Grumpy Old Men: Retirement or Bucket List

When I was a kid, I would wait with excitement for Christmas break to come.  I'm sure my anticipation to get away from school was mostly for that... getting away from school and the presents of course.  However, this also usually brought to town a different cast of characters in my life.  My brother's return from college for a few weeks was always exciting.  Just the fact that he was around was excitement enough, but he would also take me hunting.  These were my first experiences hunting when I was about 12 years old.

Another usual arrival about the time I got out of school, was my aunt and uncle who would come in from places like Alaska and Minnesota.  My uncle usually had quite a few tales to tell, none of which I can really remember at this point other than fragments of stories that usually had to do with planes or bears or both!  As a descendant of the likes of Kit Carson and Daniel Boone, and other men not as well known but every bit as adventurous, sometimes I feel a little like a droopy branch on our family tree.

Lately, I have been watching Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men when I need something to watch while falling asleep.  I really can't pick a favorite among them, but something inside me seems to connect with the ruggedness of the setting.  As I'm sitting here thinking about this now, I also recall watching Northern Exposure episodes a few years ago when they were in reruns and dreaming of an Alaskan vacation.  I'm not sure why, but the north woods seem to be calling my name.

Last year, I watched an episode of Scott Martin Challenge on YouTube.  He was fishing Rainy Lake near International Falls, Minnesota.  Even more interesting to me, was the fact that they were towing their bass boats behind rented house boats.  That got me to thinking, "Why would you tow your bass boat around the lake?"  So, I Googled Rainy Lake.  I got several results from lodges and other places to stay and a Wikipedia result that basically outlined it as a large lake, used for hydroelectricty to power International Falls, MN and Fort Frances, Ontario.  All great information, but until I looked at it on Google Earth, I had no appreciation for the size of this lake. The lake is sort of "L" shaped, but is basically the size of Houston Metro area.  In fact I'd be willing to bet that Houston has as much road surface area as Rainy Lake has water surface area.

While a bass boat can easily blast back and forth across the lake much like we drive our cars across town.  It's much easier to have a "home base" that can move.  This way you can spend a few days in certain areas and a few days in others, allowing you to spend more time fishing without ever having to come off the water.  Then I thought "What about a kayak?".  That would be a great way to fish that lake by kayak for a week.  What an adventure that would be!

So, it has been added to my bucket list, along with fishing the Chandeleur Islands, Tarpon fishing in Florida, hunting Elk, Moose, Bear, and so many other species.  Then I thought "What about retirement in Minnesota?"  We could retire there and fish all summer in more temperate weather and head south to hunt and fish Texas, Florida, & Louisiana when it gets too cold.

The fact that these things keep getting added to a "bucket list", has opened my eyes to the fact that a bucket list really just amounts to a list of things you can't afford to do or don't have time to do.  But isn't it always that way?  I don't know how many times I have uttered the phrase "If I have the money, I don't have the time; and if I have the time, I don't have the money."  It gets frustrating!

This also led to this thought and the whole reason for this post... It occurs to me that adventure is what you make it.  It seems these days, that you can have just about any adventure you want to pay for: bungee jumping, sky diving, hunting, fishing, cliff diving, scuba diving, some are extreme, some are not.  We live in a society where most of the time, we have to go looking for adventure.  This isn't the wild west.  You don't step out the door and adventure awaits, or make a living by blazing trails from one side of the country to the other across mountains and deserts, or flying the mail or supplies in and out of hostile environments in planes that barely fly to begin with.

Our ancestors (not all that long ago) lived an adventure everyday.  They heard drum beats and worried about Indians, we wonder which car at the light has the sound system.  When we go hunting or fishing, we are looking for an adventure.  They were looking for dinner.  Sure, there are places in this world that are still wild, and still so remote that supplies must be flown in or dropped.  Would I enjoy that life?  I don't know.  Probably not, because I am accustomed to my way of life. But, I can see a part of me wanting to give up these things for a simpler life, on an island perhaps, fending for myself and my family. But then again, that wouldn't be an adventure now would it?  It would just be life again in a less hospitable environment.

But then I sit here and tell my son the stories of my youth: catching crawdads in the creek,  hunting and fishing in the creeks near our house, the Great Pecan Wars of 1979, running the alleys and ditches; and as we got older, 4 wheeling in those creeks and ditches. All I can think about is how I would be put in jail for allowing my kids to do these sorts of things now.  Or sued because little Tommy down the street fell out of a tree or got multiple contusions from being pummeled by pecans.

My childhood was pretty adventurous, but my adulthood seems to be more monotonous, which I suppose makes me a somewhat responsible adult, but it makes me sad for our kids and sad for future generations which will be even
more restricted.  Where does it stop?  We need a little adventure in our lives!  What on your Bucket List? Dream Hunt? Fishing trip of a lifetime?  Let us know in the comments below of on Facebook.