Wednesday we spent the evening in the beer tent. We made more friends down on the floor. Here I am with my two favorite Finlanders.

Monday and Tuesday were both slow days. We did some touring around the city. Had dinner at a nice Mexican place then moved the party back to the beer tent. It was a full day.

Sunday was our first day at Oktoberfest. We had another great crowd in our group of 20. So many interesting people from many different places.

Saturday we picked up Eric and went to the Bayern Munich match at Allianz Arena. Bayern lost the match 5-2 to their Northern rivals Weder Bremen. We enjoyed the evening with friends at Weinhaus Schneider’s in Munich.

I arrived in Munich very early Friday morning. We have many plans for the week in and around Munich. I will be here for 10 days before heading East to Budapest. But first it was time to enjoy a Bavarian beer and a smoke.

I spent last weekend on yet another camping trip. This time it was Shenandoah National Park & Skyline Drive. The group of us had good weather and high spirits. We saw plenty of wildlife and enjoyed the park surroundings. We took the opportunity to enjoy the massive lodge and beautiful over look of Shenandoah Valley. The big challenge of this trip (every trip has a challenge) was my camp stove would not work. No worries, we cooked all the meals over an open fire. Patience is the name of that game, especially when most of the wood is wet and the campers are hungry. It all worked out in the end, fun was had by all.

This weekend I was back in Garrett County, Maryland fishing and camping. I spent most of Saturday fishing the Casselman River. The shot below is a pic of the 13 inch Rainbow Trout I landed on a dry fly. Very exciting experience. The Trout are thick in the Casselman this time of year, mostly Brook Trout and Rainbows. What a beautiful scene in Western Maryland.

Today we had a full day. Breakfast was early and we were on the road for new fishing fly fishing opportunities. After some guidance from the locals we fished the Lostland River. The scenery was incredible. We got into some really good looking trout and more rain. I even encountered my first wild rattle snake (I did not know these existed in Maryland) For the afternoon, we visited the very picturesque Savage River. A very challenging trout stream, but the most beautiful in the State. After a long day of fishing and hiking we stopped into Keyser, WV to visit my cousin, what a blast. We stayed there way too late and arrived at our hotel in Sharpsburg at midnight. The night clerk was not happy.

Today I started my week long trip of fly fishing and visiting family. This morning we drove to Grantsville, MD to fish the Cassellman River. Where the locals are helpful and the trout are plentiful here. After a day of driving we made it to our hotel in Frostburg. We walked the old stone bridge over the Cassellman River on the old National Road and received some welcome fishing tips. We spent a few hours fishing on the river. For dinner we met with some cousins. It was a good day.

I built this guitar with the body of a 94′ Mexi-Strat, and the neck, pickguard and pickups of a 96′ Mexi-Strat. I did not do the paint job on this one. I spent most of Saturday working on this. Fender Project No. 1, which has been well documented here, has resumed. I have final sanding, primer and paint to apply. Recently a new neck and tuners came in. I also have the electronics to build the pickguard assembly.