Nostalgic letter from Army veteran, Lake Superior and UP lover

Periodically, I motor over to your website and catch up on your writings. Your stuff is high quality, John. Well-done photos and text, a wonderful combination, for sure.

.

In 1971, I left the Army after 3 years. I had a friend who had spent some time at the University of Notre Dame’s large encampment [straddling Vilas County, Wisconsin and Gogebic County, UP of Michigan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Notre_Dame_Environmental_Research_Center], a place of unmatched serenity and the site of ecological research. It was a precious place, replete with about a dozen lakes, each filled with various types of northern species of fishes.

.

.

Since I had fished in my youth, I asked my friend prior to my trip out there from Connecticut if I could drown a few worms in one of the many ponds on the property there. He answered in the affirmative, but if I got caught, I was to plead insanity. Once I got to the camp, I hit him up for a ride to the nearest pond for some fishing. After a long walk through the woods with my fishing tackle, I found the pond, a couple acres of heaven teeming with large-mouth bass. Virtually every cast resulted in a large bass, promptly returned to the water after gentle removal of the hook. I used up all my worms, I had been to the Mecca, of sorts, and I felt like the Compleat Angler, Walton notwithstanding.

.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Compleat_Angler this book about the joys of fishing in prose and verse was written in 1653.

.

The president of Notre Dame at the time was a Father Hesburgh [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hesburgh, 1917-2015!] and he had his own pond filled with muskie, aka muskellunge, a Northern Pike-type fish that would battle any fisherman lucky enough to land one!

.

.

The trip up the lower peninsula of Michigan was beautiful.

.

I crossed the Mackinac Bridge…

.

 .

 .

.

….saw Mackinac Island off to the east of the bridge,

.

.

…and got off the bridge onto Route 2, through Escanaba and the old iron ore mining towns. A country fair was in progress in Escanaba.

.

 .

.

I left there up to Ishpeming and Marquette, then down to 2 again and the ride to the ND [Notre Dame] camp.

.

Evenings in camp saw us journey to a beer hall over in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. A beautiful bar it was, with birds eye maple bar and a magnificent floor with a glossy urethane coating that made it glisten. The ride home was difficult, the forest was loaded with huge numbers of deer standing in the middle of the road.

.

We visited Duluth [photo], a unique town with the ore and grain boats in the inlet that vented into Gitchee Gumee [ = the Indian name for Lake Superior]. A fabulous trip eventually ended and I came home to eastern Connecticut where I tried to re-adjust to civilian life once again.

.

.

When I think of that trip, I think of you, John. I’ve followed your exodus and wondered how and why support of your endeavors was never effected. In later life, I’ve come to realize that the truth of matters is often shunned, people don’t want childhood beliefs fractured so they keep their minds in a static position where they don’t grow. As a result, huge numbers of Americans sound like babbling idiots who refuse to think critically.

.

It’s very clear that the fear of the Tribe causes would-be supporters to balk when considering an offering to you and your work. The shadow covers them, and while they might well accept your body of work, they abstain fearing being labeled with some epithet that would seem out of character to them. You are ahead of your time as was Julius Streicher. He was apparently too shrill and the big boy cut him from the payroll, so to speak. But he was right….

.

And you are right, too. So right that it makes people shiver that they could be labeled as some sort of ingrate were they to be lumped with accepting your work’s deep truths. The United States is languishing under the oxbow of our alien invader. Imagine a nation built on freedom relinquishing those freedoms to the alien who has gutted us and made people fearful of retributions should they step over the line…

.

It snowed here today; it also snowed in Providence [photo, East Side of Providence].

.

 .

Despite being a Nutmegger [ = Connecticut native], I’ve always loved the little state east of us. I go there often.

.

.

The very best wishes to you and yours. Your voice is loud and clear.

.

Mike