Hey gang,

I'm tired tonight. It's been a long day and night. I'm hungry as well so I will make this one short.

SWEET CORN, BRANDY AND THE BOAT!

Roger had just purchased a used fiberglass speed boat, red and white, with a 60 horse Evinrude engine. He had just enough time off to head up to Bowen Lake near Pine River to try it out and go fishing for a day or two. What he needed was a traveling companion. He called my Grandfather Ike, down in Butterfield. Grandpa Ike,Never one to turn down a trip up to Bowen. Agreed! As Grandpa drove up to Stewart, Roger hooked up the boat and drove out to the local sweet corn field that was getting harvested by dads pals from Green Giant. After some bullshitting and arm twisting Roger had the guys dump a load of sweet corn into the new speedboat.

Grandpa made the trip up to Stewart and off the traveling sweetcorn salesmen / fishermen went! They would stop about every major cross road and put up a sign, FRESH SWEET CORN $1.50 A DOZEN!

They made their way up to Brainerd finally. Pockets bulging with money! They set up again and sold more corn! Nisswa, CORN! Jenkins, CORN! Pequot Lakes, CORN! Pine River, CORN! They set up shop in the liquor store in Pine River. (A natural place to sell corn for the pair) Tired of stuffing corn into bags the gang just adjusted the sign, SWEETCORN $1.00 A DOZEN! PAY IN BAR!

As the word got out about town, more and more people were coming up to the bar and getting corn! It was a hot seller in Pine River. The only problem was that even with the sale of corn being great, they still had a ton of corn left in the boat!! Some quick thinking had to ensue or there would be no room for them to fish in the boat the next day.

Roger came up with a plan. He drove the boat down to the local Red Owl grocery store. Found the owner/manager and offered the remaining corn to the store at $1.00 a dozen. The owner counter offered .50 an dozen. Roger told him that this was no ordinary sweetcorn but the primest stuff in the state. Picked that very day from the fertile fields of McCloud County. The Giants Finest Corn!! They settled at .70 a dozen and 2 stock boys to empty the corn from the boat!

Roger later said that he would have given the owner the corn if he would have known that the stock boys would have unloaded it for them!

After the corn was gone people were still showing up for more at the bar! An earlier customer was a little bummed out that the corn was gone, so dad bought him a drink and they began talking about fishing and the local lakes and where to catch'em (In the upper lip!) Finally the guy asked dad about the boat. What did he want for it? Dad said that he had just bought it and hadn't even fished out of it yet and did not really want to sell it. The guy told him that the resort that they were staying at had reserved them a very small boat and they were disappointed in it and liked the sweetcorn hauler much better. He told dad that they had been fishing on whitefish lake and the fishing for northern pike had been slow and their boat was not the kind of craft they could easily use to run around the big lake with. As the night wore on dad and grandpa, by now feeling very little pain, invited the guy and his wife to Bowen lake and that they would take them out fishing for pike. The guy staggered out of the bar and off to meet his wife at their cabin.

The next day our hero's/corn salesmen were still in bed nursing a couple of serious hangovers when there came a knock at the cabin door. It was the corn guy and his wife. They had come to fish and look at the boat. Now, it was after noon, and while Roger did enjoy to fish he was not in the greatest shape to do so. Neither was Ike, The Boat was still on the trailer! Well, out they went, dropped the boat in the lake. Roger tossed Ike the key and Grandpa Ike started it up. The couple got in with their gear and grandpa Ike rigged them up with probably a red eye wiggler and an old red and white spoon and off they went. Trolling as always clockwise around the lake.

Now, I myself have fished Bowen lake many, many times. In fact, I fished it at least 1 week a year from the time I was a couple of months old until I turned 28 years old and quite a few times since then. If there is one thing I know; is that you rarely have problems catching Northern Pike in Bowen Lake. They may not all be lunker's but the numbers are good.

Ike took the couple out for a round around the lake, The fishing was very good. Roger stayed in the cabin sleeping. After a couple of hours of fishing the lucky anglers had their limit of Pike! Including one nearly 10 lbs! They also had a bunch of crappies. They woke Roger up to look at the fish, Ike went up to the fish cleaning shack to clean the days catch and the couple started in on Roger about the boat. They asked dad how much he wanted for it. How much he paid for it. Would he PLEASE sell them the boat! Dad said finally that the boat was theirs for $600, But he was not so happy about selling it because here he was on Bowen lake and hadn't even fished yet. The couple was going to try to talk him down, but I think that after a night of drinking and carrying on in town roger was in no mood to haggle. I would bet that they could feel the "vibe"! $600 it was. They hooked up the boat. Got their fish from Grandpa Ike and off they went. Right up to Mr. Anderson the resort owner to book 2 weeks for the next year!

Our hero's looked at each other. Now they had no food as they had sold ALL of their corn, and no boat with which to go fishing for food. So they packed up and headed back to Pine River for happy hour to celebrate before heading back home to a very surprised Ronna and Grandma Bea!

Everyone was happy however when the money was tallied up from the boat sale and all of the sweetcorn they had sold.

Roger had owned a speed boat for 3 days and had never even sat in it, before he sold it.

Years later he he would tell me, "Every thing I own is for sale for the right price" Dad, loved to sell, It was his "Sport" Like golf, or baseball, it was a game to win or lose.

He was a pro at it.

Always,

Mike