My mom didn't like the idea of me being away for an entire summer. And at the same time thought it made a lot of sense. Time for me to grow up. Be on my own even if that meant spending my days with her brother of questionable action. Wasn't that Emil was unreliable or crazy. No, more that his boundaries of sanity were a little farther out than most. Took his chances but knew his limitations. Our trip to Canada was way beyond the shores of normal. A drive to a lodge would have been fine. Even a fly-in to a remote cabin, fine. But a thousand mile drive to a canoe trip and mile and a half pathless bushwhack into an unnamed lake, with a fourteen year old kid, close to stupid. Good thing my mom never knew the whole truth.
Getting rid of me for a few months had its upside. At eighteen I was in my prime pain in the ass years. Old enough to think I had the answers and young enough to have answered most of life's questions wrong. Needed a dose of misery to start bringing me around. Three months of sweat and smashed thumbs would be a good start. And the money Emil'd pay me wouldn't hurt either. Enough to cover all my college expenses for two or more years. Not bad.
Yeah, I'd be living at home while attending the U. The University of Minnesota was a commuter campus in '65. A college education wasn't as yet considered a necessity and student loans, like credit cards, were still off in the future somewhere. Living on campus never entered mine or forty thousand other heads. Paying extra just so I could live away from home didn't make economic sense. Back in the sixties most people still lived a cash on the nail philosophy. About the only thing you went in debt to buy was a house.
For me the choice was simple. If I wanted to get out of the house that badly there was always the Army. And the military during the Vietnam years wasn't so much a choice as it was an inevitability. The draft was there. No getting around it if you were physically fit - or knew people in high places. Besides, a summer away from home, living in a tent and given an adult's load of work struck a nice balance with fun. Up in the woods of the Arrowhead with my uncle would be a good time whether we were digging for worms or cabin piers.
That Emil was paying me a fair wage was nothing but icing on the cake. Back in '65 a year's tuition, fees and books totaled less than five hundred dollars. Even factoring in inflation that's a pittance compared to today's cost. Heck, Emil was paying me way more than triple that for one summer's work. What a deal.
As my senior year came to a close I dropped my idea of entering the Army for good. Honestly, that's where it'd been all along. Might've had something to do with the growing war in Southeast Asia. Heading straight to college made a lot more sense and was a lot easier path. Me and the easy way knew each other well. Also, even though I was young, I'd already seen what commonly happens after a hitch in the service. Two or three years of living like an adult made another four years of school seem like a long time. Made more sense to buy a car and find a job. Put school off 'til it lived in the land of 'if I had to do it all over'.
Once again, like the canoe trips of previous years, Emil and I set off for the northland on the saturday after school ended. Most of my class had headed off on the train right after the ceremony for the traditional graduation trip and party. Not me. I had as many friends as most but none were in my graduating class. A few were older, some younger and those my age attended other schools. As far as I was concerned, had I gone to the party I'd have been among strangers. Instead, my family took me out to dinner. There's something about blood ties that trumps most everything. There were seven of us including Uncle Emil. Good time. Odd thing was, about two tables away sat a group of teachers I knew from school. Of course I wasn't gutsy enough to stroll over to say hello. One of my 'if I had to do it again' moments.
All was as it should be when Emil pulled up to the front door, except he wasn't in the Nomad. The red and white Chevy sport wagon had turned into a blue and white Ford pickup truck. Something was in the works and it should have been a clue to what the summer would be like.
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