1/2/20 Bass Pro Shops, 20 Minutes At A TIme?

    It took almost the full two week vacation but we finally made it to Bass Pro Shops.  Everyone in the family is pro pontoon, even Boy who doesn't even like being outside.  The best prices for said pontoons that we have found have been at Bass Pro Shops.  I am not sure about the quality of these Tracker Marine products, but the prices are very competitive and are about the only way I have been able to get Wife on board.
    Out of the blue, Wife asked if I wanted to go to said store yesterday afternoon.  I was a little apprehensive because I have been asking to go every day and everyone had just been rolling their eyes at me and at this point, I might as well have just waited for the weekend when the annual Austin Boat Show is held in the convention center.  Still, we all got dressed up and headed out of the house around 3:00pm.  It is a good 30-40 minute drive in the best of circumstances and I was surprised, I guess most people were off, we shot right through downtown in minutes.  For once, there was no heavy traffic all the way to Round Rock.  I did nap the last 15-20 minutes, but I did wake at 10:00am and had been up the night before pretty late.
    I guess since it is almost unanimous that everyone wants a pontoon, I can start to see them more as a thing that is mine versus a thing I might get.  We looked at a couple of different models, from a tiny 16 footer which can ride about 6-7 people to a robust 24 footer that will ride up to 14 people or so.  I think the fishing models will do us best, either the 22 or 24 footer.  They both have a fishing chair at each corner of the boat, the middle area has a huge lounger on both set up with the sunbrella overhead and the driver's seat to starboard (right side).  Even with a decent 150HP engine, either of the boats (with 3 pontoons) goes for under $40,000.
    I could easily walk around the fishing area and the rest of the store for a couple hours, but as usual, someone in my party slows things down.  Usually it is Wife giving me about 20-30 minutes before she gives me the eye rolls and exasperated sounds and then "I'm hungry" starts.  Sure enough, I was being all cool with Javalina, got him a new fishing rod, but as soon as we had new fishing line on both new rods (I got a new one as well), he started with "I'm hungry", "can we leave?" and all the usual whiny lines.
    After awhile, I just gave up, as usual, and headed out.  It was nice that I was able to pay for everything with the Christmas gift cards my in-laws gave me.  We promptly headed to Wendy's to sooth the savage hungry beast, then we headed home.