Honoring Our Heros

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

What a great time it is to spend a little time with family and friends!

I had the opportunity on Thursday to go to Bridgeport, WV with Curtis Fleming and the Fly Rod Chronicles crew to surprise a young police officer named Dustin Hotsinpiller with a fishing trip of a lifetime.

Dustin's brother Derek was a US Marshal and was killed in the line of duty earlier this year. Dustin and Derek were avid fly fishermen and spent many days together chasing the illusive trout in many of our nations streams and rivers.

They had a yearly trip planned when Derek's life was ended so tragically. Curtis Fleming and Bo Preiskorn of the Brazos River Ranch decided to take Dustin on a fishing trip of a lifetime to the mountains of northern New Mexico this July 27th to honor his brother's life!

We arrived at the police station in Bridgeport, WV around 11 AM and met Dustin's Mom, family and friends. The police chief called Dustin and told him that they had a break in a case he was working on and Dustin came in right away!

When Dustin walked in the look on his face was priceless! Curtis told Dustin about the trip, gave him a new fly rod and then his fellow officers gave him the money needed to fly there and get his licenses etc.

Curtis told Dustin that we would be filming a Fly Rod Chronicles show while we are there in honor of his brother as a tribute to the life they both lead and the sacrifice he and his family made.

Then it was time for me to sing a song I wrote for this occasion called "May Your Cast Be True.....I was sure I wasn't going to be able to get through it with crying...my wife gave me a ZERO % chance!....but with Gods help I did. It was such an honor to be able to do that for such a great family and community.

I thank God for giving me this opportunity and am completely humbled by those brave servants who lay down their lives everyday to keep us safe and allow us to live in such a great country!

I know I will be thinking of them this weekend as we celebrate another year of living in the best country on Earth!