9/1/11
The flight home after a season of fishing is a coveted event. Tokened the "freedom flight," I imagine the flight home is a moment much like getting your license after a grueling 6 months of driving with your parents (no offense Mom and Dad). The term freedom flight implies that fishing can be related to slavery...having never been an actual slave and recognizing that it is a somewhat taboo subject, I shouldn't speak to such a correlation...So I guess I won't. Ask me after a few drinks and I'm sure the comparison will flow.
My apologies, back to the freedom flight, this event is so anticipated that I have imagined it many a time myself. Several fantasy scenarios have unfolded in my mind, usually I get bumped to first class because the flight staff recognizes the remarkable service I've done by catching delicious salmon for the masses, then when I land there is a massive parade awaiting the return of such a valiant fisherman. My imagination has an oversized ego. What I am looking forward to on my flight home is the freedom. I can do what I please. No piling gear, tying lines or scrubbing decks. Fishing is hard work so I thought that any work on land would be easy in comparison. Thoughts of boundless productivity have frequented my daydreams. Desk job? Don't make me laugh. Grad school? They should apply for me. Filling in for Obama? Psshhhh wouldn't even break a sweat. These boasts are easy to make while still confined to a boat. The reality: I will most likely swim in a river of DVDs and sleeping past noon until next summer when the season starts again.
That last part had some truth to it but after a good binge of laziness I plan on traveling. My itinerary is rather exciting (I'd like to think):
9/1/11 - Leave Stika via f/v Middletion (a boat)
9/5/11 - Hopefully landed in Seattle by then, spending a few days visiting Lili in her new element and other residents of such a fine city.
Then it gets hazy, at some point after that it's straight to Spokane to briefly relive the ever fleeting glory of college for at least a weekend.
By 9/15/11 I should be home in Marin. Finally.
10/3/11 - Sir Elliott Kropp and I embark on a one way journey to discover the spoils of South America. We start in Bogota and who knows when and where we'll end.
If you are anywhere inside those locations when I will be, I expect to see you and celebrate with you. First drink is on me.
I'm off. Can't wait for that dock in Seattle.
See you then,
Mac
