Before we meet up with the Doran's however, I am greeted by a husky biker on a roaring Harley, who yells out as I pass on my bike, "Hey, you Kerry?" This is the mayor Jeff Cantwell who we were trying to coordinate our arrival with but Murphy's law prevailed and it was just Jeff and not the planned gaggle of riders who accompanied us into the quaint town. Jeff had kindly set up an interview with a local reporter, Wendy, knowing that every opportunity to spread the word helps the cause and possibly indirectly works to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
Soon we were off to Bill Doran's, secluded 23 acre homestead, just out of town. Bill and I had met while fishing guides in Northern Ontario, as summer jobs through university. Something about fishing and lifelong friendships and he still comes out every spring to fish at my lodge at Lake George in Manitoba, where we angle for frisky lake trout, bass, northern pike and whitefish. Good old Billy knows his chow and has juicy tenderloins, new potatoes and corn on the cob in no time. He is a fan of the local wine and copiously pours chilled local whites and reds, to wash down the fare. For dessert Dianne has made a sponge cake ,and covers it with mounds of raspberries and high bush blueberries. These blueberries and huge and so tasty and unlike the wild or even commercially raised low bush blueberries, grow chest high. The Doran's only found out about them after they bought place 10 years ago. We take a walk out to the back 23 and wonder at the high bush crop and the size of the berries. We end the night catching up together, recalling some pastimes and playing with the household pets, two great dogs and a couple of cats ( I'm a dog man).
