they work. Crab traps catch more crabs, but traps are expensive.
They didn't tell us is that you catch more and bigger crabs in deep water. The big lagoon teems with jellyfish and it's very murky, which makes it prime shark territory. Nevertheless, they caught three blue crabs in their first attempt, and they were delicious.
Jeremy also caught an impressive mess of crabs with his trap. He and Katie were excited about having a big crab boil, but Clinton and his friend didn't return that night. They didn't answer texts or voicemails. This was a problem because they had the crab pot and the crab boil.
Jeremy worked all night keeping the crabs alive, and he grew increasingly irate. I heard him bark his last voicemail. He said, "Our supper is dying! Why are you being so selfish?"
Clearly, this was not going to end well.
Sometime around 1 a.m., Clinton's friend returned without Clinton. She had Clinton's car and had abandoned him somewhere in Pensacola, but she wouldn't say where. Clinton, Katie and Jeremy were lifelong friends. This was the first time they had met the girlfriend. Cross words were exchanged and tempers flared. The squeal of tires peeling out and the dull thud of a person being hit by a car brought me out of my tent.
The woman had run over Katie and fled after failing to run over her a second time. Katie was badly bruised, but the sand cushioned the impact and prevented her from being seriously injured.
The police came and collected statements. Clinton appeared while we spoke, having arrived by cab. He apologized profusely, and then the girlfriend appeared from the shadows. Clinton announced nonchalantly that it had been a long night and they were going to bed.
Even the cops were astonished at their audacity.
Katie objected, naturally. The girlfriend went berserk and then went to jail.
The campground host was in an RV 25 yards away but didn't so much as look out his window.
Jeremy and Katie boiled up the crabs for us instead. I've never had better.
On Monday, we rented two kayaks at the park. A single kayak costs $12 for four hours, and a tandem costs $20. We wasted an hour in the lagoon before we decided to try wade fishing on the ocean side of the barrier island.
Amy and Matthew used spinning rigs, and I used a medium-action Quantum baitcasting rig. Amy and I used MirrOLure sinking twitch baits. Matt used a 3/8-ounce swimming jighead with Berkley Power Ghost Shrimp.
Ladyfish are long, slender fish that strike hard, jump high and fight with a ferocity way disproportionate to their size.
Amy's first ladyfish was also her first saltwater fish, and we caught them on almost every cast for nearly 80 minutes. The excitement enabled us to overcome waves of jellyfish stings.
The MirrOlures were brand new when we started. When we left, they looked and felt as if they'd been worked with sandpaper.
It was almost as exciting as the campground drama.
Sports on 08/13/2015