Rediscovering North Country

My assignment last weekend took me up to Nashwauk, Minnesota to visit with the Range Riders ATV Club. I'll be honest, I wasn't that excited to be spending the start of my long weekend with strangers. To me, that weekend is a time to see friends, old or new, and relax.

But a deadline beckoned, so off I went on the four-hour drive to Nashwauk, Minnesota with the weatherman telling me bad weather was rolling in (great). I rolled in late in the day, and immediately got on the trail to get some shots before the clouds opened up for a late May drenching.

When we returned to the cabin, I grabbed some shots of the place while the rest of the crew prepped for supper. I was struck by the smell of pine and lake that reminds me of time spent canoeing the BWCA, and the way that life's frenetic pace slows when in Northern Minnesota.

I was called in for supper, and found the largest pan of pork ribs I've ever seen (enough to feed 20 hungry men) made by by Mari Kaminen and served on a 100-year-old table rescued from a logging camp. The cabin was home-built by Gary Kaminen's Dad in the 1940s, and is one of those classic up-north hunting shacks where a guy like me can truly relax because a spilled beer or dropped rib is more likely to improve the place than cause any harm. Gary and Mike had a great story tell after dinner, one that will make this club feature fun to read (and to write). The night was finished off out by the lake next to a Buick-sized bonfire and a seemingly endless supply of beers and stories (I'm a sucker for both).

The next day dawned relatively clear, and we rode through about 10 miles of backcountry to a hospital-sized rock the locals dubbed "The Whale." Standing on the spine of this ancient chunk of granite, swatting mosquitoes and surrounded by the virginal green of north country in the spring, I remembered that I happen to love Minnesota as much as more exotic locales.

I'm a sucker for travel, even in my own backyard.

Stones

May has been all about new construction. For my little business, it's about building some leads and connections. I sent proposals to Men's Journal, National Geographic Adventure, and Backpacker. I think there's some salable, strong story ideas that went out, but I yet have to make a confirmed sale.

In the meantime, I've been building contacts for the garage book, and feel like I'm starting to get a foothold on that project. I found a number of architects who may be able to help find the right kind of garages, and scheduled shoots at places in Wisconsin and Texas. The most exciting is The Texican Shop, a customization shop owned by Los Lonely Boys down in San Angelo, Texas. They do a lot of great things in the community, and also have some great cars and music heritage. Should be a fascinating place to visit.

On the home front, it 's been home improvement month, and Casa de Klanchero has refinished floors, new paint, a new patio, and an asphalt drive going in. This past weekend was the first in the patio-building process. I can't quite say I enjoy laying brick--hauling the blocks and leveling the sand is painstaking, back-straining work. But the results are satisfying. With help from my neighbor, Pete, I finally have a walk in front of my office door in the garage (and another 300 square feet to lay!).

Completing the walk this weekend was no small task, and the result is a cobblestone path that feels solid and substantial. I like working on stone, and my office floor is Chinese slate that lends a rugged look and strong foundation. After a week of working on queries, which you send off into the editorosphere and hope that they get some lift, the contrast of doing work with immediately tangible results is wonderful. I can only hope that the month's queries build a base for my little business as solid as the stones under my feet.