RAINY LAKE, ONTARIO — Rainy Lake is a mood, journalist Ted Hall noted many years ago, and for a couple days this week, it was inspiring and reassuring for me and two old friends. It was a much-needed time for me, and I think it was partly why Steve Shermoen invited me into his world and why Mike Tangen hauled me there, to focus on the still-possible and set aside thoughts of who we no longer are. Steve’s cabin was built in 1965.
He bought it in 1979, when he had a young family “and not two nickels to rub together,” but he cashed in a life insurance policy, took out a loan and became a cabin owner. For many years, working as an attorney in International Falls, he has hosted a large gathering of friends and family in an annual fishing derby, and three sons and five grandchildren have seen this idyllic place through his eyes. His hope, he said, is that his great-great-great-grandchildren will know the serenity of this place.
Mike Tangen, born and raised in Grand Forks, made a career as a musician and teacher here and in Bemidji. He has led an annual fishing trip to Lac Seul, Ontario, for about 30 years. ADVERTISEMENT I’m calling my brief time with them a prelude to Chuck’s 2nd Excellent Friendship Tour.
The first Friendship Tour happened in 2022, not long after doctors found “a concerning mass” in my right lung. “You have cancer,” my primary doctor told me, and when I pressed him for a learned estimate of my chances, he said that in cases like mine, the patie.