Thursday, June 27, Day 66 (cont'd)
I know you think that Thursday was over, but I had to tell you about this guy. He came along while we were sitting on that bench, enjoying the river. He had on shorts and flip flops which clicked as he walked, a rather stocky fellow with wispy hair. He was carrying a fishing pole, came up to us and started talking.
He was from England, and had been a fireman. He retired at age 52, he said, after being ready for 30 years to do what was needed. (Put out fires, I assume.) His wife had gone off to another campsite to visit with some other English people from south of Missoula and have a party. (I don't blame her.) He said he had purchased his fishing pole at a pawn shop for $12 and when he was finished, he would give it to a charity store and let them get some bloody good out of it. (Think he had a fishing license?)
He told us all about other vacations he had taken, mostly to the Caribbean, but how he had stopped, because most of the people he encountered were there for business conferences, and were pigs. He'd gotten into a fight with one of them for grabbing about two pounds of freshly cooked bacon from a buffet table and dropping pieces of it as he went back to his table. (News we needed to know!)
He asked John whether he was retired, since he had "a lot of chrome on his head." He said he didn't give a toss what others thought of him. (STOP TALKING!)
And then he wandered off. after saying "Nice talking to you," but not before he had sucked all the air out of the forest! John simply said, "Mad dogs ..."
It took us come time to get back to the peaceful reverie of the beautiful evening. There were deep eddy's swirling slowly back upriver. Perfect conditions for trout! We took a walk around the campground in the fading light - even at 10:30 pm! The smell of campfires and pine trees was so calming.
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