All in the Family featured the curmudgeonly Archie Bunker. Archie was television’s most famous grouch, blunt, blustering, straightforward and untouched by the PC crowd. He was the archetype of the conservative male. Michael desprately tried to reeducate him, but he persisted in his breviloquence.



Looking back at the last 40 years, we realize: ARCHIE WAS RIGHT!

6/19/2006

Vaction 1995

The bright light known as G.F FireFly reminds me of a story.

In 1995 I was vacationing on Isle Royal. My plan was to rent a canoe and paddle around the island and fish. I loaded my backpack with gear and headed to Copper Harbor where I hoped a fairy ferry to the Park.

I arrived and the weather turned to crap. It rained all night soaking my camp and gear. By the time it started to get light I was ready to get moving just to warm back up. I loaded my gear into the canoe and started out. By the time I got to the north end of the bay on the north end of the island I was ready to fish for some lake trout. I started fishing by 9 and was having a wonderful time casting and trolling the big boulders that stretched out into Lake Superior.

About 9:45 I hooked a decent fish (35 to 40lbs) and he started a run to the north out into the lake. Between the breeze and the fish I was a good 1000 yards off shore before bring him to hand. As I was getting him into the boat the wind really kicked in, turning my canoe sideways to the waves. As I reached for the gills to heft the fish in, the boat nearly swamped. I dropped the trout and fell towards the wave side of my canoe at the same time, saving the boat from swamping but losing the fish.

I was able to recover my paddle out of Superior and got the canoe facing back into the wind and towards the Island. I started paddling. I spent the rest of the morning and the entire afternoon fighting the wind to make shore. About 7 o’clock I made it to the safety of the north harbor and land. I pulled the canoe onto shore unlashed the backpack and unrolled my still wet sleeping bag. Too tired to set up camp I claimed a park shelter and collapsed for the night.

I spent the rest of my trip close into shore enjoying the sights and hooking an occasional pike. The day I spent paddling in the big lake had its toll. When I dropped the fish I also lost my hat. My face, neck, head and arms were severally sun burnt. They were so bad that when my face peeled a few days latter all the skin came off in one big sheet.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)