I hadn't been on the water fishing in something like six or seven years. I was so excited! I'm not a morning person at all but this was so worth waking up at 4:30 am for.
We were on the water till noon and I learned a lot about our guide and the things he does to help other veterans. He was a Marine and now spends his time taking other veterans out on the water for a little relaxation. He has sponsors, has been on TV shows, and just loves the simple life. Once I finally get home and have some time I'm going to track down all the details on his operation and share it with you.
I caught my first fish as a blind guy! It was a nice little small mouth bass. Now I've got the bug again and I can't wait to get my family out and do a little fishing of our own.
Sunday the 21st was Fidelco's Ride for Independence which is a great fund raising event full of motorcycles and dogs. I was able to be the Grand Marshall at the event this year and it was a blast!
I grew up riding dirt bikes and had always loved motorcycles. I took the safety course in September of 09 and had my bike picked out when I found out I was going to deploy. I almost went through with the purchase anyway but at the last minute decided just to wait. Good thing right?
Needless to say I was excited about all the bikes. They had a sweet side car set up for me and after a few opening speeches, including a few remarks of my own, a few hundred bikes roared to life and went on a nice cruise through Connecticut.
I miss that rumble and the wind. It was so nice to feel it again. I almost dozed off I was so darn comfortable. All said and done we rode for around two hours and it was a blast.
We got to Fidelco that morning at 6am when one of the local news stations was showing up and we got to do a few interviews before the festivities at noon.
Everything wrapped up around 3:30 for us and a few of us loaded up and headed into Hartford to go to a concert tour called the Rockstar Mayhem Festival which you may remember if you've been reading this blog for a while.
Back in 2010 or 2011 the folks at SOCOM got some backstage passes from an organization called Metal of Honor and my pal Cody and I were able to see the show and meet a lot of the bands.
Well, when the trip to CT was scheduled the stars aligned and three of us were able to get tickets to the show. Apparently the lady who helped us out back then remembered us and was more than excited to let us in on the action again.
We got VIP passes and got to meet Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, and a handful of other not as well known bands. Now I know a lot of you wouldn't be excited by meeting those guys and many probably have no clue who they even are but I loved every second of it.
Photos courtesy of Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and Heidi Voight
By the end of the night I made the rest of my group introduce me as Mike the blind guy just to make things easier. Once we got it out there everything was nice and simple. A few of the people we met didn't believe me so I had to spin my eye around to convince them I was telling the truth.
We had an awesome time and it's so weird to have these famous musicians thanking me for what I've done. For some reason I just never expect to hear it from them.
Huge thanks to Fidelco and everyone else who made all of the events on that trip happen. You guys rock and I'm looking forward to the next one!
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