It was always cool in there, and the expected fish smell permeated the air.\u00a0 Not a \u201cfishy\u201d smell, but the smell of fish.\u00a0 Some of you will understand what I mean.\u00a0 There were always beers, Raniers if I recall.<\/span><\/p>\n

A small boom box sat on a dingy shelf, and someone had Jimmy\u2019s \u201cSongs You Know by Heart\u201d playing in it nonstop. \u00a0Before this I was aware of Jimmy Buffett, but not too familiar with his music.\u00a0 Songs like \u201cSon of a Son of a Sailor\u201d really resonated with me.\u00a0 And it turns out that I really am the son of a son of a sailor.<\/span><\/p>\n

I dove deeper into his catalog, and Jimmy\u2019s music and lifestyle got me thinking I should live a pirate\u2019s existence\u2026traveling south and seaward \u2018til my money ran out, set up shop in some unknown port. Figure it out from there.\u00a0 I really think that if I had heard \u201cThe Weather is Here\u2026\u201d a year or two earlier in my life I would have given \u2018a new life in the palm trees\u2019 a shot.<\/span><\/p>\n

$\"This$

This picture is what hooked me. The guy could really cast!<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But in reality, I never had what it would take to pull any of that off.\u00a0 I tried to be a big-time traveler and saltwater fly-fishing guy, but it turns out that is a bad persona to take on for someone living in Minnesota that doesn\u2019t have any money.<\/span><\/p>\n

$\"My$

My Abel reels I ordered in “Caribbean Camo”, trying to live the Buffett life<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never be a twelve-volt man, nor will I be a cowboy in the jungle, and I don\u2019t expect I will know what it\u2019s like to see the lights of St Thomas 20 miles west.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t think about those things, as I now think of myself more like the guy from \u201cAltered Boy\u201d who, like Walter Mitty, lives out an imagined existence of excitement and danger while sipping on Singapore Slings in some tiki bar.\u00a0 And my occupational hazard is truly the fact that my occupation is just not around.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 click the link for the most underrated Buffett Song\u00a0\u00a0Altered Boy<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

$\"All$

All rods I built for saltwater were under the “Margaritaville Rod company” brand<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

We named our first daughter \u201cSavannah\u201d \u2013 in homage to Jimmy and his daughter Savannah Jane.\u00a0 It took some trickery on my part to make it happen. When it was time for daughter number two to be named, I made a plea for \u201cDelaney\u201d but that was thoroughly shot down.\u00a0 Still think it would have been a good fit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I never wanted to be able to play guitar any better than to strum and sing Jimmy\u2019s songs.\u00a0 Most of his songs are easy enough, probably why I will never get beyond the skill level of \u201cadvanced beginner\u201d.\u00a0 Oh well, come to a campfire at my place, I can pull off a reasonable version of Jolly Mon along with most of the rest of his catalog. $\"Jimmy$ <\/span><\/p>\n

Most people aren\u2019t aware of Jimmy\u2019s music beyond his songs about margaritas and cheeseburgers.\u00a0 Hard to make short list of \u201cmust listen\u201d songs, but \u201cHe Went to Paris\u201d, \u201cTwelve Volt Man\u201d, \u201cManana\u201d, \u201cDistantly in Love\u201d, and \u201cThat\u2019s What Living is to Me\u201d will give a listener a good idea of what he is all about.\u00a0 His stories of travel and escapism inspired millions.<\/span><\/p>\n

What John Denver was to the Rockies, what Gordon Lightfoot was to Canada, what Jerry Jeff Walker was to Texas, Jimmy was all this and more to those mysterious calling harbors, to the palm trees and the south seas, and to all of us who dreamt of living that life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be good and you will be lonesome<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Be lonesome and you will be free<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Live a lie, and you\u2019ll live to regret it<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what living is to me<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what living is to me.<\/strong><\/span> $\"Jimmy\"$ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fish cleaning shack at Tikchik Narrows Lodge was a great place.\u00a0 Late afternoons would see the planes return to the lodge, and salmon that had been retained were loaded into wheel barrows to be processed by us fish guides in the shack. It was always cool in there, and the expected fish smell permeated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}