Driftless Thinking

I'm watching the sun climb reluctantly out of bed from an airport window in Syracuse, New York.  My mind is wandering elsewhere.  I dutifully checked my work email when I got through security and settled in with coffee and donuts (thank you, Dunkin'!)  Nothing I can do there, so I engage in one of my favorite pastimes: rereading some of my recent blog entries.  Perhaps an exercise in narcissism, but I enjoy reliving the moments.  If Delta Airlines do their thing correctly, I should be back in southern Minnesota in 7 hours, headed for one more weekend in the Mobile Hotel®.

Gimme the creek, boys, and free my soul....
Photo credit: Eddie Rivard

A bit more than two years ago, Mrs. FA and I made one of the best decisions of our lives when we bought the RV and started staying regularly at Maple Springs Campground near Forestville State Park.  We're on the western edge of the Driftless Complex that spans southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and southwestern Wisconsin.  Small creeks and cold waters keep the trout alive.  I miss Montana, but this place has filled the void.

I've been fishing a couple of these creeks on and off for two years.  It took me this long to find some brook trout, and I couldn't be happier about it.  The knowledge that I have abundant "creek time" coming has kept me motivated and productive this week.  And what I want more than anything this weekend is for my wife to catch a fish.  We tried last weekend, and I'm pretty happy about that.  She did well, but they weren't biting what we were offering in the stretched moments of twilight.  We had fun.  I remember her laughing as I tried diligently to thread some 5X tippet through the eye of a size 18 eye of a caddis fly.  Between the aging eyes and the mild Parkinson's tremor, it was mildly slapstick.  I'm glad we can both laugh.  Yes, it IS funny, and we both know it.

On the Missouri in 2012
Let 'em run!

I can't wait to see another catch-induced smile on her face.  You know, like the kind there was in April.

I'm flying over Lake Huron right now, and will be passing over Lake Michigan in less that 30 minutes.  Maybe I'll try to talk her into using her Sage Grace this weekend.  I might just carry another rod alongside my new Epic 686, just to get a chance to feel the difference side-by-side.  And I should have her grab the landing net before she leaves the house.

I'm ready to get my feet wet.  "Have fun storming the castle!"