Back home again

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Ulla and I are back, after 3 weeks road-tripping Northern Scandinavia. We were offline most of the time. Partly out of necessity since internet coverage was pretty lousy, but also because it felt right. Sweden was burning hot, literally – with forest fires going on and firefighters trying to control the chaos.

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With helicopters transporting water to the burning areas – campfires really weren’t an option this year. Neither was fishing for trout and grayling. The water was too damn hot – and catch and release could not be done properly.

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So mostly we fished for pike and perch in the large deep lakes and river systems of Southern Lapland. Fishing wasn’t great… but it was ok. Some days it was pretty good actually. Another good surprise was that the heat had burned off most of the mosquitoes as well, so we returned from the “cold” north, with a suntan… that looks like we have been way down south instead.

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We met a few trout, a lot of perch and pike, herds of reindeer, a stray dog – some nice people and a few assholes. We saw midnight sun (or close), snow-capped mountains and some beautiful rivers and lakes. Everything was just as it should be on a road trip.

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Surely a summer to remember. But next year… Please send more moderate temperatures – and better fishing :0)

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Anyway, here are a mix of memorable, silly and exiting moments from our trip. We have tons of footage for YouTube videos in the baggage as well. That stuff will emerge in the coming months.

Keep cool :0)

Michael

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Comments

    Joe Duca

    (September 8, 2018 - 12:51 pm)

    Hi Mike and Ulla, glad to see you back, missed you guys! Yeah it’s been wicked hot (and oppressive humidy!) here too. We’ve had our share of wild fires too. Infact the smoke from western US fires and some from Ontario Canada fires caused hazy skies all the way here in NY state in the east. Some days I could smell the funky wood smoke.
    Coffee and good music, the fuel of road trips! Reminded me of our past trips to the mountains, except my lady Mary fed me fig and walnut Italian cookies my cousin had made special for the trip ☕??
    Looks like the fishing was good. So were the eats! Blueberries, were those raspberries or the Scandinavian clout or cloud berries, lingden maybe? Don’t know how they’re spelled. Ulla’s meatballs looked good!
    Someone’s stray sled dog or Elkhound?
    Anyway I haven’t done any fishing, too many distractions. Too much maintenance and repairs. On the bright side one of our beautiful Labradors had a small litter of awesome pups.
    Thanks for the vacation photos and video, felt like I was there! Cheers buddy! ???

    Michael Jensen

    (September 10, 2018 - 8:16 am)

    Hi Joe,
    Thanks a lot for your response. Always a pleasure writing with you. I guess the crazy weather, the wild fires… and all that stuff, ought to tell us, that somethings not right. Anyway… we made the best of it.
    The berries were Blueberries and Cloudberries (multebær in Danish). They were super tastefull, and we ate a lot. The meatballs weren’t bad either ;0)
    The story bout the dog is long and strange. I will probably write an essay bout that one day. Short story. Ulla and I drove up on a mountain on a pretty tough stony road. One hours drive up in nowhere and not any living souls to be seen anywhere (except moose, wolf and probably a bear somewhere out there). We came to this lake, and felt like being alone in the world – until this wolf like dog showed came out of the wood. It followed us the whole time we stayed up there. Just needing company, a friendly word… and a bit of food. We provided that, and when we left… it followed the car for several hundred meters. Damn… it was hard leaving it there. Hope somebody takes it in before the winter.
    It was a Swedish Moosehound probably a Jämthund, which is a local breed in the area. A robust dog made for moose and reindeer hunting. Must have been lost during a hunt. Still miss it :0)
    I know that problem with distractions. I’m sure the fish are still there, when you get around to that.
    Nice to hear that your labrador had pups. Why am I not surprised that you are a lab man ;0) So am I (and Ulla… the lab part at least ;0)
    Send a pup over will you :0)
    All the best, Michael

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