Dick Proenneke......

So, I was busy getting through my reading with all the downtime lately when I received an Amazon package with the Dick Proenneke 2x DVD and book special. I immediately sat my team down to watch the man work is log notches. Everyone was silent. Even the city buggers were dumbfounded at what Dick could do with an ax, auger, and chisel.

Who was Dick Proenneke? Richard Proenneke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am nearly through the book right now and I have to say that it's the most entertaining thing I have read lately. I think the thing that interests me most is how Dick can engineer parts. We all can buy parts at a hardware store and assemble them. Dick makes his parts.... the true sense of the word "build". He achieved the life that most of us Monkeys strive but barely achieve. He did it with minimal gear and lived it for 30+ years. He was by no means young when he started.

Dick really makes you ask "what have I done lately?"

Next entry will cover my other reading. I really had to slip in something about Dick. I also read the novel Geronimo that the film was based on. Another interesting read since the Sonoran desert is my stomping grounds.

Still working on the land/home purchase. The appraisal should be in on Tuesday. Then it's probably back to making a new offer

 

I've got the dvd Alone in the Wilderness which is based on the pbs series. Bet I've watched it close to a dozen times.

It never got into why he went to live there. If you've seen the pbs series let me know if your dvd goes into more detail.

 

If you want to know why... you should read the book (One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith). The book has much more information than the DVD.

You never get a straightforward reason why but you do get bits that indicate:

1) That Dick fell in love with the Twin Lakes region after staying in another cabin there.
2) In the DVD, they mention something about a near accident where he almost lost his eyesight (can't remember which DVD it was right now). I haven't read that in the book.
3) Here is one of the best indications from the book: "I suppose I was here because this is something I had to do. Not just dream about it but do it. I suppose, too, I was here to test myself, not that I had never done it before, but this time it was to be more thorough and lasting examination."
4) There is another theory that missing out on WWII action drove Dick to test himself there.

I don't know. I guess his motivation is somewhere between all four of these. Probably all them have some truth and some dramatization. Dick did complain in the second DVD that some writers (didn't mention which) changed his words from time to time to make the story sound better (I thought Dick's words created the most vivid picture of who he was... I liked the way he talked).