Your canoe misadventure sounded preferable to your experience in today’s Minnesota. At least after the former you likely came away grateful with renewed vigor and optimism for life, in contrast to possibly leaving that state after your recent visit filled with consternation and disgust - just speculating.
I made a SUP trip to Oregon and Washington state in 2020 during the height of covid lunacy in Newsollini’s California. The roads were eerily free of congestion, while indoor dining at restaurants was forbidden and many merchants refused to take cash. Most folks were masked up in the big cities. Very weird vibes in Bend. Most people I spoke with in the country were onto the scam.
I remember seeing a guy paddling alone in the middle of Elk Lake, high in the pristine Cascade Range, wearing a mask. Curious as to why, I paddled towards him, and he churned away like I had pointed a pistol at him.
My refusals to wear masks or take the slab jabs caused tremendous upheaval in my life and resulted in me moving from CA. I miss some friends but especially that wonderful weather.
I refer to the DNC candidates as Kackla and Kookla. What speeches I watched last night from Chicago seemed to be consumed with Trump hatred, escalating racial, deviant behavior and abortion “justice,” and a version of freedom that is truly frightening. The lies about the economy were breathtaking but then always JOY! IMO Oprah should stay in Hawaii and keep her enormous trap shut.
and got sick several times (3 at least if I counted well). Can't stand her, and that is not because she is a color woman. She is a spoiled rich person just like Michelle Obama, complaining of the missed opportunities because they are black! Yep, otherwise they would be Mrs gates LOL
"...and he churned away like I had pointed a pistol at him." I remember a few people literally jumping out of the way so that I didn't walk past them, maskless, and get within their 6 foot safety zone. A runner passed me and ran into the slush in the street so as not to get within 6 feet for a fraction of a second. I still can't wrap my head around how this alleged virus supposedly had this ability to leap 6 feet and infect any wayward passersby. Oh, and apparently you could have transmitted covid by making eye contact. Thankfully no one made eye contact with the maskless so they were safe.
5 years ago this would be a cartoon and everyone would have laughed! it still made me laugh, just like people I saw recently, in France, 2 years ago, going masked into a restaurant, sitting down, take mask off, eat, then put mask on to go back out into the sun bathed street! Sometimes I just stop watching, specially if the commentator is masked.
You are a braver person than I...not talking about approaching the masked SUP person (I would have also..or at least pointed and laughed)- but I just can't watch any part of the DNC TDS convention. There are family members I don't speak to because of COVID crap and now because they "want a black woman president"...funny how those two things go hand in hand..!
Yeah I thought the masks would be off by the summer heat in 2020. Surely no one would want to wear them then. NOPE. Guess people are that stupid they don't want to breathe in the heat or any time for that matter! OMG I still see them in hot weather. Also still SMH
3rd genie N Californian here and I also left in 2020 like some of my friends; I don’t know how others stay except that where I came from in Sonoma Co is still a nice place. Me and my family ended up in S. Oregon, Grants Pass. Nothing like the northwest part of the state. No one wore masks in the part of county I was in and there was more resistance here tho not in the large senior population. Even so it was a refreshing change despite that Oregon is a shitty blue state as well. Weather here is similar to N Cal. In 2022 the Sheriff came out and said they would not enforce mask mandates. So that was the end of it in some stores that tried to enforce it. Some ppl I knew went to Texas. Knowing some of the regions there, I could not have done that. We wanted to move to ID or Montana but didn’t make it there, and were doing ok here. Marks story here reminds me that Minnesota was the home of many Scandinavians and the very popular show about them of Garrison Keeler - “A Prairie Home Companion” which we would listen to every week 40 years ago. So sad how things have changed! Those were the days.
God willing, I will never return to Minnesota. I was there once or twice with my family back in the 70s while we crisscrossed the country stuffed into a “camping” van…..i vividly remember being nearly eaten alive by the bugs, which, if I interpret your writing correctly, are thankfully in decline. (Or is it only the butterflies that are missing, and the gnats, flies and all the biting stinging things still poison the summer days and nights?). That was my first “near-death experience…..eaten alive.
My other one was in the mid 80s, when I was doing cold weather training with the Marines at Camp Ripley in January. I have never been within 20 degrees ever again of the cold of that winter…..what a miserable life draining oppressive cold, so cold you were rightfully afraid to drop your drawers to answer nature’s call….the high temperature of that “camping “ experience was a balmy 6 F, on one sunny afternoon. Most days, and all of the nights were spent well below zero, with wind chills pushing temps from -60s to near -100F.
I have never returned, and have no plans to. I can not see why anyone ever fought over this land, nor can I understand what the hell a whole bunch of Somalis are doing there. I will leave Minnesota to its bizarre governor and the people who apparently support him. Good riddance.
Let's face it - free stuff - attracts lazy people like flies to excrement. I went to Seattle last year to embark on a cruise to Alaska. Alaska was great. Washington State very nice. Seattle is a hell hole. I went to a deluxe French restaurant near Pike St. Mkt. - sat inside on the April day - as it was cold. I had a window seat. A homeless man - came to the empty terrace of empty tables - and his pants were at half mast. Gross. When the blue hair waitress came to my table, I said you have a "visitor". She casually said "So"... Liberalism is a disease.
"It felt like year 'round Halloween." Brilliant. Encapsulates everything you described.
We've gotten used to seeing heavy people, including children. We've gotten used to seeing tattoos, which I find grotesque, but each to their own. But the snot pouches? Never. EVER. Thankfully, here in NW FL it's only the odd and very rare sillies still wearing one of those.
Only one or two close brushes with death, but always aware of my father's maxim, "Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one."
got one small tattoo, a bet with my then-fiancee. It is high up my arm so can easily be covered with a short sleeve. If he had not teased me it would not be there. A reminder of a small disaster in my life.
This was a great piece! I've been there, but it was years ago. I married a guy from there whose mom was the head of a women's Republican group (!). You made so many great points! I can't wait to start asking people with tats what they paid for them! Walz and Karmela are both morons who represent morons. Just can't believe the number of people who buy their incoherent, nonsensical BS!
Yep and I could not, cannot understand why ppl pay so much for these things, poor young ppl especially, such an idiotic thing to spend money on and poisoning yourself to boot. For what? No one cares.
So glad you lived to write another day. No doubt boundary waters Tim was Minnesota nice. Great review of the People's Republic of Minnesota. Not that they need defending but it is lot like Illinois, you have Chicago and then there are the people downstate. In Minnesota you have the Twin Cities and upstate. The Minneapolis light rail was a hugely subsidized project. For years it was a great option for traveling from the airport to downtown, no longer recommended for safety reasons. Parental failure here, two of my red state educated children ended up in MN. We won't be following them, cost of living is 30% higher than my red state. Fortunately the children's values were established but never the less there are cultural challenges. We snuck in for Thanksgiving celebration in 2020 and 2021, avoided mask wearing by not going public, and did not get reported to the Governor by any neighbors. Grandchildren go to private, faith based schools for many reasons not the least is to avoid the gender confused. Hennepin County has largest population of alphabet people second to San Francisco. As a retired nurse practitioner my assessment of tatoos: the American flag ultimately goes to half staff on the Marine, the daisies wilt on the formerly flat abdomen, and playboy bunny ears, well just sayin'.
This piece has brought up many thoughts. One, I changed my 4:00 AM play list this morning to 70's summer hits . Two, you had me on the edge of my seat worrying about your possible peril, though you clearly survived to write about it. Three, the covid BS has permeated our culture so severely. Sitting through our clinic monthly meeting revealed how indoctrinated people still are. They're speaking of how people with the sniffles should cancel their appointments and still be billed for doing so with less than 24 hr notice. Boss wants us to do what is right for the business as a whole, vs what might be beneficial to individuals, staff or patients. Also, they are going to try to make me wear some sort of emotive costume on a special day. Apparently there was a movie. Didn't see it. Told them I would dress up as an anachronism.
No, Mark, I've not had multiple brushes with death, in fact, not even one - but I can see why you might have. Your canoe trip sounds terrifying.
What a weird combination - out of control people on public transport and people wearing masks.
There is no covid, Mark. No distinct illness caused by a virus. I recommend Mike Stone's substack showing the history of the rejection of vaccines and germ theory from the late 1800s from newspaper articles - they were much less controlled in those days. I'm sure you'll find it interesting and illuminating - it's very long and I cannot say I've read it properly, reading some bits carefully and others skimming but I will go back to it.
“Many Minnesotans called in, Stasi-style. Because that’s what freedom-loving “liberals” do.”…
This says it all!
I have a friend who’s a physician in Minnesota, unjabbed. He had to get a dispensation from the guvmint, using a “religious freedom” exemption. Because, science!
Mark, another great post. After reading your canoe story, I'm again relieved that I have lived a danger-free and boring life.
I agree with you on tattoos. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE AND ON EVERYONE! I was at a company wide meeting (i.e a waste of time) on Tuesday. There was one woman, nicely and very business like, dressed in a knee length skirt....with tattoos on the backs of her calves. I just shook my head.
The tattoos are an indication of just how strong conditioning is. We need conditioning to survive this place, and it gives us stability and direction starting out, but when it becomes this toxic we are in a bad way.
And wait until all these people are old and wrinkled--if they live that long, which I doubt. All that ink in their system can't be healthy. In fact, it interferes with normal skin functions like sweating. Yup, stay out of the heat if you're heavily tattooed! Anyway, I'm glad I won't be around to see it. That's their kids' and grandkids' worry. I also won't be around to see their kids and grandkids blame them for the mess they made of the world just like we Boomers are being blamed right now.
I'm glad that I was raised to be a leader and not a follower, aka "Sheep!" I say if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. The same goes for those who want multiple booster vaccines and tattoos. Actions have consequences!
Mark. I enjoy your writing. You tell a good story. BUT.....The only word I can use to describe your Boundry Waters debacle is "STUPID". I live in the wilds of Maine, have traipsed over many trails in the woods in my yute, but to go on a trip such as the one you undertook with absolutely no planning is at the heighth. I NEVER go into the woods without a compas, matches, and enough clothing to make me sweat.
Since childhood, my family has dedicated at least one week a year to deer hunting in the deep woods, traveling by 4 WD first, to an abandoned logging camp and eventually being able to use a car to access our semi-trailer mobile camp. We've had a parade of friends and relatives go along to "hunt camp" to revel in the late fall wilderness, many, city folk not used to the fact that if they proceeded west and kept walking, they would not encounter a paved road until crossing the US border 150 miles away. Over the years, long before GPS and cel/sat phones, at least eight times, the misconception that they could just walk out "somewhere left them out overnight in late November weather ranging anywhere from minus 10 to plus 60 degrees. They all had the three items I mentioned as the old timers had always insisted as a condition of them leaving camp and were eventually found in good shape. If they hadn't had the matches.....who knows?
My point to this rant is that there are many places in this country that isn't covered by humanity and concrete. Nobody to ask for directions. No cops to come when you call. Only you, yourself to depend on. You failed yourself when you proceeded on what you thought would be a cakewalk, and, as I'm sure you know now, are extremely lucky to have made it.
I've canoed enough to know how to propel/steer it. And I have a good sense of direction, at least when I can see the sun or stars.
I never thought I'd fall in. I just got too casual and slipped on a log getting back in the canoe after I had stopped on an island. Then, the weather worsened.
And there were next to zero other people there. It was a weekday before the school year ended.
In general, I underprepare and underpack. I do two week trips in Latin America with a backpack like a 6th Grader would wear and with no reservations and scarcely any prior reading. I just show up and ask people I meet on the street what places are worthwhile.
I like spontaneity and surprise. This is another reason I HATED the CV restrictions/mandates.
All well and good but put yourself in a position (like the one you were in) where there are NO people and tell me you would have the same outcomes.
I have a friend who actually did the Boundry Waters this spring completely alone for two weeks. Said he met a total of three people all week. Average water temp was around 40 degrees. He went prepared. He now is finishing up his third trip through the myriad passages from Lake Mistassini to the Rupert River up in Quebec. He has a passion for the wilderness that few can even understand. It's interesting to watch his progress by checking his "Spot" he leaves every night at his campsite. I'm not a big fan of canoes. As a matter of fact, I won't get into any watercraft that I can't comfortably pee out of. Ha!
Keep up the good verbiage and let me know if you want to experience the real Maine up here off the coast away from the crowds.
Your observations are very reminiscent of my own. MN is an interesting place; it had a creepy conformist vibe back during the Gulf war with a right flavor and is now full tilt boogie for fat leftist weirdness. Deeply statist place.
I see pockets in urban SLC, certainly the western blue cities.
And, yes, the tattoos are ridiculous. I think it's what happens when people lose any respect for permanence, greatness, humbleness. Every dumb idea is suddenly worth memorializing.
I feel the tattoos reflect this consciousness of certain generations of souls, that feel they have to ‘mark’ themselves…a sort of ‘tribal thing’ that they have going on. But sadly the ‘tribes’ they are associating themselves and the ‘thinking in those tribes’ are delusional morons. And in this case in MN, they are delusional “colored hair and masked” morons.
Very lucky, indeed! After decades in canoes, a few years back I switched to a small kayak. Seat on the floor instead of a raised seat is far more stable due to lower center of mass. Another low center of mass option is a “pack canoe” with similar seating. Thanks for your writing!
Yes, kayaks are way better. But I only tipped the canoe b/c I got sloppy.
When we got back to camp, they took me to the shower. They told me to make it hot and stay in for twenty minutes. As I did, they warmed up dinner for me and sat with me as I ate at 9:30 PM. I ate the biggest meal I ever ate and, if you know me, that's saying something. I slept deeply and uninterruptedly for 12 hours that night. Normally, I sleep six.
Very glad to hear you are better! FYI, my little kayak is an Eddyline Sky 10, a little under 10 feet and only 32 lbs! I can lift it myself and get it onto the Outback car rack. 2 bulkheads and sealed hatches.
Great read, Mark, on your game as always!
Your canoe misadventure sounded preferable to your experience in today’s Minnesota. At least after the former you likely came away grateful with renewed vigor and optimism for life, in contrast to possibly leaving that state after your recent visit filled with consternation and disgust - just speculating.
I made a SUP trip to Oregon and Washington state in 2020 during the height of covid lunacy in Newsollini’s California. The roads were eerily free of congestion, while indoor dining at restaurants was forbidden and many merchants refused to take cash. Most folks were masked up in the big cities. Very weird vibes in Bend. Most people I spoke with in the country were onto the scam.
I remember seeing a guy paddling alone in the middle of Elk Lake, high in the pristine Cascade Range, wearing a mask. Curious as to why, I paddled towards him, and he churned away like I had pointed a pistol at him.
My refusals to wear masks or take the slab jabs caused tremendous upheaval in my life and resulted in me moving from CA. I miss some friends but especially that wonderful weather.
I refer to the DNC candidates as Kackla and Kookla. What speeches I watched last night from Chicago seemed to be consumed with Trump hatred, escalating racial, deviant behavior and abortion “justice,” and a version of freedom that is truly frightening. The lies about the economy were breathtaking but then always JOY! IMO Oprah should stay in Hawaii and keep her enormous trap shut.
That's a great account, Al. Masked SUP. Says it all.
Thanks.
Oprah: the brilliant one who didn't leave her compound for over a year and cried with joy when injected.
and got sick several times (3 at least if I counted well). Can't stand her, and that is not because she is a color woman. She is a spoiled rich person just like Michelle Obama, complaining of the missed opportunities because they are black! Yep, otherwise they would be Mrs gates LOL
I cry myself to sleep nearly every night about the unfairness and hardships Kamala and Michelle Obama have faced.
I'd say pretty much ALL rich women, and men, are spoiled.
"...and he churned away like I had pointed a pistol at him." I remember a few people literally jumping out of the way so that I didn't walk past them, maskless, and get within their 6 foot safety zone. A runner passed me and ran into the slush in the street so as not to get within 6 feet for a fraction of a second. I still can't wrap my head around how this alleged virus supposedly had this ability to leap 6 feet and infect any wayward passersby. Oh, and apparently you could have transmitted covid by making eye contact. Thankfully no one made eye contact with the maskless so they were safe.
5 years ago this would be a cartoon and everyone would have laughed! it still made me laugh, just like people I saw recently, in France, 2 years ago, going masked into a restaurant, sitting down, take mask off, eat, then put mask on to go back out into the sun bathed street! Sometimes I just stop watching, specially if the commentator is masked.
Sounds like Santa Fe, NM
You are a braver person than I...not talking about approaching the masked SUP person (I would have also..or at least pointed and laughed)- but I just can't watch any part of the DNC TDS convention. There are family members I don't speak to because of COVID crap and now because they "want a black woman president"...funny how those two things go hand in hand..!
probably would need a bucket if I watched, but thankfully I got no TV and on the Tube you just pass by the pages with crap
OMG that is even worse than someone riding a bicycle with a bandana over his face I saw last week !
Still happening here- in Az in 90+ degrees! SMH
Yeah I thought the masks would be off by the summer heat in 2020. Surely no one would want to wear them then. NOPE. Guess people are that stupid they don't want to breathe in the heat or any time for that matter! OMG I still see them in hot weather. Also still SMH
WA is soooooo woke and freaky about everything, including "Viruses."
I want OUT of here.
Anyway, cheers. I refuse all that jab & mask BS, too.
3rd genie N Californian here and I also left in 2020 like some of my friends; I don’t know how others stay except that where I came from in Sonoma Co is still a nice place. Me and my family ended up in S. Oregon, Grants Pass. Nothing like the northwest part of the state. No one wore masks in the part of county I was in and there was more resistance here tho not in the large senior population. Even so it was a refreshing change despite that Oregon is a shitty blue state as well. Weather here is similar to N Cal. In 2022 the Sheriff came out and said they would not enforce mask mandates. So that was the end of it in some stores that tried to enforce it. Some ppl I knew went to Texas. Knowing some of the regions there, I could not have done that. We wanted to move to ID or Montana but didn’t make it there, and were doing ok here. Marks story here reminds me that Minnesota was the home of many Scandinavians and the very popular show about them of Garrison Keeler - “A Prairie Home Companion” which we would listen to every week 40 years ago. So sad how things have changed! Those were the days.
God willing, I will never return to Minnesota. I was there once or twice with my family back in the 70s while we crisscrossed the country stuffed into a “camping” van…..i vividly remember being nearly eaten alive by the bugs, which, if I interpret your writing correctly, are thankfully in decline. (Or is it only the butterflies that are missing, and the gnats, flies and all the biting stinging things still poison the summer days and nights?). That was my first “near-death experience…..eaten alive.
My other one was in the mid 80s, when I was doing cold weather training with the Marines at Camp Ripley in January. I have never been within 20 degrees ever again of the cold of that winter…..what a miserable life draining oppressive cold, so cold you were rightfully afraid to drop your drawers to answer nature’s call….the high temperature of that “camping “ experience was a balmy 6 F, on one sunny afternoon. Most days, and all of the nights were spent well below zero, with wind chills pushing temps from -60s to near -100F.
I have never returned, and have no plans to. I can not see why anyone ever fought over this land, nor can I understand what the hell a whole bunch of Somalis are doing there. I will leave Minnesota to its bizarre governor and the people who apparently support him. Good riddance.
Man, these stories are GREAT. Sincerely love stuff like this.
Thanks, Joe.
you need to make a compilation of all these great comments Mark ! Will buy them !
Somalis and Hmong were put there to break down the white majority. It has been government policy officially since the 1968 immigration act.
I'll take the Hmong any day over the intolerant Somalis. They are rude to anyone who is white, you can see their hatred.
I just hired a Hmong kid. Works super hard, family oriented, great addition to my team.
Somalis must be real cold in winter in Minnesota! hard to imagine people coming from hot Africa and ending up near the Canadian border!
Let's face it - free stuff - attracts lazy people like flies to excrement. I went to Seattle last year to embark on a cruise to Alaska. Alaska was great. Washington State very nice. Seattle is a hell hole. I went to a deluxe French restaurant near Pike St. Mkt. - sat inside on the April day - as it was cold. I had a window seat. A homeless man - came to the empty terrace of empty tables - and his pants were at half mast. Gross. When the blue hair waitress came to my table, I said you have a "visitor". She casually said "So"... Liberalism is a disease.
Excellent piece! Walz is an obese, low-information politician! https://timothywiney.substack.com/p/walzing-around-with-gold-plated-caskets
"It felt like year 'round Halloween." Brilliant. Encapsulates everything you described.
We've gotten used to seeing heavy people, including children. We've gotten used to seeing tattoos, which I find grotesque, but each to their own. But the snot pouches? Never. EVER. Thankfully, here in NW FL it's only the odd and very rare sillies still wearing one of those.
Only one or two close brushes with death, but always aware of my father's maxim, "Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one."
Minnesota nice has deteriorated into Minnesota mental illness with a side of degeneracy
Minnesota Nice = Passive Aggressive
Statements you are unlikely to hear:
"Man, I'm so glad I got these tattoos 40 years ago!"
"Hey, those tats really got better with age!"
It's so weird that these have become so common.
Shows what sheep people are.
got one small tattoo, a bet with my then-fiancee. It is high up my arm so can easily be covered with a short sleeve. If he had not teased me it would not be there. A reminder of a small disaster in my life.
This was a great piece! I've been there, but it was years ago. I married a guy from there whose mom was the head of a women's Republican group (!). You made so many great points! I can't wait to start asking people with tats what they paid for them! Walz and Karmela are both morons who represent morons. Just can't believe the number of people who buy their incoherent, nonsensical BS!
Yep and I could not, cannot understand why ppl pay so much for these things, poor young ppl especially, such an idiotic thing to spend money on and poisoning yourself to boot. For what? No one cares.
So glad you lived to write another day. No doubt boundary waters Tim was Minnesota nice. Great review of the People's Republic of Minnesota. Not that they need defending but it is lot like Illinois, you have Chicago and then there are the people downstate. In Minnesota you have the Twin Cities and upstate. The Minneapolis light rail was a hugely subsidized project. For years it was a great option for traveling from the airport to downtown, no longer recommended for safety reasons. Parental failure here, two of my red state educated children ended up in MN. We won't be following them, cost of living is 30% higher than my red state. Fortunately the children's values were established but never the less there are cultural challenges. We snuck in for Thanksgiving celebration in 2020 and 2021, avoided mask wearing by not going public, and did not get reported to the Governor by any neighbors. Grandchildren go to private, faith based schools for many reasons not the least is to avoid the gender confused. Hennepin County has largest population of alphabet people second to San Francisco. As a retired nurse practitioner my assessment of tatoos: the American flag ultimately goes to half staff on the Marine, the daisies wilt on the formerly flat abdomen, and playboy bunny ears, well just sayin'.
Thanks, Jan.
Yeah, many MN people struck me as unduly assured of their superiority.
Really? Weird.
This piece has brought up many thoughts. One, I changed my 4:00 AM play list this morning to 70's summer hits . Two, you had me on the edge of my seat worrying about your possible peril, though you clearly survived to write about it. Three, the covid BS has permeated our culture so severely. Sitting through our clinic monthly meeting revealed how indoctrinated people still are. They're speaking of how people with the sniffles should cancel their appointments and still be billed for doing so with less than 24 hr notice. Boss wants us to do what is right for the business as a whole, vs what might be beneficial to individuals, staff or patients. Also, they are going to try to make me wear some sort of emotive costume on a special day. Apparently there was a movie. Didn't see it. Told them I would dress up as an anachronism.
Our love is a like a ship on the ocean
We've been sailing with a cargo full of
Love and devotion
I heard that a thousand times. I worked at a park with an outdoor jukebox and that was the peoples' choice.
Sometimes, as on that canoe trip, things snowball. And then someone has to bail you out.
Yes, a big chunk of the population still won't let go of a fear that was always deeply irrational.
remember that song, loved it. Hues corporation
No, Mark, I've not had multiple brushes with death, in fact, not even one - but I can see why you might have. Your canoe trip sounds terrifying.
What a weird combination - out of control people on public transport and people wearing masks.
There is no covid, Mark. No distinct illness caused by a virus. I recommend Mike Stone's substack showing the history of the rejection of vaccines and germ theory from the late 1800s from newspaper articles - they were much less controlled in those days. I'm sure you'll find it interesting and illuminating - it's very long and I cannot say I've read it properly, reading some bits carefully and others skimming but I will go back to it.
https://mikestone.substack.com/p/lost-and-found
“Many Minnesotans called in, Stasi-style. Because that’s what freedom-loving “liberals” do.”…
This says it all!
I have a friend who’s a physician in Minnesota, unjabbed. He had to get a dispensation from the guvmint, using a “religious freedom” exemption. Because, science!
Mark, another great post. After reading your canoe story, I'm again relieved that I have lived a danger-free and boring life.
I agree with you on tattoos. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE AND ON EVERYONE! I was at a company wide meeting (i.e a waste of time) on Tuesday. There was one woman, nicely and very business like, dressed in a knee length skirt....with tattoos on the backs of her calves. I just shook my head.
The tattoos are an indication of just how strong conditioning is. We need conditioning to survive this place, and it gives us stability and direction starting out, but when it becomes this toxic we are in a bad way.
And wait until all these people are old and wrinkled--if they live that long, which I doubt. All that ink in their system can't be healthy. In fact, it interferes with normal skin functions like sweating. Yup, stay out of the heat if you're heavily tattooed! Anyway, I'm glad I won't be around to see it. That's their kids' and grandkids' worry. I also won't be around to see their kids and grandkids blame them for the mess they made of the world just like we Boomers are being blamed right now.
I'm glad that I was raised to be a leader and not a follower, aka "Sheep!" I say if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. The same goes for those who want multiple booster vaccines and tattoos. Actions have consequences!
Mark. I enjoy your writing. You tell a good story. BUT.....The only word I can use to describe your Boundry Waters debacle is "STUPID". I live in the wilds of Maine, have traipsed over many trails in the woods in my yute, but to go on a trip such as the one you undertook with absolutely no planning is at the heighth. I NEVER go into the woods without a compas, matches, and enough clothing to make me sweat.
Since childhood, my family has dedicated at least one week a year to deer hunting in the deep woods, traveling by 4 WD first, to an abandoned logging camp and eventually being able to use a car to access our semi-trailer mobile camp. We've had a parade of friends and relatives go along to "hunt camp" to revel in the late fall wilderness, many, city folk not used to the fact that if they proceeded west and kept walking, they would not encounter a paved road until crossing the US border 150 miles away. Over the years, long before GPS and cel/sat phones, at least eight times, the misconception that they could just walk out "somewhere left them out overnight in late November weather ranging anywhere from minus 10 to plus 60 degrees. They all had the three items I mentioned as the old timers had always insisted as a condition of them leaving camp and were eventually found in good shape. If they hadn't had the matches.....who knows?
My point to this rant is that there are many places in this country that isn't covered by humanity and concrete. Nobody to ask for directions. No cops to come when you call. Only you, yourself to depend on. You failed yourself when you proceeded on what you thought would be a cakewalk, and, as I'm sure you know now, are extremely lucky to have made it.
I've canoed enough to know how to propel/steer it. And I have a good sense of direction, at least when I can see the sun or stars.
I never thought I'd fall in. I just got too casual and slipped on a log getting back in the canoe after I had stopped on an island. Then, the weather worsened.
And there were next to zero other people there. It was a weekday before the school year ended.
In general, I underprepare and underpack. I do two week trips in Latin America with a backpack like a 6th Grader would wear and with no reservations and scarcely any prior reading. I just show up and ask people I meet on the street what places are worthwhile.
I like spontaneity and surprise. This is another reason I HATED the CV restrictions/mandates.
All well and good but put yourself in a position (like the one you were in) where there are NO people and tell me you would have the same outcomes.
I have a friend who actually did the Boundry Waters this spring completely alone for two weeks. Said he met a total of three people all week. Average water temp was around 40 degrees. He went prepared. He now is finishing up his third trip through the myriad passages from Lake Mistassini to the Rupert River up in Quebec. He has a passion for the wilderness that few can even understand. It's interesting to watch his progress by checking his "Spot" he leaves every night at his campsite. I'm not a big fan of canoes. As a matter of fact, I won't get into any watercraft that I can't comfortably pee out of. Ha!
Keep up the good verbiage and let me know if you want to experience the real Maine up here off the coast away from the crowds.
Your observations are very reminiscent of my own. MN is an interesting place; it had a creepy conformist vibe back during the Gulf war with a right flavor and is now full tilt boogie for fat leftist weirdness. Deeply statist place.
I see pockets in urban SLC, certainly the western blue cities.
And, yes, the tattoos are ridiculous. I think it's what happens when people lose any respect for permanence, greatness, humbleness. Every dumb idea is suddenly worth memorializing.
That idea of memorializing a dumb idea had not occurred to me. It rings very true.
I feel the tattoos reflect this consciousness of certain generations of souls, that feel they have to ‘mark’ themselves…a sort of ‘tribal thing’ that they have going on. But sadly the ‘tribes’ they are associating themselves and the ‘thinking in those tribes’ are delusional morons. And in this case in MN, they are delusional “colored hair and masked” morons.
Very lucky, indeed! After decades in canoes, a few years back I switched to a small kayak. Seat on the floor instead of a raised seat is far more stable due to lower center of mass. Another low center of mass option is a “pack canoe” with similar seating. Thanks for your writing!
Thanks, LWB.
Yes, kayaks are way better. But I only tipped the canoe b/c I got sloppy.
When we got back to camp, they took me to the shower. They told me to make it hot and stay in for twenty minutes. As I did, they warmed up dinner for me and sat with me as I ate at 9:30 PM. I ate the biggest meal I ever ate and, if you know me, that's saying something. I slept deeply and uninterruptedly for 12 hours that night. Normally, I sleep six.
They were great hosts. Minnesotans, I think.
Very glad to hear you are better! FYI, my little kayak is an Eddyline Sky 10, a little under 10 feet and only 32 lbs! I can lift it myself and get it onto the Outback car rack. 2 bulkheads and sealed hatches.