Part two of a 2 part trip report.. Part 1 

After a few stops to pick up food and supplies for the week, Mike and Dave arrived at the Tailwater Lodge on the South Holston River to meet up with Steve Ebling, the Altar leader/facilitator. After getting the lay of the land, receiving a very large food delivery from Walmart, and a little planning and organizing, we all headed down to the South Holston River to check out the fishing.  The Tailwater Lodge has 540′ of private river frontage, so river access is “easy’.  Well, access is easy, but wading can be a little difficult at times.  The bottom of the river there is very ledgy and uneven and care must be taken when wading.  The water was very clear, so it was tough to judge the depth of the river. A wading staff is a must. 

After a little fishing, we all discussed our options and decided that this would not be the best option for having some first time waders.  Our lead guide was consulted and an alternate location was provided for those that were wading.  Attendees split up each day and some were on drift boats with guides, while others stayed back and were wade fishing.  We helped with the guys wading in addition to our cooking duties.

Wed afternoon, our guests arrived and it was time to go to work.  We had 17 people for 11 meals, over the next 4 days.  Dinners consisted of a “southwest” BBQ with Smoked pulled pork and mac and cheese, a seafood night with baked Garlic Ginger Salmon, Mike and Dave’s Steakhouse night with grilled Rib-eyes with blue cheese and back chopped salad, and an Italian night with Baked Rigatoni and Tiramisu.  All guests were well fed. Mike told the group of a saying that his Grandfather always said before any big meal, “if you go away hungry, it’s your own fault”.  Nobody went hungry. That was kind of the theme for the week. 

Most days we were up at 5am to start breakfast, and went to bed after 10 after doing prep for the following day.  They were long days, but very enjoyable.  The facilities were a little challenging as there were two small kitchens on 2 separate floors of the main house. Neither fully stocked, so there was a lot of running up and down the steps. Mike and Dave worked great as a team, and would have been difficult to do alone.  We were able to participate in the Altar program a bit once things slowed down in the kitchen.  This is a great new program by Altar and everyone really seemed to get a lot out of it. We had a great time interacting with the guests and we are blessed to be able to serve such a great organization like Altar.
Mike