CO-OP mud tires that you could hear on the street from 3 miles away and my compact cell phone.
View attachment 312804
Had one of those high tech bag phones. Wish I'd hung onto it. Of course I used rotary phones and we had a party line and a 4 digit phone number.. Stuff I miss, the list is too long...
Most of all would be riding my CB450 or my '75 CJ5 90 miles to the Channels of the Madison River, starting the wade about 5pm in cutoffs and tennis shoes, half an hour wade minimum before dropping a fly, catching a 10 fish limit of big rainbows and browns in a couple hours, but rarely keeping more than a couple, and wading out under only moonlight, spooked by an occasional moose or whitetail, always thinking of rattlesnakes. All this without seeing another person all evening.
(Or being there with my Dad at about age 12).
Now, and for 30 years, if you can find a parking place, you wait in line to get into a decent hole (combat fishing), fish species, size, et al are regulated, folks are often rude, Eddie Bauer is around every corner and by golly you'd better not step above high-water line or some implant will run you off his property. Or you'll get run over by a driftboat. I haven't dipped a toe in any of the rivers I fished as a young guy for 35 years.
"Once you call it Paradise, kiss it goodbye" - The Eagles.
Hey, no sour grapes, life goes on. I often think of how lucky I was to have lived it.
..and I still have a secret brookie creek I visit annually for a couple weeks - it's only accessible by canoe or fishing kayak, not on foot - it's too willowed with potholes everywhere. We catch 15" brookies (17" is my record there) all day long , I'm talking ALL day long (Jack Nicholson - Goin' South), I've never seen another human in there, no bait cans, beer cans, cig butts or even a human footprint. Double digit beaver dams, moose, bear & ice cold clear water out of the wilderness and too deep to see the bottom. Yes, I practice Catch & Eat. Limit is 20/day but we keep only enough to feed however many family members happen to be in camp. I'm just getting my young grandsons in there the past couple years.. and they are DIGGIN' it!
(Absence of blue sky is due to smoke from the endless fires in the West for 5 years running.)
Off-roading in the CJ5 in Montana in the 60s & 70s.. now that's another novel.
Next question...
