[Jeff Higgins]

Ah yes, the one thing I liked about Lutheran pastors...

Sometime in the mid '90's, I found myself sitting on a gravel bar on the Tagagawik River in Alaska after having been dropped off by bush plane for a two week unguided hunt for caribou, moose, and bear. Accompanying me was the very pastor who had wed my wife and I some 10-12 years prior, and his son, my good buddy and now also a pastor, and his son (not old enough to be a pastor - yet). We had finally finished setting up "home" for the next couple of weeks, cooking and eating dinner, and it was time to relax.

We were all kind of sitting around staring at each other, me a bit reluctant to break out the fifth of Scotch in my duffle bag. I finally couldn't stand it anymore so, thinking to myself "to hell with it...", I pulled out the fifth. The looks of relief on Pastors Bert and Dave's faces was priceless, as they both reached into their duffles and produced a half gallon each, one of vodka and the other of gin.

Old Pastor Bert passed many years ago, but Pastor Dave and I remain good buddies. He just moved to Eastern Washington, so we might just have to resume hunting together again. I just have to break him of that goddamn gin...