A Mickie Dees Secret Told by an Angler

On the plane to Houston, I sat next to a contractor from Rindge, NH. He told me he was on his way to a fishing tournament sponsored by McDonalds. Ironically, most of the work he does is remodeling their restaurants so they can serve their new McCafe offerings, making the drive up wider to accommodate the more than 70% of their business that comes by car.

He said that more than 7000 other anglers would be fishing in the 100,000 acre lake, and that they would be giving away boats and cash to dozens of winners.

We talked about McDonalds and he revealed a secret most people don’t know. Those cast iron pipes that take wastewater away from the more than 30,000 Mickie Dees are rotting out because of all of sugary soda that gets poured down the drain. The coke eats away and in about five years those pipes are all decayed, spewing out leaks in the ground. He said that they could replace the iron with PVC pipe, but that plumbing code and strong unions have kept that from happening.

We talked about flying and he said that one of his life’s dreams is to charter a Gulfstream G5 and fly with his pals to the Bahamas. It would cost about 60 grand, split between however many friends he can get…hey, the planes seat 12. I wished him good luck in the tournament, and departed to meet my group of writers in the lobby of the Marriott.