I'm thinking, cause of the heat, and today's scheduled 2 pm 2 hour drive, about making up a batch of Uncle Emil's Highway Jerky.

Ol Em, he'd take a BIG skirt steak and, and this is important, he'd slather on, ONE SIDE ONLY,
a think layer of black pepper and some Cayenne, and seeing he was a bit blitzed by noon, on 'RIVER DAY!' , (and not bad blitzed, just happy yappy blitzed)
he'd add in maybe some celery seeds or cinnamon or fennel, ( which is nasty).

Then after me and pop had announced "Canoe's strapped, the bus is leaving" etc...
and we all had pee'd. ( what?, me and Paul were still little then)

Ol Emil would grab the rest of his 12 of Jax, ask if 'we'd packed his pole?' and we'd get going.

Except the very last thing Em would do is get back out, after dad had stopped at HWY 75's entrance ramp, and he'd take that shirt steak and wet side slap it,
dry rub to the wind, right dead center over the bow of our roof racked canoe.

And dad would take off.

Sometimes Emil would have to ride for a bit all stretched way out the front window, holding the skirt still till the wet side stickied up and stuck.

And we'd all whoop and dad would wiggle steer the Travel-All. And sometimes Dad wasn't fun wiggle steering, either.

(he'd be cussing).

Several hours in that hot dry 75 mile an hour wind would work that big ol skirt steak right up into done. Well, done enough anyway.


Was it good? No.

Was it gritty? Oh god yes.

Was it nasty? Kinda, Some times Pop and his brother would argue and Pop would pull right up behind a diesel till Emil shut up.

Did we eat it? Heck No !
Well, around 9 or 10 or 11 pm, uh, yes we did.

And we'd use it for bait.

What the heck.

And sure Emil was a crazy mother_ _ _ _ er, but he was my favorite uncle, and now, I just miss him.

I'm as old now as he was then.

Lyrical, good stuff. Shannon