He's a winner

Here's lookin' at ya, No. 27.

Talk about being game. My youngest brother, Russell, took me up on a long-shot of an invitation to visit the Midwest in the dead of winter to partake in the Balsam Lake WinterFest and annual Chinese New Year festivities, which this year happened to fall on the same weekend.

Russell and our father did business in China for a number of years -- selling U.S.-grown Southern Pine lumber to the Chinese. He's been studying Mandarin, and I've been trying for years to get him up here to meet my Chinese friends, who always put on a stellar Lunar New Year feast.

Temps were in the teens and low 20s when Russell set out for his maiden voyage on snowshoes for the increasingly popular 5K Snowshoe "race." Sometime after passing Mile Marker 1, Russell decided to sprint ahead, clearly tapping into his former college football athletic self. Chris and I eventually caught up, realizing he had intuitively discovered our secret of North Country survival: Breaking a sweat in the coldest of cold gives you the (false) impression that you're kicking winter's ass.

Russ was a true sport in everything Loveless. He put up with drywall dust, lack of a bathroom and a furnace that broke just as temps were heading toward a week of sub-zeros. 

Here's hoping we didn't scare him off and that he'll return with his lovely wife when we're no longer in glamping mode.

 

Getting an ice fishing lesson from the master.

Jaguars fan (note the ski cap) from the very start.

Mighty fine fishin' hole. Alas, no bites.

Some Loveless winter lover made a snowman on the lake!

Scenic photo opp during the "race."

That crazy Beer Man.

Trusting the ice...

... even though they raced ATVs instead of trucks this year.

This photo begs for a Caption Contest.

No trip to Loveless is complete without a functional fire.

 

Loveless Lake is humble, but she's a beaut.