Friday, March 25, 2005

Eagles and Edsels Man, it seems like a year since I drove across the state to Alma for the national premiere of the BBC movie, Mississippi: Tales of the Last River Rat.  I guess I left off with the Lodi Reads Leopold event on March 5. Tom Heberlein was kind enough to put me up for the night. The next morning, we headed into town for breakfast, then Tom gave me a driving tour of the Lodi Marsh State Wildlife Area, just outside of town. A lot of local people are doing some great work there restoring wetlands. For more on that, check out the Friends of Scenic Lodi Valley website.  We then returned to Tom's house, for a walking tour of his 15-acre farm on the edge of town. It doesn't take many acres to make a difference, and Tom's made a nice start on his place. Leaving Lodi, I had just enough time to drive to Alma for the screening. Crossing the Wisconsin River on I-94, I saw the first eagle of the day, a mature bald eagle, its head gleaming white. The drive was uneventful until La Crosse, when I got off the "I" and headed upriver toward Alma. Along the way, I stopped in Holmen for a quick look at a piece of vacant land that was recently purchased by a coalition of agencies, using state, local and private funds.  The parcel will be called the Town of Holland Sand Prairie. It is a rare piece of Mississippi River sand terrace that has never been plowed!  It doesn't look like much to the untrained observer, but the Mississippi Valley Conservancy plans to protect it as a natural area that contains soils and plants in an undisturbed state, which is practically unheard of today. Heading north toward Alma, I passed two Edsels resting comfortably in yards along Highway 35. The first, an all-white job, was just north of Centerville. The second, a two-tone blue/white baby, was in downtown Fountain City. It had a for sale sign on the windshield that looked like it had been there awhile. Hard to believe no Edsel collectors have snapped up these two relics, but there they sat, at least they did three weeks ago, and from the looks of things, they weren't going anywhere any time soon. Somewhere along the river, between locks and dams, with anglers in boats working open water for walleyes, and solid ice, with anglers still driving on it at 56 degrees and climbing, I spotted my second eagle of the day. Seeing two eagles along the state's biggest rivers, where hundreds of these birds winter every year, is no big deal. But when I'm not looking for them and they just appear, I always appreciate the gift. The Alma Area High School is three miles north of town. At a fire station a half-mile before the school, several squads and traffic cops were the first clue this was going to be a big event. I had heard it was sold out, but I guess I didn't imagine what a thousand people descending on one of the smallest high schools in the state might look like. The parking lot was mobbed, but I managed to find a spot, thanks to the 300 copies of Wisconsin Outdoor News I was delivering.  To help everyone get into a backwater mood, one-third of the three-phase electrical supply had failed, leaving the school restrooms without water, but with there was power enough to show the movie. Live music by a father/daughter duo praised the Big River, the River Rat and Catfish, among other things. Then Mary Kay Salwey, Kenny's wife, warmed up the crowd by telling us about their first kiss (complete with snoose and some backwoods nose blowing). Finally, Kenny himself came out and welcomed everyone to Alma. He introduced his mom and dad (92 and 95, respectively), Andrew Graham-Brown, who produced and directed the film, and Neil Rettig, who shot it over a two-year period. The film itself is magnificent. Opening in the dead of winter, it follows Kenny through four seasons as he fishes, hunts, gathers and just plain enjoys life along the Mississippi. Rettig's footage was nothing short of amazing. Shots of snapping turtles laying eggs, hatching, catching food and being caught for food sum up the life-and-death theme of the film. Appearing throughout, shots of Kenny and his dogs paddling a canoe down a backwater trade off with shots of muskrats equally at home.  The most unbelievable shot showed an eagle flying upriver, diving three or four times to catch a gizzard shad and eat it in midair. It was one continuous shot that seemed to last a minute or more, which is remarkable given the subject and the difficulty of capturing it. Afterward, the Alma Rod & Gun Club sponsored a "Taste of the Mississippi" in the school cafeteria. There was enough smoked carp, barbecued coon and baked snapping turtle to give everyone a sample.  Kenny's mom, Melvina, even baked 600 Mississippi mud bars for dessert. Wild sumac "lemonade" and apple cider quenched our thirst. The school even got the plumbing working by the end of the film! Mississippi: Tales of the Last River Rat is slated to air sometime this spring on the Discovery Channel. I couldn't find it listed, so I assume it hasn't aired yet. Check that website for a listing and be sure to catch it. Now just click on Home and you'll be back at the main page of this blog. Later... 11:40:01 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Dan Small. Last update: 4/1/05; 11:54:29 PM.