When My Pipe is Full

When My Pipe is Full - Part One:

- From the Author

" When My Pipe is Full " is a series of memoirs from the authors childhood; written in his early twenties he is recalling memories of recent years. Some of these memories include camping, fishing, hiking, and long-distance trips.

Part One - Prologue

In the cold evenings outside my work I sit quietly as the smoke from my corncob pope fills the air. The stars lay faint on a black blanket in the sky. There is nothing as peaceful as this. The good smoke fills the air as I exhale. The smell is aromatic. The glow of the embers peeking out of the bowl lift my spirit. My mind drifts back to that summer with my father, fishing in the canadian wilderness.

"Pulling Through"

When we crossed the border from Minnesota into Ontario just north of Grand Marais the only thing Tommy could talk about was the signs along the border road that said "Adult Movies" and "XXX Movies". Tommy seemed to be keenly intrigued by them. Earlier during the drive he showed me some pictures on his Blackberry mobile phone.

We drove to Thunder Bay where we stopped at a liquor store. The liquor store was called an LCBO. To this day I am not sure what exactly it stands for. We went inside and Tommy and David started browsing the drinks that littered the large building. Some were in coolers, others in and on top of boxes. After searching for almost half an hour David asked a clerk if the store carried a specific beer. The clerk said that there was another store just down the road which carried it. The store was conveniently called "The Beer Store". We thanked the clerk and headed back outside to the truck and climbed in. We drove down the road about two miles until we saw the store. So prominent and proud was the sign displayed. David went inside and came out a few minutes later holding two cases of Labatt Blue. The canadian beer that he enjoyed. We climbed back into the truck and continued our journey north to Longlac. Longlac was a small town in the northern most region of Ontario. We stopped there to have supper and to spend the night in the local hotel.

6:00 AM

My father woke me up. I hadn't been up this early since I could remember. I rolled around in bed for about twenty minutes before my father told me I had to get up or miss breakfast. I groaned loudly to myself and got out of bed. I walked over to my suitcase and pulled out my toothbrush and toothpaste. In the bathroom, groggy-eyed I managed somehow to make my breath smell minty and my teeth shine. I threw on socks, jeans, a t-shirt and hooded sweatshirt and dragged my luggage downstairs. I joined my father, David, Tommy, John and Tom Sr. for breakfast before we threw our gear back into our trucks and backtracked an hour to a remote lake where a small airplane fitted with water skis waited to take us to our secret fishing spot.