healing on the albany 2008
The Healing on the Albany event started with a phone call to my good friend Wayne Blackmon of Wilderness North. I told him about a group that I was working with called Project Healing Waters and the ball started rolling. Within a few hours Alan Cheeseman of Wilderness North had sent out the word that he would host 10 wounded vets from the US and Canada at the first annual Healing on the Albany event at his Lake Miminiska American Plan Lodge.
The planning for the event was tricky and time consuming but very rewarding. With a few hundred calls and a phone bill that could have sent my son to college I managed to locate all the needed equipment and identify the participants. It was an especially big challenge to locate the Canadian participants as this was the first venture for Project Healing Waters outside of the US. With some perseverance (actually it was closer to harassment) I located our boys from the north and the roster was set.
While I put together the equipment and participants, Wayne headed up the marketing and fundraising. We both sent out email blasts to raise funds and Wayne contacted past Wilderness North guests. The guests of Wilderness North were extremely generous and we managed to put together just over $12,000 to fund the adventure. This was just shy of our goal of $15,000 but we knew with some creative planning we could make this a success.
My next cup of Project Healing Waters magic came when Wayne introduced me to Ed Newby. Ed is a retired American Airlines employee and a private pilot. Ed knew that getting these troops to Northwest Ontario via commercial carriers would be problematic at best and with his friend Bob, offered to fly us on their private turbo-prop planes from Chicago to Thunder Bay. The travel planes instantly became 100% simpler. Then Ed contacted American Airlines and they agreed to provide round trip tickets to all of our guys to Chicago. Despite some tough times in their industry, American Airlines really rose the occasion.
The event started when my wife and I picked up SFC Jake Keeslar at his home in Bethesda, MD at 5:30 am on the morning of July 11th. We loaded up the van and headed for Reagan National. When we got to the airport and checked in I noticed that traveling with Jake was like having Moses in your corner. The crowds parted and allowed this hero to pass right through. He walked on his artificial legs while he pushed his own wheelchair with our gear stacked on top. I felt a little awkward as I carried just a small camera box and walked behind him.
We arrived at Chicago O'Hare where we were put up at the American Airlines Admiral's Club as we waited for all the US participants to arrive. One by one they came in and despite a few delays we had all the US participants by around 1pm. The Chicago Police arranged to allow our limo pick us up in an illegal loading area while they stood guard around our stuff. And we were on our way to the private air facility in Aurora, IL (yes the same Aurora, IL from Wayne's World....SCHWING!)
It was in Aurora that we faced our first setback. Low ceilings in Thunder Bay made the prospect of landing very sketchy. Ed asked the troops what they thought and of course they said if the chances of surviving were better than 20%, we should go for it. I intervened and instructed Ed to never ask them anything like that again. We decided to stay the night in Aurora where Ed's daughter and son-in-law hosted a cookout with huge midwest steaks. This was way better than sleeping on the floor in an airport after being rerouted for weather (which is exactly what happened to our Canadian participant Matt when he tried to fly in to Thunder Bay) We flew out early the next morning and were quickly back on schedule.
When we arrived in Thunder Bay we sailed through customs, apparently all the well placed calls and prep work we put in really paid off. As we unloaded the plane we were suddenly surrounded by the Thunder Bay Tourism Board, The Wilderness North folks and we got to meet the first Canadian participant, Dave T., who arrived the evening before. Also there to greet us was my friend Bill Sherer who was just coming back from guiding at Miminiska and he briefed us on the fishing conditions and what was working as we headed to the Valhalla Inn for a reception. As we got off the transport a military contingent greeted us to the sound of bag pipes and welcomed us with a luncheon. Our efforts and our troops were all recognized and we were fed. Somewhere in all this confusion Matt K., our final participant, found his way in after a night of rerouted flights and the roster was complete. Our next stop was back to the airport and then to Lake Miminiska.
In order to get us to the lodge quickly, Wilderness North opted for quicker wheeled planes that would land on the grass strip behind the lodge. Within an hours of boarding the planes we were greeted and the real adventure started. As we walked/rolled up the camp from the airstrip I had my first real "lump-in-the-throat" experience. I saw that my friend Austin had built a wheelchair ramp in front of one of the chalets. No question as to where the boys were staying on this trip. We settled in and started stringing up the gear.
Unpacking the gear was like Christmas in July. Everyone got a TFO Project Healing Waters 8wt strung with RIO Clouser line and an Orvis Mid Arbor reel. Flies were provided from The Fly Fisherman in Orlando, FL, WeTieIt.com in Boulder Junction, WI and by Sgt. Irish who is currently recovering at Walter Reed in DC. The troops quickly scarfed up all the flies and after making some titanium leaders we headed out for an evening of fishing.
Nearly all of the participants thought I was exaggerating when I told them how good the fishing would be. Their opinions and expectations changed rapidly as they began catching hundreds of walleye and pike from the very first casts. The laughter and yelling echoed across the lake as they pulled in fish after fish well into the night. Once the fishing started I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders and began to relax a bit after a very stressful six months of planning.
One the first full day of fishing, the troops started out chasing pike on the fly for the first time. The savage hits and cooperative fish had them stalking the weed beds and rocky points for hours on end as they enticed these angry torpedoes with huge top water flies. Some of them stayed top water for the whole trip while the trophy hunters in the bunch realized that the bigger fish were just a little deeper. No matter what tactics they used during the day, they all went back to sink tips and rabbit strip coneheads for the walleyes at night. Shouting and laughter could be heard across the lake as the troops hooked up with fish after fish.
One crew managed to get out on the Keezhik River for brook trout. The fast rapids and challenging currents limited the possibilities for this water but Russell and Josh managed a few lunker squaretails while being guided by Joe, one of our Ojibwa guides for the trip.
As the week came to a close the troops grew weary after catching hundreds of fish and spent the day at a Pow Wow hosted by the local First Nations community of Fort Hope. They were treated with great reverence and respect and Bill was even given a warrior bracelet as a gift. It was a pretty moving way to end the adventure.
As we headed back to civilization it was sad to watch the guys drop away as they went to their respective flights home. I will miss my friends but I have a feeling that at least of few of them will be fishing with me again soon. (just as I typed this Russell called to just say hello)
Tight Lines,
Mark
Click here for the photo gallery of the trip.
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