Gawn fishun

Well, the great thing about being as old as I am is you can go back to places you haven't been to in 30 years and tell people what it looked like 30 years ago.

Now that works really well at places like Fleishacker Zoo, Crissey Field or the Moonlite Shopping Center. You know, because those places look pretty different.

Brannan Island, on the other hand, that looks exactly the way I remember it. There's still the same funky old drawbridge and the stubbly farmland on the opposite shore where they never seem to be growing anything. (We used to call it "Farm Subsidy Island.")

There's still big ol' jackrabbits all over the place. (So stick to the 15mph speed limit. You do not want to try to hose one of those bad boys out of your wheel well.) There's still this really dramatic view where you got Mount Diablo on one side and, on a clear day, you can see all the way to the Sierra foothills.

In fact Jeffrey even ended up fishing on the exact same beach on Three Mile Slough where I used to go fishing when I was 12. He didn't catch anything, but at least he learned how to cast without getting his line snagged in the tules.

For somebody who spent his formative years in Band Camp, that's a big step.

Kurt "big daddy" True
5 june 2006