Our Seventh Annual Outdoor Ron-de-Voux took place at the Top Rail Cowboy Church in Greenville this past weekend and, as the saying goes, a good time was had by all. The idea for the event started with a visit with the late Lee Buffington, a well-loved radio personality better known as “Friendlee”. Friendlee passed away not long ago and we renamed the event “Luke Clayton’s 'Friendlee' Outdoor Ron-de-Voux" in his honor.
Newcomers to the event often ask me what goes on there on the 18 beautiful acres owned by the church and I tell them it’s like a big family reunion. The church has a chuck wagon team and they are busy baking biscuits, serving coffee and providing a spot to ‘warm up’ if the weather is a bit chilly. We usually schedule the Ron-de-Voux the first Saturday in March but this year, we changed the date to late March because of scheduling at the church. I was ‘sweating’ things a bit this year.
We choose early March because the temperature is usually just a little chilly, much like fall weather and the warmth of a crackling campfire feels good. The daytime high temperatures was in the upper eighties several days before this year’s event and I thought of not having my usual campfire. Campfires, warm sunshine and wood smoke just don’t seem to fit. But about a week before the event every extended weather forecast I saw predicted the high to be in the low to mid-sixties on our appointed day.
I would like to thank each and every one that helped make this year’s event so much fun but naming everyone would take up all the space I am allotted for my column. The event is a great way to set around campfires and visit and a whole lot of that took place. But visiting with venders at the various booths is fun as well as sampling the food at the chuck wagon, and the Dutch Kettle clubs and the big fish fry our fish cooking team prepares. In previous events, we used cast iron pots and skillets over propane burners to fry fish but were always challenged to have the potatoes, hush puppies and fish ready at the same time.
This year my good friends David and Edgar Cotton brought their big outdoor fish fryers and greatly speeded up the process. Conversations about everything from training squirrel dogs to fishing the crappie spawn were going on and I even took center stage around the fire relating a humorous tale that centered around a conversation on the phone with a new friend. Let me re-tell it, I think you might also get a laugh.
I was cruising down Interstate 30 a couple days before the event. My plan was to get everything set up and ready. I had wood to unload, a few banners to set up and chairs to assemble. Off to the side of the road, I saw a billboard advertising cremations for a bit over a thousand dollars. I pulled over and jotted down the phone number. I’m not known to be ‘cheap’ but the idea of paying over ten grand for a ‘lay away plan’ is something I definitely wish to avoid, many, many years for now of course but when one is in his or her seventies, it’s a good idea to give though to such things, right?
I pulled into a parking lot and dialed the number, no time like the present to save several thousand dollars I was thinking. A couple of rings on the phone and I was greeted by a very friendly guy that was a pleasure to talk with. I was visiting with Bill from Peters Funerals & Cremations in Greenville. I introduced myself and as luck would have it, he knew about my weekly outdoor column and was a regular reader.
The subject went quickly from saving dollars with a cremation to where is the best place to catch catfish. Bill was my kind of man and he had the ability to save me several thousand dollars with my “Luke Clayton layaway plan” and… he loved fishing! After a discussion of everything from the best rigs to catching catfish to a little Lake Texoma striper fishing talk, we discussed my reason for the call.
I’m pretty good at getting straight to the point and my question was, “So for a bit more than a thousand bucks, you can implement my ‘layaway’ plan?"
Oh yes, says Bill that is basically all it costs but you do need an Urn. No, I explained I don’t need an urn, even at the reasonable price of a few dollars he offered. A two-minute job with post hole diggers and its dust to dust for me buddy, I replied. Not to be cheap but no, I don’t need an urn. Just the basic plan. Well, there is one other possible added cost. Transportation to pick you up is free and ten miles back to the funeral home is included but over ten miles is a few bucks per mile. I did the math in my head and figured the added “travel” cost would be only a few more dollars. Heck this was more economical than an Uber trip! The more I learned from Bill the better this deal sounded. How about paying you? Need all the money up front? No, says Bill, You can pay as you go, so to speak whatever amount you wish. Then the full amount is due of course when the time comes to implement your ‘plan’.
After our little phone visit, I was all in and I invited Bill and his office manager out to our event this past weekend. I must say I was pleasantly surprised when a very friendly guy walked up and introduced himself. I had made a new friend that I was anxious to introduce to the crowd. I had quite a group setting around my campfire and began to relate the tale of how Bill and I met and the layaway plan I chosen. At first everyone was a bit serious but as my humorous tale unfolded, I saw my plan was resonating with several folks. I’ve always said sportsmen are never at a loss for words and no other group in the world makes friend faster.
Email Luke through his website www.catfishradio.org. Listen to his podcast Catfish Radio just about everywhere podcast are found.
